Bounce rate: sounds fun, but really isn’t. It is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from a website after viewing only one page, without taking any further action.
High bounce rates for SaaS platforms mean that their potential customers might not find the site engaging or relevant enough to explore all the awesome services or products on offer.
This can result in lost sales opportunities, decreased conversion rates, and inefficiencies in marketing spend. For SaaS businesses, which often rely on recurring subscriptions and customer engagement, high bounce rates can significantly impact long-term revenue and growth.
But – there are solutions! Some work great, others are misused. One that’s often overlooked though, is video. We’ll talk about why this could be what fixes your bouncy problems once and for all.
What increases bounce rates?
There’s usually not just one cause for a high bounce rate, so it might be hard to spot – which also makes it harder to treat. To make sure, check your website for all of the following. Even if one thing doesn’t seem ‘too bad’, it could be accelerated by another problem.
Poor User Experience (UX)
- Slow page load times: we won’t waste too much time on this common issue – just know your users don’t have all day.
- Cluttered design: chaos, too many colors or moving elements or just a poor design architecture can overwhelm or confuse visitors, leading to a quick exit.
- Non-intuitive navigation: if buttons aren’t in the places people expect them to be, they’re likely to leave out of frustration. Dont experiment too much.
Irrelevant content
- Misleading titles: opening a blog that promised tips but only promotes your product? It’ll cause most people to head elsewhere.
- Poor keyword targeting: yes, your content should be relevant – but also readable. Don’t stuff in keywords for the sake of it.
- Outdated information: if your content is clearly a couple of years old, people will lose trust and interest.
Technical issues
- Broken links: not many people keep trying after finding a broken link.
- Mobile incompatibility: if your thumb is working over hours and you need to zoom in and out, you’re likely to find a website that does not grind your gears.
- 404 errors: yes, they happen, and they can come with a fun piece of copy – but try to prevent them.
Audience mismatch
- Targeting the wrong demographic: if the info isn’t what people are looking for, or the way it is presented does not match their expectations, they will leave – and are unlikely to come back.
- Misaligned advertising strategies: if you have a witty meta description or ad, do make sure it matches the landing page it leads to.
Additional causes
- Intrusive ads or pop ups: especially if it’s not easy to get rid of them in a second, it might cause people to leave.
- Lack of a clear CTA: prevent that people end up reading an entire page and thinking: so what?
- Low-quality multimedia: ever visited a website and were met with pixelated or very old school pictures or graphics? Yeah. These things look sketchy and will prompt people to leave, and take their money with them.
- Bad copy or mistakes in grammar: we’ve all received weird emails from banks or other organizations with poor copy and spelling mistakes all over. They often look like spam, or at the very least give people the feeling you don’t care too much about your business – which could cause them to leave.
Commonly used solutions for bounce rates (and why they fail)
Bounce rate signifies the proportion of visitors who leave after viewing just one page. For SaaS platforms, high bounce rates can be detrimental, suggesting missed opportunities and inefficiencies in user engagement.
Common missteps taken to combat this include focusing on content and keyword optimization, compromising readability. Some redesign without relying on concrete data.
Others perfect the desktop experience, yet overlook mobile users. An emphasis on adding content can miss the mark without aligning to user intent.
Efforts to boost page load speed might neglect overall page quality, and while adding more CTAs, they risk overwhelming visitors with too many choices.
So, what can you do?
Battling bounce rates with video content
We’re glad you asked. What we prescribe is video content. But not just any video content – as we’ll explain further down. First, let’s look at why video content often does work to keep bounce rates low.
- Instant engagement: videos capture attention faster than text and people will linger on longer
- Visual learning: people can be tired of reading, and simply understand concepts better when presented visually
- Simplification of ideas: if something takes a lot of words to explain clearly, put it in a video
- Emotional connection: with the right editing, narrative, audio and visuals, videos can resonate emotionally
- Building trust: showing real customers (faces, yes!) or your team builds trust and is more authentic than pictures or jist words
- Better information retention: information form videos tends to stick better than long pages of text
- SEO advantages: you’re not giving up any SEO benefits when using video – if you do it right
Examples of how to implement videos to reduce bounce rates for SaaS
Videos can be used at different stages and places – here’s some inspo.
