Bounce rate is a metric that measures how many people leave your site after viewing only one page. It’s calculated by dividing the number of bounces (sessions where someone viewed only one page and didn’t do anything else) by the total number of sessions and multiplying by 100%.
It’s important to note that if a visitor completes a goal or makes a purchase (an ecommerce conversion), it doesn’t count as a bounce even if they only viewed one page. This is because they took an action that was valuable to you as the site owner.
Bounce rate = (Bounces / Sessions) * 100%
Bounces: The number of sessions during which visitors viewed an entry page but didn’t continue to another page view, goal conversion or ecommerce conversion. If a visitor performs a download, search or other custom event and leaves the entry page, the session is counted as a bounce.
Note: We also use a metric called a page bounce rate, which is similar to bounce rate. Read more
Exit rate a metric that measures the percentage of sessions that ended on a particular page. It’s calculated by dividing the number of exits by the total number of sessions and multiplying by 100%.
Exit rate can be counted for sessions that had only one page view or multiple page views.
Exit rate = (Exits / Sessions) * 100%
Exits: The number of views of the last page displayed during a session.
Here’s an example to make things clearer:
- John views page A and completes a goal
- Marry views page A
- Tom visits page A and then page B
- Julie visits page A
Now, the numbers:
Page A has a bounce rate of 50%. That means out of four sessions starting on page A, two of them (sessions 2 and 4) had visitors who didn’t go to other pages.
The exit rate for page A is 75%. Out of those four sessions on page A, three of them (sessions 1, 2 and 4) ended on that page. Only one session ended up on page B.