Breadcrumb navigation analysis

[danielkamen]

My client has a website with 160 pages specific to each storefront location.  Their strategy was to not have any links to the homepage so they cannot leave that storefront site.  I feel it makes sense to create a breadcrumb navigation so the user doesn't have to retype in the url to get back (and provides some internal link juice as well).  Has anybody ever came across the same situation or have done testing to know what the bounce rate is?  Or possibly pose the right response to convince my client they should in fact have a breadcrumb navigation?

[itrogers]

I have a client who operates 13 stores across 3 general locations. Each store has its own page with unique store information. This site uses breadcrumbs to get back to home page and a sub page listing all of the locations for that particular area.

Our homepage also has a list of all of the locations, but it is feasible for tis operation since it only has 13 locations, obviously this might not work for your model.

As far as bounce rate, the average store landing page is about 63%. Although it seems high, I believe that the user is getting the information they need (phone numbers) and calling the individual store, asking questions, directions, etc and leaving with the info they need to move on. They have confirmed that their call volume is much higher since we started optimizing and their walk in rate is rising also.

I think it's a good move to post the breadcrumbs, it offers better user experience and like you said some linkage to the rest of your site.