What is exit rate?

Exit rate shows how often a page is the last page someone sees before leaving your website. Example: your shipping page was viewed 100 times, and 40 times the visitor left right after – its exit rate is 40%. Unlike bounce rate, the visitor may have seen other pages first.

Definition

Exit rate = exits from a page / pageviews of that page × 100. If 40 of 100 views of a page were the last page of the visit, the exit rate is 40%. In the other 60 views, the visitor went on to another page.

Exit vs bounce

Bounce rate only looks at visits with a single pageview. Exit rate counts for a page even when visitors saw other pages first. An order confirmation page should have a high exit rate. A product page in the middle of the buying journey with a high exit rate may be a problem.

How to use it

Sort your content pages by exit rate when you want to find where people give up. Ignore high exits on pages that are meant to be the end (thank-you, logout, order received).

Use PureMetrix page reports next to your goals.

Broken URLs

404 pages naturally have high exits; still track how many 404s you get (track 404 errors) so broken links get fixed—on WordPress or any other host.

Sort by number of exits, not only by rate, so rarely visited pages with 100% exits on three views do not distract you.

Reading exits without panic

Sort by number of exits, not only by rate, so busy pages with normal exits do not get pushed aside by rare pages with 100% exits on three views. Thank-you and logout pages are supposed to be the end. Someone leaving the pricing page after reading for a long time needs a different response than someone leaving the homepage after two seconds.