Date First Published: 3rd April 2024
Topic: Web Design & Development
Subtopic: Web Development
Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions
Difficulty: MediumDifficulty Level: 5/10
Learn about what return visitor rate is in this article.
Return visitor rate is the percentage of users that return to a website in a specific period of time after their first visit. This metric calculates the rate of repeat visitors to a website and is an important metric to understand how many people are returning to a website.
The return visitor rate can be tracked by web analytics services, such as Google Analytics. A web cookie is used to track repeat visits, allowing website owners to see data about new and returning visitors, including the ratio to new and returning visitors, their number of sessions, session duration, etc.
However, return visitor rate can be hard to reliably and consistently measure and the data collected about returning visitors may not be completely accurate. Users who block Google Analytics cookies and users with certain browser extensions and ad filtering add-ons will block the analytics code from running, preventing their data from being included in the reports. In addition, the visitor ID is attached to the cookie on the user's device, so if they make their first visit on their desktop computer and their second visit on their mobile device, it will register them as two separate users.
The formula for the return visitor rate is:
Total number of repeat visitors ÷ total number of unique visitors
For example, if there were 250 repeat visitors and a total of 800 unique visitors, the calculation for the return visitor rate would be:
250 ÷ 800 = 0.31
Return visitor rate = 31%
Return visitor rate will vary, depending on the industry, but a good return visitor rate is 30% to 50%. This indicates that the returning and new visitors are reasonably balanced. Below 30% would indicate that most visitors are still experiencing their first session on the website.
A high visitor return rate indicates that content or advertising efforts are working in building brand awareness that makes people revisit the website. Returning visitors are more likely to perform a conversion since they are already familiar with the website and know that they are coming back. However, it could also mean that not many new people are finding the website.
If so, it is important that you tell me as soon as possible on this page.
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