How to Analyze Exit Pages and Fix the Leaks

Short answer: list your pages by number of exits, remove the ones where leaving is the expected outcome, and then study what visitors did in the last thirty seconds on the rest. Pages in the middle of a flow, such as cart, checkout, pricing, and signup, are where an exit means something went wrong.

Table of Contents

1. Exit Pages vs Bounces
2. Step 1: Rank by Exits, Not Exit Rate
3. Step 2: Remove Natural Endings
4. Step 3: Look at the Page
5. Step 4: Watch the Last Thirty Seconds
6. Common Causes and Fixes
7. Key Takeaways

Exit Pages vs Bounces

An exit page is the last page of a visit, however many pages came before. A bounce is a visit with only one page. Every visit has an exit page; only some are bounces (full comparison).

Exit analysis is most useful for multi-page visits. These people were engaged enough to browse, and then stopped.

Step 1: Rank by Exits, Not Exit Rate

A page with a 95% exit rate and 30 views is noise. A page with a 35% exit rate and 8,000 views is where your visitors are going missing.

Sort by number of exits, then read the rate as context. DeepSync's Web analytics section lists top exit pages alongside top pages and landing pages, and each can be sliced by device, browser, or country.

Step 2: Remove Natural Endings

For the right-hand column, an exit means the visitor did not do what the page was for.

Step 3: Look at the Page

For each remaining page, check five things.

1. Is there a clear next step? Many pages simply end.
2. Do visitors reach it? A scroll heatmap shows what share see the call to action.
3. What do they click? A click heatmap shows whether they click the intended element, something else, or nothing.
4. Is anything broken? Look at JavaScript errors for that URL.
5. Is it slow? Check real-user loading for the page, especially on mobile.

Split every check by device. A page that works on desktop and leaks on mobile is very common.

Step 4: Watch the Last Thirty Seconds

Filter session recordings to visits that ended on the page and watch ten to fifteen, focusing on the final half minute.

You are looking for which of these describes the exit:

• Done. They found what they needed and left satisfied.
• Stuck. They tried something and it did not work.
• Lost. They scrolled around looking for something.
• Put off. They saw a price, a requirement, or a form and left.
• Interrupted. A popup or a slow load ended it.
• Went elsewhere. They clicked an external link.

Tally them. Two categories usually account for most sessions, and each suggests a different fix.

Common Causes and Fixes

After a fix, compare the exit count and the conversion of the flow for the following two weeks, and rewatch a few sessions to confirm the behavior changed.

Key Takeaways

• Sort exit pages by volume, not rate.
• Ignore pages where leaving is the natural outcome.
• Check next step, scroll reach, clicks, errors, and speed.
• Watch the final thirty seconds and tally the reasons.

Conclusion

An exit page report is a list of the places your site stops being useful to someone. Work down it from the top.

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