Data is the new oil, and for marketers, analytics is the engine that turns that valuable information into growth. On its own, data is cool — especially if you’re into numbers. However, it’s the smart analysis of that customer data that powers actual business change. Ultimately, without marketing analytics, brands are left in the dark, unsure of what’s working and what’s not.
Are you hoping to boost your company’s marketing performance and make a bigger impact on your target audience? It starts with taking a hard look at your analytics and strategically using your findings. This is easier said than done, though. Let’s break down what marketing analytics are and how you can ensure you’re tracking the right ones for your business.
What Are Marketing Analytics + How Do They Boost Decision-Making?
Marketing analytics involve tracking, managing and evaluating data to determine how successful your company’s marketing efforts are. When used correctly, these results help brands make better decisions based on facts rather than guesswork. For example, if you notice you have low customer engagement rates on social media posts but high impressions, you could assume that the content isn’t resonating with the audience — or it’s not getting in front of the right people to begin with.
Why does this information matter? Well, knowing those statistics tells you what the problem is, so you can take actionable steps to improve performance.
It’s the same for any marketing concerns you might have. If you notice a section of your advertising efforts is coming back empty-handed, analytics help you pinpoint the root problem. Rather than throwing a bunch of solutions out and seeing which one sticks, you can save money, time and stress by narrowing your focus and pinpointing a data-driven answer. In fact, Salesforce found that 80% of business leaders say data is critical in decision-making.
Now, not all data is considered equal in the eyes of a marketing professional. Marketing analytics and basic metrics are similar, but basic metrics only show you “what” and “how much,” while marketing analytics help you understand the “why.” If marketing data were looked at as a piece of art, individual data points would be the outlined sketch, while strategic analytics would color in the picture, giving it more life and depth.
When you track targeted, specific analytics, you can maximize effectiveness, optimize ROI and uncover market trends better than with broad, ambiguous data.
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Who Is a Marketing Analyst: A Marketing Team’s Secret Weapon
A marketing analyst is someone who analyzes data to support a company’s marketing department efforts. These marketing professionals focus on data collection, analysis, reporting and insights delivery, assisting teams with pinpointing and explaining key data points to help decision-making. On top of managing data collection, they also make recommendations on how to proceed with targeted marketing campaigns using metrics as their guide.
While anyone can learn how to gather and manage data analytics, having this professional on your team can really benefit your digital marketing performance. They’re generally very technical people, boasting proficiency in spreadsheet tools like Excel, web analytics platforms like Google Analytics and business intelligence tools. On top of that, they’re also strategic and good at communicating with a range of team members.
Marketing analysts know the right kinds of metrics to gather, how to use those datapoints to point teams in the best direction and ways to implement action steps into the overall digital marketing strategy. Let’s look at what we consider the “right” types of business analytics.
Types of Marketing Analytics
All metrics can be split into 4 different categories: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive. Here’s how they fit together:
Descriptive Analytics: What Happened?
Descriptive marketing analytics involve collecting and looking at data that describes past events, like sales, webpage views, traffic volume and bounce rate. This information is the most common type of metric collected, providing insight into what happened in previous campaigns.
Diagnostic Analytics: Why Did It Happen?
Next up is diagnostic marketing analytics. These insights look at the reasons that past events occurred, providing marketers with more context on why a campaign performed the way it did. This could include determining that drop-offs on a landing page were due to a paid search campaign ending rather than just a random decline in visits.
Predictive Analytics: What Will Happen?
Predictive marketing analytics show what’s likely to occur in the future, using forecasting models based on historical market trends. These insights include lead scoring or churn prediction, looking at what direction efforts are headed, derived from previous performance. For instance, predictive analytics could help you expect a boost in organic traffic to your website in September due to last year’s increase in traffic around Labor Day weekend.
Prescriptive Analytics: What Should We Do?
Lastly, prescriptive marketing analytics tie all the metric forms together to determine what should happen next to get the results you’re looking for. This data gives you a lens to view myriad possible outcomes for a given situation, ensuring you step forward confidently with each campaign. This could include budget reallocation or A/B test results to make sure your efforts are as relevant and timely as possible.
