Analytics, Profiling & Market Analytics

Analytics, Profiling & Market Analytics Analytics Analytics, in its simplest terms, is looking at data and creating meaningful insight, or understanding. It is used, primarily by businesses – either themselves or using a third party or partner company – to make decision/s using data and create useful actions based on data – be that customer, prospect or transactional data that the company has available to them. Analytics is a more logical and scientific approach to making business decisions and it is based on the use of data to enable this. Analytics uses information from the past to describe and often predict the future. It enables managers to make decisions based on previous data. Analytics closely resembles statistical analysis and data mining, but tends to be based on modeling involving extensive computation. Some fields within the area of analytics are enterprise decision management, marketing analytics, predictive science, strategy science, credit risk analysis and fraud analytics. Which we can use here can be EDM, Data Analysis and EDM using Data Analysis. Analysts are often mathematically trained in statistical techniques. Business analytics is often undertaken by individuals who are more knowledgeable about market sectors and industries than mathematics and, in marketing, the proliferation of marketing and customer analysis software has reduced the need for such qualifications. There are two main types of analytics: 1.

The study of business data. This is done using statistical analysis in order to discover and understand historical patterns with an eye to predicting and improving business performance in the future.

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Analytics is used extensively in marketing and customer relationship management (CRM). CRM analytics comprises all programming that analyses data about an enterprise's customers and presents it so that better and quicker business decisions can be made.

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CRM analytics can be considered a form of online analytical processing and may employ data mining. As Web sites have added a new and often faster way to interact with customers, the opportunity and the need to turn data collected about customers into useful information has become generally apparent. As a result, a number of software companies have developed products that do customer data analysis.

Profiling Profiling is a simple means of describing what is happening in a complex database in a way that increases our understanding of the people, products or processes that created the data in the first place. Group profiles are used in marketing to tailor messages and product / service offerings. Direct marketing traditionally uses profiling to make high targeted customer contact. In addition, loyalty cards, customer relationship management and channel strategies may all rely on customer profiling. By describing behavior of a customer, it often provides an acceptable explanation. Decision trees are often profiling tools for customers and clusters can also be used to build profiles. Profiling can be done using a number of customer data sets and can also include socio-demographic data from external sources. Profiles are often based on demographic variables, such as geographic location, gender and age. Profiles can also be established according to specific behaviours that a group of people share or their status in relation to their behaviour e.g. their credit risk. Profiles are classified according to either an individual or a group. Individual profiling will show the particular characteristics of that person with the intention of making communications to them truly personalized. In marketing contexts, it is usually the case that profiling looks at behaviours and features of individuals that enable them to be categorized as a certain type or group, based on shared information with others. Group profiles are often then shared to build predictive models. These models may take the behaviour of some members in the past and predict behavior of the whole group in the future, for example in relation to whether they will be an high-value customer. Profiles can be built using a number of approaches. Some companies build bespoke profiles of their customers and prospects and other use one of the many profiling technologies available on the market.

Market Analysis Market analysis can refer to a number of different activities. The common feature, however, is that each involves specialized analytical experience. Before undertaking market analysis, as with all analysis, it is important to be clear about what the expected outcomes are and what information specifically is being analyzed. Not all managers are asked to conduct a market analysis, but all managers must make decisions using market analysis data and understand how the data was derived. So all managers need a reasonable understanding of the tools most used for making sales forecasts and analyzing markets. There are four main types of market analysis, which we have given more detail of below: 1.

Analysis of a company

The first type of market analysis is a documented investigation of a Market that is used to inform a company’s planning activities particularly around decision of: inventory, purchase, work force expansion/contraction, facility expansion, purchases of capital equipment, promotional activities, and other aspects of a company. 2.

Analysis of potential customers

The second type of market analysis is the process of identifying potential consumers of a product or service, the size of the group, and the percentage of the market that could be captured, considering costs and competition. It is used to predict the movement of a market and to identify and quantify business opportunities. 3.

Analysis of a market

The third type of market analysis is used to determine the attractiveness of a market and to understand its evolving opportunities and threats as they relate to the strength and weaknesses of the business. 4.

Sales forecasting

A large number of market analysis techniques are related to sales forecasting, others are more general techniques for analyzing markets. Market analysis is important is important in several areas. These include: sales forecasting, market research, and marketing strategy. Sales forecasting and market analysis are complementary skills that any marketing manager should possess.