Exit Rate shows where visitors leave your site. Unlike , exit rate counts all sessions that end on a page, not just single-page visits. A high exit rate on your checkout page signals problems. A high exit rate on your thank-you page is expected.
What is Exit Rate?
Exit rate measures the percentage of pageviews that were the last in a session. Every session has an exit page. The question is whether visitors are leaving from the right pages.
Technical Definition: The number of exits from a page divided by the total pageviews of that page, expressed as a percentage.
Exit Rate vs Bounce Rate:
- Bounce Rate: Only counts single-page sessions (visitor lands and leaves immediately)
- Exit Rate: Counts all sessions ending on that page (visitor may have viewed 10 pages before leaving)
A page can have a 0% bounce rate but 100% exit rate if every visitor who views it came from another page on your site and then left.
How to Calculate
Exit Rate = (Exits from Page / Total Pageviews of Page) x 100
Example:
- Product page received 1,000 pageviews
- 300 sessions ended on this page
- Exit Rate = (300 / 1,000) x 100 = 30%
How to Interpret Exit Rate
Exit rate matters most on pages where you want visitors to continue. Focus on pages in your .
Pages where high exit rate is a problem:
- Cart page (visitors should proceed to checkout)
- (visitors should complete purchase)
- Category pages (visitors should view products)
- Search results (visitors should click a result)
Pages where high exit rate is normal:
- Thank-you/confirmation pages
- Contact page after form submission
- Blog posts (readers finish and leave)
- External link pages
Compare within page types. Don't compare your blog's exit rate to your product pages. Compare similar pages to find underperformers.
Common Misunderstandings
- "High exit rate = bad page" - Not always. Context and page purpose matter.
- "Exit rate and bounce rate are the same" - No. Bounce rate is a subset of exits.
- "I should minimize exit rate everywhere" - Impossible. Every session must end somewhere.
- "Exit rate shows content quality" - It shows where journeys end, not why.
- "Lower exit rate always means more conversions" - Only if exits decrease on pages.
