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What Is True Bounce Rate?

True Bounce Rate on Orbee tracks the percentage of users who leave your site within 20 seconds, excluding those who complete a conversion.

1. The Distinction from Standard Bounce Rate

The Standard Bounce Rate (used by many traditional analytics tools) simply counts a bounce if a user initiates a session and immediately exits after viewing only one page on the site.

The True Bounce Rate utilizes two important refinements:

  1. Time Threshold (20 Seconds): By setting a 20-second minimum engagement time, Orbee ensures that sessions shorter than this threshold, where the user likely left immediately or failed to load the page properly, are counted as disengaged. A user who spends 25 seconds on a page is generally considered engaged, even if they don't click anything.

  2. Conversion Exclusion: Excluding users who complete a conversion means that a "single-page session" that was highly effective (e.g., a user landing on a VDP and immediately submitting a lead form) is correctly categorized as a success, not a failure.

Metric Condition for a "Bounce" Interpretation of a "Bounce"
Standard Bounce Rate Session involves only a single page view. May incorrectly flag highly successful, single-action sessions (like a form submission) as a bounce.
Orbee True Bounce Rate Session involves only a single page view, AND lasts less than 20 seconds, AND has no conversion event. Accurately identifies sessions that lack both activity and successful goal completion.

 

2. Calculation and Formula

Orbee's calculation for True Bounce Rate can be summarized as:

{True Bounce Rate} = {Sessions with less than 20 seconds of activity and no conversion} / {Total Sessions}
 

This calculation provides a cleaner signal by separating:

  • True Disengagement: Users who hit the page and immediately left (the bounce).

  • Deep Engagement: Users who navigated to a second page (not a bounce).

  • High-Value Completion: Users who converted, regardless of time or page views (not a bounce).

 

3. Deeper Analysis: Why 20 Seconds Matters

For an automotive website, 20 seconds is often the minimum time required for a user to:

  • Load and Scan a Page: Fully load a Vehicle Detail Page (VDP) and absorb the image, price, and basic features.

  • Determine Relevance: Quickly decide if the vehicle or offer is relevant to their search intent.

If a user leaves within this window, it strongly suggests a mismatch between the content and their expectation.

 

4. High True Bounce Rate: Diagnostic Steps

A high True Bounce Rate suggests a problem with your initial engagement point (usually the landing page). When analyzing high bounce rates, Orbee's data can be segmented using Dimensions to diagnose the problem:

Dimension to Investigate Potential Indication of High Bounce Rate
Traffic Source A specific ad network or referral source is sending low-quality, unqualified traffic.
Device Type The page is loading slowly or is broken on Mobile devices, leading to immediate exits.
Landing Page URL A specific campaign or vehicle page has an inaccurate title or image, leading to a "bait and switch" perception.
Browser Version Technical issues are preventing the page from rendering correctly on older or niche browsers.

By analyzing the True Bounce Rate across these dimensions, dealership marketers can pinpoint the exact source of disengagement and optimize their campaigns or website accordingly.

If you're concerned about a high True Bounce Rate, please refer to our article on "Why is my True Bounce Rate so high?"