I'm just back from SIGIR 2007 where I interviewed Jim Jansen on his long term research on query strings as well as more recent work on the nature (quality, perception) of search engine sponsored ads. Finally, we talk about new work Jim presented at SIGIR studying the search process as learning (not decision making).

Check it out at Free IQ.

I'll be in Toronto in a few weeks, speaking at the E-Business Congress in a panel on eManagement in the Dynamic Digital Environment.

This panel combines individual presentations with a group discussion. The focus of this session and the expertise of this panel bring together three different facets for managing in a Digital, eBusiness environment. 1) the evolving relationships among managers and their employees; 2) a leadership and advocacy approach to managing digital creation and collaboration; and 3) a performance-based management approach for eCommerce-related work.

Naturally, I'll be focusing on #3, but great strategies for management of collaboration in metric driven management is also very interesting to reflect upon.

Luckily, it's prime patio seasion in Toronto and I'll be there for a test run of a local "Web Analytics Wednesday".

From the MineThatData blog comes a nice analysis of Internet Retailer Top 500 e-commerce stores conversion rates.

Catalogers have the highest website conversion rate at 4.89%, followed by Web-Only businesses at 3.92%, Retail Chains at 3.05% and Consumer Brand Manufacturers at 2.99%.

Of course, any professional will tell you comparing conversion rates is one of the sillier ways to waste time in analytics. Traffic generation techniques are a key reason why converion varies. You might be fighting for traffic in a very competitive area, grabbing cheap volume terms tangential to your pitch and long tail keywords, or you might be trying to max out your sales volume given a solid investment in inventory. The quality of the traffic is a very strong differentiator.

Still, what's a good conversion rate is a question I receive all the time, so having some "big company" metrics is a nice contribution to the zeitgeist. In addition, this range of conversion jives pretty well with my experience. Branded terms can easily have conversion rates at 5% given that the users are either returning visitors or otherwise referrals.

While bounce rates are not enemy #1 for everyone, the transition in your conversion funnel which loses the highest percentage of users is the biggest issue -- typically abandoned carts for e-commerce shops, I really enjoyed this post coining the term pre-bounce.

The Pre-Bounce is a user rejecting your site based upon visual previews popping up all over the web. Aesthetics matter.