1. Visual demonstrations for better product understanding
Instead of describing a feature or functionality in paragraph after paragraph – or having to leave out some cool details to keep it short – a concise video can show the feature in action – often in less than the time it takes people to read and comprehend what you’re trying to see. The added bonus is that people get to see the user interface in action.
People will grasp the practical applications and benefits much quicker, and get to know your product.
According to the founder of Vidico, “Integrating Vidico SaaS explainer videos strategically can significantly reduce bounce rates and enhance SEO performance for SaaS websites. Utilizing visual demonstrations, such as showcasing product features in action through concise videos, fosters better understanding, engages viewers, and effectively communicates the practical applications and benefits of the product, ultimately driving user engagement and retention.”
2. Onboarding tutorials or walkthroughs
Having documentation on your product is great – and do keep it. But it can be overwhelming for new users to scour your guides and whatnot to find what to do. Instead, an onboarding video, tutorial or walk through will save them tons of time and frustration, and makes them more likely to stick to your services.
3. Customer testimonials and real-world use cases
Ever read a review on a landing page and scoffed: yeah right?!
We all do it. Some reviews just read like they’ve been written by the sales department itself, or sound fake altogether.
People trust people – and even more when they can see the people leaving recommendations and opinions. If you’re considering adding reviews to your website or already have them, try to interview these happy customers and add a quick video instead.
4. Showcasing USPs effectively
Many SaaS businesses try to put their most fantastic features into words – but that can get real messy and confusing. Video allows them to show, not tell, which will land a lot better for many people.
Want more? Check out these 5 must-have videos to ensure the success of your SaaS product.
Best practices for using video content for SaaS websites
Videos for the sake of videos don’t work. There’s a right way to do video, and these best practices will tell you how it’s done. Note: this isn’t really a list to pick from, they’re all must-do’s!
Prioritize accessibility in your video content
It is absolutely crucial to incorporate video transcriptions and captions to cater to a wider audience. With all the tools on the market nowadays, there’s no excuse not to. You can translate audio recordings in seconds, transcribe videos, or add subtitles, and will allow everyone to watch your videos and understand them.
Ensure compatibility across most devices and platforms
PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets – people use all sorts of devices to access the internet nowadays. So, your video content should run seamlessly on anything users might access your website on. The best way is changing the format to a universal one like MP4.
For example, Panasonic’s P2 series cameras produce MXF files which can’t be played without a special player, but you can easily convert MXF to MP4 to ensure compatibility.
Take SEO considerations into account – even for video content
Adding captions and implementing video schema markup gives search engines information about your video content, which means your videos can contribute to your SEO efforts.
If you’d need another reason to think about accessibility for your videos. Not sure what all this means? Check out all the SaaS SEO lingo explained by Skale.
Think about and test the placement of video content
Some videos belong on the homepage, some on product pages, others in help centers. Don’t try to stuff them all into your main pages in hopes that everyone will see them – ensure that they can be found at the right place, so people can watch them at the right time.
Length matters – test what works best
Find the balance between giving detailed information and viewers attention span. The best way to do this is to test your videos with your target audience, and to keep track of the data.
Quality over quantity – make sure your videos add value
Don’t add a video for the sake of adding a video – some things are still better articulated with copy, or even with an infographic. Make sure your videos add real value to a webpage and aren’t just a gimmick.
Add crystal clear call to actions to your video content
What should happen after that last second is watched? Viewers don’t know – so tell them. Give them a clear call to action, perhaps with two options, to either keep exploring or to get in touch.
How are you stopping your web visitors from bouncing?
Bounce rates are a telling sign of first impressions. While video content offers a dynamic solution, it’s crucial to pair it with user-centric strategies and use it wisely. Start with a thorough look at your website to identify the real problems, and you’ll soon find real solutions.
