High exit rates signal broken user flows. Combine quantitative tracking website analytics (GA4) to find where users leave with qualitative behavioral analytics tools (CUX) to understand why, reducing user frustration and saving conversions.

Combine CUX with Google Analytics 4

CUX integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics, but with the shift to GA4, the way you find high exit pages has changed. One of the most helpful functions for learning how to increase conversion rate is precisely identifying and analyzing pages with high exit rates.

How to find high exit pages in GA4:

Log in to your Google Analytics 4 property.

Navigate to Reports > Engagement > Pages and screens.

Scroll down to the main table. If you don't see an "Exits" column, click the pencil icon ("Customize report") to add the "Exits" metric, or use the Explore tab to build a simple Free-form report listing "Page path" as the row and "Exits" as the metric. One of the most helpful functions for learning how to increase conversion rate is precisely identifying and analyzing pages with high exit rates.

Sort the table by Exits (descending) to see which pages cause the most drop-offs.

Make a note of the top 20 pages. Then, in CUX, go to the Visits section and use the filtering options to find recordings for each of these specific URLs. That’s how you gain access to the behavioral info behind those drops.

12 Common UX issues that spike exit rates

High exit rates often indicate a breakdown in the user flow. Here are common causes:

• Poor UI (mobile and desktop) Mobile dominance is non-negotiable. Users are significantly more likely to abandon a site if it isn’t mobile-optimized. This is a failure of the user interface that directly impacts retention.

• Lack of clear CTAs A clear call to action (CTA) is essential and needs to be prominent on the page. CTAs are texts and buttons that encourage visitors to take a certain form of action – they need to get to the point and be easy to understand.

• Low value to the visitor Content marketing methods are proved to convert 6x more often than other marketing methods – by delivering a high-value content you’re giving both your audience and business a major takeaway.

• Type of page Remember that contact, legal and about pages often have high exit rates, as do blog posts.

• Long loading time Speed expectations are higher than ever. 1 in 4 visitors would abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Slow speeds cause immediate user frustration and are a primary driver of bounces.

• Confusing page layout Aesthetics and clarity matter. 52% of users say the main reason they won’t return to a website is aesthetics. Using website usability testing software helps identify these layout clashes before they cost you customers.

• Lack of contextual links Contextual backlinks – that are embedded within content – provide a good user experience by giving indication of what users can expect to see when they click a link on a webpage.

• Lack of links to related content Google’s algorithm uses links to determine a page’s rank. 99.2% of sites that show up on the top search results have at least one external link.

• Poorly implemented pop-ups Poorly designed and implemented pop-ups (e.g., with a too small closing, appearing on the path of a client coming from a marketplace, with an invisible closing, etc.) will only increase the frustration of users.

• Misleading information The page content does not deliver what the meta tags and meta descriptions has promise

• Unreadable text and small fonts 88% of users are less likely to return to a website after a bad user experience which may contain issues such as too vivid pictures, too small subtitles, wrong font (e.g., not displaying characters in a given language), etc.

• Technical errors / blank pages Remember that you’re fighting over your customers attention with a thick competition – showing them a content they’re not interested in, or worse no content at all may push them into never returning to your page again.

• Too many ads and distractions For example: up to 82% of users say that they have closed a page simply because of an autoplaying video ad, and 51% of them concluded that they think less of brands that use autoplaying online video ad.

Turning insights into action: The qualitative approach

Scan the recordings for correlation of those basic mishaps with what you see on-screen – there’s a great chance you’ll be able to detect those events immediately. Compare visit recordings with click maps (heatmaps), and you should get a very good idea of why people are leaving your site (or your clients’ sites) on certain high exit pages. This qualitative user behavior analysis reveals exactly why people are leaving your site on those specific pages, allowing you to fix the leak.

FAQs

Q: What is the difference between Bounce Rate and Exit Rate in GA4?

A: Bounce Rate measures users who leave after viewing only one page (lack of engagement). Exit Rate measures the percentage of users who left your site from a specific page, regardless of how many pages they viewed before. High exit rates on checkout pages are critical leaks in your conversion path.

Q: Is a high exit rate always bad?

A: No. High exit rates are natural on "Thank You" pages, order confirmation pages, or blog articles where the user got the answer they needed. However, high exit rates on landing pages or midway through a user flow (like a sign-up form) indicate user frustration and lost revenue.

Q: How does CUX help fix high exit pages identified in GA4?

A: GA4 tells you which page is the problem (Quantitative). Behavioral analytics tools like CUX allow you to watch recordings of users specifically on that page. You can see if they are rage-clicking a broken button, missing a CTA, or scrolling frantically, giving you the "Why" (Qualitative) so you can fix it.