Analytics: What are they and why are they so important for your Business?

What are they?

In simple terms, think of them as data. Data is obviously a controversial subject but not all data collection is controversial it depends who has it and what they use it for.

Analytics are used to study customer behaviour for effective business decisions through market segmentation and predictive analytics.

In marketing, Analytics or Metrics are a way to monitor your business objectives and goals most commonly when starting a new product line or brand but can be done at any time. Obviously the bigger the business the more data is collected as they have multiple product lines and objectives to monitor.

The most common are now web analytics (web traffic, geographical, ads etc. ) though you can look specifically at marketing analytics (demographics, product, price, promotions etc.) I think for the best results you should aim for a mixture of different metrics from the rising number of analytical groups, establishing an umbrella of knowledge with a few specific metrics designed for your brand.

The truth is you can measure anything you need or even specific individual metrics only applicable to your business. You can change and alter what you measure and how it works for you. It doesn’t have to just be monitoring brand launches you can even check your website for issues or problems. Consistent views just on the home or landing page of your site may reveal issues with navigation or links to the rest of your website.

Google Analytics even have a dedicated portal to help and monitor your website with popular metrics.

Social Media Sites also have dedicated portals for monitoring your business like; profile, views, comments, community and shares.

Why are they important?

They help marketing managers and business owners make better decisions when it comes to launch times, goals and realistic objectives that can be met.

So analytics can mean the difference between product/brand failure or success, with regular analysis you can predict and change your objectives and goals to maximise the likelihood of success.

It can be completely customised for your business needs and is the perfect way to view progress and goals. Don’t think of it as just useless data, it can improve your business as long as you select the right metrics to measure and you properly analyse the data.

What do you think about Analytics? What are your favourites to use?

Please leave a comment below!