Bounce rates are public enemy #1 in the world of conversion, because they represent the number of times visitors slam the door in your face without even getting to know you. The good news is that bounce rates could be dropping considerably in the near future.

The bad news is that the reason isn't that web sites are improving so dramatically that more visitors will more immediately recognize a path to their goal and therefore continue clicking deeper into the site. It's because web-page previews are starting to appear in search engines (and other places) so visitors can reject you without the hassle of having to even visit your site in the first place.

Instead of slamming the door in your face they'll just be driving in and out of the parking lot. The trouble is you won't even know they came because since they didn't load your page the drive-by won't show up in your website analytics. Conversion rates will skyrocket (yeah!) but this could give the false impression that your home page (or any other web page for that matter) isn't really bad - when in reality it probably is.

The new ASK 3D is the example I saw today that got me thinking about this. There have been other tools like this include SnapShots that can be added to any site. As these tools become prevalent and more full featured, it's another major shot across the bow of website analytics as we now know it.

Of course, there is a simple solution. The preview technology guys (Ask, SNAP, others) could be kind enough to send us a tagged ping when our previews are viewed. Maybe even include the keyword (in the case of search, the URL in the case of SNAP) where the preview occurred. Quick, someone call the WAA or our Analytics Lobbyists in Washington...