You’ve finally made your online presence extra professional with dazzling social media pages and a long history of great reviews from cutting your teeth on Upwork, Guru and Fiverr. However, upon checking the online traffic for the website you made, you noticed that most people neither inquire nor avail of your products and services. You’re experiencing what we call a bounce. In this article, we’ll help you reel in and keep the catch after you hook it.

First: Identify where the visitors are coming from and what they’re after

Your visitors can come from anywhere – a google search with your search engine-optimized keywords, a referral link from customer review forums, a banner ad here and there, etc. What you need to learn and understand is how each source relates to what the users are generally looking for in your website, and by establishing that connection you can start to tailor the user-experience to make their mouse clicks more efficient and increase the likelihood of a satisfied client instead of a frustrated person online.

Second: Study user behavior

Okay, so you know where they come from and what they’re usually after. Now you need to take a step further and check how they act once they’ve come into your net. Visitors to your site will generally spend a certain amount of time staying in your site before they make a purchase or give up and go home, so to speak. Knowing how long people stay in certain pages, and whether they do or do not behave the way you want them to is key to improving the statistics to your favor.

Third: Tailor visitor-experience

Based on the first and second steps, tailor your content to immerse your potential clients and keep them interested enough to stay and hopefully make a purchase. See if your site is going the extra mile to offer clients with more than what they wanted, as if to emulate the extra service your local barber gives after a simple haircut or the gorgeously artisanal serving trays cafes use when handing out the coffee. Check if your product or service is compelling enough (or at least presented in such a manner) to be irresistible. Blaze a trail and sail those uncharted waters!

Fourth: Don’t limit the character and personality you develop to your website

Your visitor experience can be set up like a five-star hotel but extending this feeling of quality service and character to beyond your website can also have similarly effective results. Small changes to your email marketing campaign and newsletter greetings can make the experience feel more cohesive and enhance the effect you’ve worked so hard to achieve in the website alone. Don’t just dazzle people with your social media presence, make it relevant and on-point.

Fifth: Keep track of periodic changes

Much like highway rush hour that only happen on certain times of the day, certain behaviors at certain times can also impact the data you’re paying close attention to. Recurring or repetitive visitor behavior can lead to major spikes in reduced bounce rates and improved engagement once you time certain things like when your newsletter gets sent out or when to announce sales or release promotional ads.

Sixth: Trust your instincts

Data science can only go so far, and there are times when your gut has more sense than the charts and graphs you pull up from steps one through five. There are no rules set in stone for stuff like this and you need to learn to trust your instincts and prepare yourself to be flexible and ready for anything that may come your way.