In Travel? Using PPC? Check your bounce rate against our benchmark

You may be doing so many things right when it comes to your PPC strategy, but a high bounce rate can undo the achievements of compelling ad copy, well-chosen site links and careful budgeting. Here we present some of the findings from our travel industry study, so you can find out what a typical bounce rate is and what to do if your account’s is too high.

Do you know if your bounce rate is too high?

As a travel specialist PPC agency in London, we’ve gathered data on the performance of a range of travel PPC accounts from January-March 2014. As one of the busiest quarters in the travel industry, and one that can set the tone for the rest of the year, the data sheds light on performance where it is most needed.

We’ve grouped them into travel categories, including UK hotels, UK holiday cottage providers, overseas travel and cruise. See if your business fits into one of the categories below and check out the corresponding bounce rate. If yours is lower than our benchmark, brilliant! If yours is higher, then carry on reading below.

I have a high bounce rate, why?

A high bounce rate is the result of the user not having a positive experience when they land on your website. Maybe they read the title and description of your PPC ad and expected to see something, and then did not see that something once they had got to your landing page. Maybe your website has usability issues, which will cause users to become disinterested; if you can’t help them easily find out more about who you are and what you do, then the likelihood of them trusting you enough to provide the product or service they are looking for is not going to be high.

A key takeaway here is that not having a positive experience can have virtually the same effect of a user having a negative experience. Searchers have plenty of other places where they can go, which is why a positive experience can make you stand out from competitors and encourage users to see more of your website.

What can I do?

Firstly, take a good look at your PPC account, or ask a PPC consultant to if you would like a thorough check against industry best practice. Do you think the right landing pages are being used for your keywords? Do you think the ad copy truly reflects your business? Do you think the keywords your ads will be showing for are relevant? If the answer is no to any of these, your account needs to be reviewed.

Secondly, how is your website looking? We don’t just mean whether or not it’s pretty or has a good logo; how are users engaging with it? A web usability study can reveal problems with your landing pages that you may not have even realised; perhaps there is no clear call-to-action, or maybe your website is not mobile-friendly and users are dismissing you immediately when browsing on their phones.

You need to conduct a usability study to see how users are interacting with your website and also review your site’s overall functionality to see how it can better meet the needs of your target audience. If this is something that you would like done by a professional, speak to our web design agencies in London, Devon and Manchester.

Image Credit: William Murphy (flickr.com) This image has been edited from the original.