In a prior article, How to Use the Google Analytics Navigation Summary Report, I explained how to use Google Analytics to see how visitors got to specific pages and where they went from these pages. I also pointed out that while the navigation summary report is insightful, there is a significant bug in the report.
Take a look at the following screenshot:
Google Analytics Navigation Summary Report, Error in % Exits
The ‘% Exits’ metric is inaccurately representing the actual data. As of today this report will show ‘0.00% Exits‘ for every page on your website, which is not accurate. Fortunately, there is a simple work around to find the real % Exit rate.
To find the accurate exit rate for a particular page, use the drop down menu as shown in the following screenshot and select the Content Detail report.
Google Analytics Content Detial Report
This report shows the actual % Exit rate for the particular webpage which you were analyzing in the navigation summary report. The metric % Exit indicates percentage of site exits that occurred from that page.
By looking at this metric I can understand what percentage of traffic leaves my website from this page. If this particular page is meant to act as a gateway page and if it has a high % Exit rate, then you definitely want to consider making changes to this page. If this page is meant to be an exit page (e.g. your receipt page) then a high % Exit rate is expected and acceptable.
Google is working on fixing the error in the navigation summary report. Until then you can use the above work-around to find the % Exit metric for a particular page.
[...] the navigation summary report has a bug: it claims all pages have a 0.00% Exit rate. A topic for a future post! Notice that there were only ten pageviews of the homepage, which we see in the middle of the [...]