I spent some time over the last few years working with an organization called Elias Fund. They are a great local nonprofit that at one point were in need for a new website that provided functionality and flexibility. I didn’t spend much time creating a personal theme for their site because I was preoccupied with work for The 1010 Project. So I chose a WordPress theme called Panorama and went to work making modifications to meet Elias Fund’s needs.
A few weeks ago I was clicking through their Google Analytics profile and something jumped out at me. Their site had a bounce rate of less than 1%! Most of the sites I track have a bounce rate of around 50%. Needless to say, they have a loyal supporter base and consistent monthly traffic. This is a short case study detailing the ins and outs of what makes a good website with a low bounce rate.
Time period of data studied: March 18th, 2009 to October 31st, 2009
Total # of visits: 7,815
Absolute unique visitors: 4,395
New visits: 55.85%
Total pageviews: 36,799
Average amount of time spent on site: 2 minutes, 10 seconds
Bounce rate: 6.51%
The majority of their visitors’ web browsers can be split into thirds: a third Internet Explorer, a third Firefox, and a third Safari. They have amazing international traffic too. The main thing I wanted to inspect was the reasoning for such a low bounce rate. It’s rather unbelievable and I know it is due in large part to the quality work they do in building relationships and providing an atmosphere of family and accountability around their organization.
I think the style of their navigation is very important too. They have a very simple and easy to use main nav bar. I think they use social media and email selectively. With other organizations I’ve worked, this was not always the case. They’ve had the privilege of seeing the evolution and pitfalls of social media and have developed a very focused and courteous strategy.
Does anyone have thoughts or ideas as to why this bounce rate number might be so low? I’d love to hear your thoughts or feedback. Leave a comment or email me directly at markwilliammann@gmail.com.
