Exit Rate

An exit page is the last page of a site accessed during a visit which identified the end of a visit or session. In shorter terms, this is the last page of a website that a user sees. This visit characterization gives a website owner the ability to see which page(s) of their website is the most common to be exited from. Not to be confused with bounce rate (single page visits divided by entry pages), an exit rate is the percentage of people who left your website from a page (number of exits from a page divided by a total number of page views of that page).  

Image: Bounce Rate vs. Exit Rate: What's the Difference? (n.d.). 

There are many different factors that go into what causes a visitor to exit a website, and a page having a high exit rate does not always equal something negative. For example, a page that comes up after a purchase is going to have a naturally high exit rate because a user is most likely done with your site after they have purchased from you (at least on that visit) (Parsons, Landau, Jackson, & Gleeson, 2017). 

However, other pages that you want to be seen that have a high exit rate could indicate there is a problem with that page. Of course, each website is unique and has unique pages, so it is impossible for there to be one reason for a high exit rate and therefor one solution. Putting yourself into the shoes of your visitors could help to better understand what is causing them to exit from this page. Is it too many words? Bad formatting? Not enough information? A user could leave a page because of slow loading time, or decide to purchase the product in store after researching it on your website. 

In addition to the previously mentioned examples, other common reasons for exiting are:

• Distracting Content: music, video, and obtrusive pop-ups can cause early exits
• Slow Load Speeds: users (especially mobile users) will give up after about 3 seconds
• Bad UI/UX: poor page design and structure can leave your users confused
• Navigation Issues: unclear pathing and/or lack of linked content spells “dead-end”

Source: Bounce Rate vs. Exit Rate: What's the Difference? (n.d.). 

In a perfect world, your page with the highest exit rate would be the one that you want them to leave on (like the receipt page), but we all know that is not possible. So it is important to understand what is making a large amount of different users leave your website, especially if your intent is for the users to be pushed further into the content of your website.

Considering the numerous variables, exit rate is very difficult to fully understand and interpret. Therefore, it is important to understand the data and what your users may be doing. Exit page analysis is a good way to highlight areas that may need focus but it is important to understand that there are more factors to site exit than just poor usability or communication. When using the Exit Report it’s vital to note what roles each page may be playing in onsite and offsite conversion and factoring that into your marketing decisions (Cornwall, 2012).

Sources:

Bounce Rate vs. Exit Rate: What's the Difference? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://conversionxl.com/guides/bounce-rate/bounce-rate-vs-exit-rate/.

Cornwall, J. (2012, August 14). Home. Retrieved from https://www.webanalyticsworld.net/2012/08/top-exit-page-analysis.html.

Parsons, N., Landau, C., Jackson, S., & Alan Gleeson. (2017, May 12). The 6 Most Important Web Metrics to Track for Your Business Website -. Retrieved from https://articles.bplans.com/the-6-most-important-web-metrics-to-track-for-your-business-website/.

West Virginia University (n.d.), Week One Lesson: Intro to Web Analytics and the Basics of Web Analytics. In IMC642: Web Metrics and SEO: Fall 2019.Retrieved from https://www.ecampus.wvu.edu/