6 Common KPIs To Track
For the best outcomes, your team should track the most beneficial KPIs from each of these forms of strategic marketing data analytics, providing the perfect formula for a masterful campaign. Here are six of the most common — and advantageous — metrics to follow:
1. Traffic Source and Customer Behavior (e.g., Organic, Direct, Referral or Paid)
This metric shows where your website traffic is coming from and how users behave once they arrive. Are they finding you via search engines (organic), typing your URL directly (direct), clicking through from another site (referral) or responding to your ads (paid)? Other sources include email and organic social media. By understanding this, you can identify which channels are driving the most valuable visitors — and which ones may need more attention or budget.
2. Conversion Rates (By Campaign, Source and Device)
Conversion rate is the percentage of users who complete a desired action — such as filling out a form, signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. Segmenting this by campaign, traffic source or device gives a detailed view of what’s actually influencing outcomes, helping you optimize creative assets and delivery for better performance.
3. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
CAC tells you how much it costs, on average, to acquire a new customer, while CLV estimates how much revenue that customer will generate over time. These metrics go hand-in-hand. When your CLV outweighs your CAC, you’re running a profitable marketing operation. Keeping a pulse on both helps balance spend and long-term value.
4. ROI and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
ROI measures how much overall profit your marketing generates compared to how much you spent. ROAS narrows that focus specifically to paid advertising campaigns. These metrics show whether your marketing dollars are actually working — or just working hard with little payoff.
5. Customer Engagement Metrics (e.g., Open Rates, Time on Site and Click-Through Rate)
These metrics show how actively users are interacting with your content. Email open rates tell you if your messaging gets attention. Time on site reveals how compelling your content is. Click-through rates (CTR) reflect how often users take action. All together, these insights reveal how engaging your brand is and what might need adjusting.
6. Attribution Models (First Click, Last Click and Multi-Touch)
Attribution models help determine which touchpoints should get credit for conversions. First-click gives credit to the first interaction, last-click rewards the final one and multi-touch considers every step along the way. Choosing the right model gives you a more accurate view of your real impact and ensures you’re investing in marketing activity that matters most.
6 Benefits of Marketing Analytics: How To Win the Day
If you already achieve positive results from your marketing efforts, you might wonder if analytics are worth it. We’re here to tell you the truth: Marketing data analytics aren’t just about present-day performance; a strategic approach to marketing analytics sets you up for success long into the future. What’s working now won’t always, so smart and strategic data collection is the way to get ahead and stay there for years to come.
Here are 6 benefits you could receive from marketing analytics:
1. Data-Driven Decision Making
When you can pinpoint what’s not working for your audience, you can actually fix it rather than make assumptions about a solution. This cuts back on trial and error and gets your content in front of the right people at the right time, ASAP.
2. Improved Marketing Campaign Performance
With predictive analytics guiding your path, you’ll have a blueprint for every project. Not only does this keep your campaigns and marketing channels cohesive, but it also helps improve outcomes by predicting how customers will respond to your content. This encourages more brand awareness and customer engagement.
3. Further Customer Insights
It’s hard to talk to people that you don’t know. With enhanced audience analytics telling you what people care about and what types of problems they’re trying to solve, you’ll swoop in and save the day with the perfect solution, right on time.
4. Budget Optimization
Nobody wants to waste money, especially not when you have a limited budget. By knowing the most effective marketing tactics, you can invest where ROI is highest and continue pivoting as needed, avoiding fruitless campaigns.
5. Competitive Advantage
Having data doesn’t make you special, but using that information to identify market gaps does. Outperform your peers by becoming the solution your target audience didn’t even know they needed. And stay one step ahead by predicting patterns competitors didn’t see coming.
6. Enhanced Personalization
In 2021, McKinsey & Company found that 71% of customers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and that number has only increased since then. Now more than ever, marketers must talk to their target audience like friends, knowing what’s going on in their lives, what solutions they need and how they like to be communicated with.
By utilizing digital marketing analytics, brands can become powerhouses in their industry, fueling business growth and keeping customers fed with relevant content that will keep them engaged and happy. In a world where precision drives performance, marketing analytics isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the competitive edge that turns good brands into great ones.