One of the biggest long-standing issues that even successful online brands can struggle with is related to bounce rates. To put it simply, bounce rate refers to the percentage of people who leave your website after arriving via search results (or other platforms, such as social media) without visiting other pages or engaging with your content.

This can be especially difficult for online stores, where bounce rates often exceed 40 percent across entire industries. While such bounce rates would be devastating for most non-retail websites in terms of maintaining their search rankings, online stores have more leeway. Nevertheless, reducing bounce rates – with the goal often to be selling more products – is still a worthy goal.

Let’s take a look at some simple solutions you can use to reduce bounce rates for your store’s product pages.

Embrace SEO

Most people who encounter advertisements ignore them. This is why the CTR for paid marketing campaigns tends to be so low. However, even among those who do click, the number of conversions can be quite low – in large part because people being shown ads may or may not have been looking for your products.

With SEO, however, this is different. By optimizing your product pages and embracing proper search engine procedures, you have a better chance at having your products be organically promoted via niche search results. Given that people actively searching for your product are more likely to buy, this can help reduce bounce rates for select product pages.

Simplify Your User Experience

How easy it is for users to truly navigate your store or find the information they need? Ultimately, many stores make the mistake of using outdated, unoptimized or poorly-formatted store software that inhibits the user experience (especially on mobile devices).

Likewise, pinging your website with a variety of data-points and chokepoints during the shopping process can be frustrating for users. For instance, unexpected shipping costs, requirements to create a proprietary user account, or keeping FAQs or other explanations tucked away out of view can lead to more people simply giving up and leaving your website.

Use Customized Email Lists

When you segment your mailing lists, you’re able to make your email marketing campaigns far more efficient.

Not only can this increase the number of people opening your emails and clicking on relevant product links, but it can also reduce the number of people who immediately leave. You can divide your mailing lists by interest, behaviors or by even offering various opt-in functionality when a user signs up or subscribes.

Target Visitors Based on Geography

Where your shoppers come from can play a huge role in whether or not they’ll purchase. If your store offers a one-size-fits-all approach to serving up products, content and recommendations, then you’re probably suffering from a higher bounce rate than is necessary.

Through geotargeting, you can show users select products based on where they live, offer discounts and/or incorporate different shipping estimates (if applicable), and even segment aspects such as customer service in the process. By targeting users based on where they are physically, you can ensure they’re pinging your website with a greater likelihood of staying and buying.

Higher bounce rates are indeed common for online stores when compared to other types of websites, but that doesn’t mean reducing them isn’t possible. Whether you segment your email lists, target users based on location, improve the user experience or embrace the power of SEO, these strategies – especially when combined – can be a powerful force in increasing how many people visit, stay and shop.