Whether you are a small business owner looking to get a better grasp of who buys your products or a writer trying to determine why your blog traffic suddenly spiked, analytics have a ton to offer you. How can collecting statistics and understanding what they mean help your business?

Who Are You Targeting? Who is Responding?

Every business owner has an intended audience in mind for their product or service, and data analytics allow you to see if your intended audience and actual audience are the same. Google Analytics can show you where in the world your audience is coming from (literally) and give you insight into who they are. Data analytics can be key in readjusting your marketing and digital media strategies if you find that the answers to the two questions above don’t match.

Save Yourself Some Time

Time savings is something many people don’t consider when they are sorting through piles of data, but careful data analysis can save time in the long run. Think of all the social channels you publish to—Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and the list goes on! Data analysis allows you to see where traffic is coming from and what sites best connect you with your target audience. It’s good if one channel provides you with traffic, but it’s great if another channel can provide you with traffic and engagement.

Understand the Keywords Your Audience Uses

Keyword insight is one of the most valuable things that data analytics has to offer. Most people think that they know what their customers search for, but concrete data allows you to see what customers search for, whether they visited before, and how long they stuck around. Knowing the most popular keywords that attract visitors to your website allows you to tailor your content to get optimal search engine ranking and traffic. 

Know Your Strengths

Using data analytics, whether through Google Analytics or your email stats, you can determine what types of pages or emails help your customers the most. Are your pages only being visited for seconds at a time and closed or are visitors lingering to get more information? Knowing what your visitors want and what they find helpful is crucial to making your online presence stronger. 

Know Your Weaknesses

Data analytics can also show you your weak points, which can be especially useful for online businesses that suffer from a high percentage of abandoned shopping carts. Many online shopping issues can be diagnosed through data and fixed for better sales.

How have stats and data analytics helped your business?