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I’m sure you’re right about conversion rate as it applies to direct ecommerce site visitors who convert on their initial visit; the point I was trying to make is a bit different.

Direct visitors who convert on a later visit could be undercounted (in terms of tracking the ad or campaign responsible for the visit) due to the cookie issues raised in the comScore study.

Additionally, the direct (e.g., via a click) visit seems to be only part of the story. The indirect visit, such as a visit separated in time from the ad impression, is a bit harder to track. The ad networks have been measuring these “deferred” visits and other indirect conversions from brand campaigns by using their tracking cookies.

I’m suggesting that the cookie issues described in the study could depress measurement of specifically these deferred and indirect conversions.

I believe however that the more commonly quoted ‘conversion rate’ for ecommerce is based on visits, however, and therefore not changed. (The default conversion rate in Omniture and Google Analytics for example are based on visits not uniques.)