Does Your Mobile Visitors Raise Your Website Bounce Rate?

If your are one of those many, who just log-in to analytics account to check total visitors, avg. time spent and bounce rate, and log-out, should dig more deeper about browsers and operating systems people are using to reach your website. According to a recent report published in eMarketer, US mobile search ad spending grew 120.8% in 2013. It is also stated in that report that Desktop search may see a decline of around $1.4 billion this year, as google users are shifting to mobile devices rapidly. Just think where your website stands in this figure?


If you have not shifted your website to a responsive web design yet, then you may see a rise in visitor’s bounce rate commenced by mobile browsers and operating systems. It doesn't only harm your website engagement rate, but your overall lead count and sales will also face the impact.

A responsive web design is an approach towards building a web site that provides an optimal browsing experience, easy reading and navigation with a minimum or no need for re-sizing, panning, and scrolling across all devices ranging from mobile phones to desktop computer monitors.

You can also choose to build different site for mobile devices, which is called a mobile site and redirect your visitors when they come from mobile specific browsers. I think mobile sites have gained a momentum because of wide availability of GPRS enabled mobile phones, phablets and smart phones in the market.

Following are some of the main issues that can force a user to run away from your website, if he is browsing through a mobile device:

• Site Load Time : - An average mobile phone user can only keep 2-3 seconds more patience than a desktop visitor. If your website is taking more than that, then you should think about saving the load time in following areas:

• Load images through CSS
• Keep external style sheets to a minimum
• CSS3 instead of images
• Data URI instead of images or web font files
• Inline scalable vector graphics (SVG) instead of images
• Combine image sprites
• Use font icons in place of images wherever applicable
• Avoid inline frames
• Code for mobile-first
• If possible build separate mobile website
• Reduce image dimensions by using responsive images
• Keep JavaScript to a minimum
• Avoid widgets
• Server side techniques
• Test your website on mobile devices using free tools

• Need for zoom-in : - If your website is not responsive then mobile browsers by default shrink your desktop website to fit in mobile device screens, which makes images, text, navigation & links look tiny. User has to expand the webpage every time he enters a new page. But in a responsive web design, elements shift size and place to make that website better readable and navigable.

• Too much horizontal scroll : - With non-responsive web designs, user has to scroll a lot in order to read the content from left to right in mobile devices, which is as irritating as tipping someone for grabbing more and more information. You should keep information in vertical order for mobile devices.

• Same lead form : - You have to keep in mind that typing experience on mobile phone is very different than desktop keyboards. If your lead or sign-up form is lengthy then you need a serious workaround for mobile devices. You may have to remove certain fields or break the form in two to three parts, in order to keep the user interested in completing the form.

• Penalized by search engine : - Many search engines have included mobile device compatibility as a qualifier in their search algorithms. If your website is not designed to work on all devices, then it may lose ranking on search engines and at the end, your targeted audience will not be able to find you even after the most relevant content or services offered.

• Website not compatible to all devices : - Even responsive web design owners can face this issue due to launch of new mobile devices every other day. You have to keep a watch on latest mobile technology and keep testing your website on all those devices with the help of available testing tools.

According to a forecast in latest research conducted by online advertising platform Marin Software - “mobile devices will comprise 50 percent of all paid search clicks by December 2015 at the current rate of growth”. So don’t let your online marketing efforts get wasted in lack of a website optimized for all devices.

If you are planning to launch a responsive website or mobile site then please feel free to mail us for more information and cost estimates at contact@clickadtrix.com

I will be glad to have any additional information or opinion on this post.

Sources :

How To Make Your Websites Faster On Mobile Devices
eMarketer: Desktop Search to Decline $1.4 Billion as Google Users Shift to Mobile
Mobile Devices to Account for 50% of Paid Search Clicks by December 2015 [Study]

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