Using data to further understand the habits of your readers and customers is vital in making sure your current marketing strategy is having its intended effects. In recent years, it has become possible to analyze virtually every aspect of a visitor’s behaviour while on your site – in most cases, the only limitation is cost. With so many different ways to analyze data available these days, it is important that webmasters understand what each particular type of data can offer them. Below, we will discuss varying analytics options for those who need their first or an additional analytics solution for their online marketing.

Descriptive Analytics

This type of analytics can be best summarized in terms of being a basic solution for marketers. Descriptive analytics works by pinging sites for basic information from users, and categorizing that information for later review. Many basic online marketers use descriptive analytics as a way to monitor past performance and correlate that with metrics such as impressions, pages views, and the origin of traffic. A common example of descriptive analytics would be the ‘Insights’ features available free for Facebook pages. While there are many analytics solutions like this available, it is considered one-dimensional when stacked against the other types of analytics mentioned later in this article.

Predictive Analytics

A step up in many regards from descriptive analytics solutions, predictive analytics uses many of the same data-sets but harnesses them to provide an added layer of data that can be used to increase performance. As suggested in its name, predictive analytics help take past trends and extrapolate them into data that can predict in some ways what the future holds for your marketing efforts. It is through this solution that many businesses and websites are able to forecast when their traffic will be up and when it will be down – and with that, revenue and impressions.

Prescriptive Analytics

This type of analytics is fundamentally the end-game for determining the overall status of your internet marketing. Prescriptive analytics are the result of an intuitive process where the data collected is used and analyzed in ways that look for new trends and events that can further signify what your customers will do. While predictive analysis makes guesses at what will happen based on available data, prescriptive analytics uses the available information to search for new data that would not be found using descriptive or predictive analytics.

Conclusion

Each marketing strategy can benefit from the use of analytics, with something to offer regardless of the type. Beginners will want to be pinging sites with descriptive analytics and slowly move up the chain as they develop a better understanding of the data being presented, as well as earning the revenue necessary to purchase more comprehensive solutions. Predictive analytics is the most commonly-used solution for larger companies and endeavours, and many companies find this to be perfectly suitable for them. Still, the future will most likely be influenced by prescriptive analytics as more and more people seek prosperity in the age of ever-increasing competition.