GA4: Engagement Rate & Bounce Rate

Last update 14/12/22

We use the engagement rate and bounce rate metrics to measure engagement on the website or app

Engagement rate is the percentage of sessions that were engaged sessions.
Bounce rate is the percentage of sessions that were not engaged sessions.

Bounce rate is the inverse of Engagement rate.

For example, someone visits the website, reviews content on the home page for less than 10 seconds, and then leaves without triggering any events or visiting any other pages or screens.
Analytics will count the session as a bounce and the bounce rate percentage will increase.

Def: Engaged Session
An engaged session is one that meets one of the following requirements:
1. Lasts longer than 10 seconds
2. Contains more than one pageview
3. Contains at least one conversion event

Engagement rate is calculated: engaged sessions / total sessions
The 10-second threshold makes engagement rate much less subjective.
Engagement rate will only decrease if users are coming to the site and quickly leaving.

See the metrics in the Pages and screens report

If you are an Editor (or above), you can customize the Pages and screens report (or most other reports) to include the two metrics.

1. GA4 > Report
2. Click the Pages and screens report on the left.
   If you don't see the report, someone may have removed it.
   You can add the report through the report library, or you can customize a different report to include the metrics.
3. On the top right, click Customize report.
   
   If you don't see the button, you don't have Edit permission.
   
   
4. In the REPORT DATA section on the top right, click Metrics.
   
   
   5. Add "Engagement rate" and "Bounce rate" and click Apply.
   
   
   6.Save the changes to the current report.
   You can also add the two metrics to an exploration(=report).