Four Types of Data Analysis

There are four types of data analysis: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive. Companies usually focus on the first two, as the latter two are still being perfected by ongoing development of machine learning and AI techniques. Here is a brief description of each category of analysis and how they can be useful to your business.

Descriptive Analytics

Descriptive analytics help you see what is happening in your business. If you’re just looking to monitor trends, quantities or transactions, this is most likely all you need. We have awesome tools available to bring live descriptive analytics to your business and help you monitor these items ongoing.

Diagnostic Analytics

Just like going to the doctor, diagnostic analytics help you find out why symptoms are occurring. Perhaps you had a marketing campaign flop, diagnostic analytics can help look for the root cause within the data. Maybe you mailed too many deceased or too many people in a certain zip code – diagnostic analytics can drill down into the data to try and understand why something happened.

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics use data to predict the future, instead of relying on the old crystal ball. Understanding what has happened in the past can help infer the future, especially if your marketing strategies have been consistent over time. Predictive analytics can be automated within your business and can help you determine potential outcomes before they happen. Game changer.

Prescriptive Analytics

Prescriptive analytics are the recommendations for fixing or bettering current strategies. For instance, prescriptive analytics can be used to determine if a change should be made to your current products and services or if a test is a winner and should be rolled out in future campaigns.

Most businesses spend so much time with descriptive and diagnostic analysis that they don’t have time to tackle predictive or prescriptive categories. The real value of analysis comes when automation can occur and when decisions can be made based on the data. If your company isn’t using predictive or prescriptive analytics in your marketing yet, give us a call at B2E. Let us show you the value that can be brought to your business with these advanced types of analytics.