• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 3, 2023

Social media is seen by 65% of consumers as a “great place to discover new products.” But only 15% prefer to check out there.

Instead, 65% would rather buy on a brand’s website, according to The Cost of a Bounce, a new study from SimplicityDX.   

And that is costly for brands, given that 76% bounce 50% or more of the time when jumping from social — the second-highest rate after display.

There is a sobering lesson here for email senders that may disappoint shoppers in the same ways. People bounce because:

• The shopper couldn’t find the product that caught my attention on social or the product looked different — 55%
• The product was too expensive — 37%
• The product was out of stock — 31%
• The product images and details were not clear — 22%
• There were no product reviews — 20%
• The shopper was yet ready to buy — 19%
• The shopper was concerned the site might be a fake — 15%
• Page took too long to load — 12%
• The shopper got an error — 10%

Bounces have an impact. Consumers felt the following after recent instances:

• They felt frustrated or annoyed with the brand — 62%
• This happens frequently, it is quite normal — 30%
• Concerned that they might have visited a scam site — 27%
• They are less likely to shop with this brand again — 24%

Asked what happened after bouncing, consumers said:

• I didn’t do anything further — 39%
• I returned later and bought the product — 20%
• I looked for an alternative product on a competitor site but didn’t purchase — 19%
• I purchased an alternative product from a competitor — 17%
• I returned later and bought a different product — 14%
• I returned later but chose not to buy this product — 12%
• I was unable to find the same product again — 8%

What is the cost to brands? It is:

“Brands are literally leaving money on the table, as their customers step from social to the product detail page,” says Ruth Peters, CMO, SimplicityDX. “In fact, for every 10,000 visitors, if 80% bounce, the revenue cost to the brand is $40,880."

The study notes that “new customers rarely buy on the first visit. Encouraging these new visitors to subscribe to brand communications, coupled with the use of retargeting to drive repeat visits, will encourage purchases over time. Consequently, social teams need to work closely with their email colleagues to synchronize efforts around new subscriber acquisition.”

SimplicityDX surveyed 1,000 U.S. online shoppers.