Understanding Predictive Data Analytics: A Comprehensive Guide 101

Sharon Rithika • Last Modified: December 29th, 2022

Predictive Data FI

Predictive Data Analytics uses a variety of approaches and tools. It employs Data, Algorithms, and, more recently, Machine Learning techniques to produce the most accurate scientific forecast of the future.

For the correlation and classification of Business data as well as making predictions, statisticians used Predictive Analytics in the form of decision trees and linear/ logistic regression. But, for two reasons, Predictive Data Analytics has become mainstream: simple access to technology that can not only pull but also analyze vast amounts of data, and technology like Machine Learning, a subset of Artificial Intelligence.

In this article, you will learn about what Predictive Data Analytics is and how and why you should use it along with the various techniques used.

Table of Contents

What is Predictive Data Analytics?

Because of data’s predictive capacity, marketers are now using it to not just evaluate historical trends, but also to predict future customer behavior and uncover new opportunities.

Businesses are increasingly turning to Predictive Analytics to learn how to better engage with their customers by collecting information from the vast amounts of data at their disposal, predicting behavior patterns, and identifying new trends.

Predictive Data Analytics uses a variety of methodologies and technologies to make predictions. 

Why use Predictive Data Analytics?

To clarify, Predictive Data Analytics has been available for a long time, but it’s only recently that many more businesses have begun to use it. The following are the reasons for this:

  • To deal with the massive amounts of data, today’s computers are quicker, cheaper, and easier to operate, all of which make Predictive Data Analytics deployment easier.
  • Predictive Data Analytics can also assist in discovering new trends in consumer behavior and prospects for expansion. Marketers can utilize it to gain market insights and discover new trends, allowing them to model their products or service to meet the needs of their customers.

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What are Predictive Data Models?

After gathering enough data, Data analysts can create Predictive Data Models. Each consumer can be assigned a prediction score using Predictive Analytics. This is accomplished through the use of a prediction model that has been trained using your data. Predictive Modeling is a method of predicting outcomes with data models by combining data and statistics.

Predictive Modeling is the use of algorithms to data gathered from prior incidents in order to forecast the result of future events. This is most frequently described in a business model as the study of prior sales data to anticipate future sales results, followed by the use of those projections to decide which marketing decisions should be made.

How to Make Predictive Data Models?

Here are a few steps to do Predictive Data Modeling:

  • To begin, all previous data is reviewed to identify what patterns or parameters your current consumers followed, and hence what patterns they and future customers will follow.
  • Then, using this predictive model, you can observe which marketing initiatives have been successful in the past with each group of your consumer base.
  • Finally, you can determine whether or not the products that were advertised during each campaign increased sales, indicating whether or not those products have a reasonable chance of success if advertised; after all, if a product is advertised for your marketing but does not produce valuable results, it is better to focus on other products.

Why use Predictive Data Models?

By implementing Predictive Data Analytics in the workplace, risks can be considerably minimized because decisions would be based on facts rather than on unproven assumptions and informed guesses.

Predictive Analytics, on the other hand, begins to influence your marketing strategy long before a prospect converts to a lead in your funnel if effectively applied.

The data obtained from new consumers influence the next generation of marketing campaigns as leads in your funnel turn into paying customers.

Benefits of Using Predictive Data Modelling

Because Predictive modeling’s insights are exclusively based on the facts of your organization’s actual business activity, they are adapted particularly for your business’s needs and strategies. The value of Predictive Modelling in terms of optimizing marketing spending is another major benefit. By using Predictive Modeling to determine which customers in your customer base have the highest proclivity to buy, you can better plan out your marketing campaign and avoid wasting money on segments that are unlikely to provide a sufficient return.

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Understanding Predictive Data Analytics Techniques

Predictive Data Analytics can be divided into three categories: Decision trees, Regression, and Neural Networks.

Decision Trees

Because of their simplicity, Decision Trees are one of the most used  Data Modeling tools. This approach, unlike others, can be utilized to solve regression and classification problems.

This concept is essentially a rule-based technique that results in the creation of a tree-like structure. The summit of the tree is where learning begins (i.e. the root node). Each node is essentially a query with a positive or negative response. The several tiers of questions are connected to the various attributes in the dataset. The algorithm reacquaints itself with the responses at various levels of the tree.

Regression

Another prominent modeling technique is Regression. There are two forms of Regression: Linear and Logistic. They are used in Data Analysis to identify correlations between variables. Because of its simplicity, it is also the most often used as a Machine Learning algorithm. The number of independent variables and the type of relationship between the independent and dependent variables affects the regression capabilities of Linear Regression Modeling. Simple and Multiple Linear Regression models are the two types of Linear Regression models.

When there are two class values in a binary classification problem, Logistic Regression is employed to solve it. You can use Logistic Regression to create simple predictions about the likelihood that an observation belongs to one of two classes. Examining a bank customer’s past data to determine whether he is likely to default on his loan repayments is an example.

Neural Networks

Neural Networks could be utilized to solve problems that the human brain excels at, such as voice, image, or text recognition. They may be used to extract features from clustering and classification methods, effectively turning them into modules for bigger Machine Learning applications.

An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is a prediction model that mimics the functioning of the human brain. ANNs are, in fact, at the heart of Deep Learning. When given a labeled dataset to train on, Deep Neural Networks (DNN) can group unlabeled data based on similarities in the inputs, or classify data.

Key Predictive Data Analytics Use Cases

Here are a few use cases of Predictive Data Analytics:

  • Optimizing Marketing: Predictive Data Analytics is used to retain and develop the most profitable client base, based on a customer’s previous behaviors, actions, and purchases. Cross-selling and up-selling are also made easier with this method. Predictive analytics is used by eCommerce sites for merchandise planning, price optimization, and analyzing the performance of advertising efforts in the retail industry. According to research, Amazon raises its sales by as much as 30% by using Predictive Analytics-driven Digital Marketing to offer products to members based on their past behavior.
  • Preventing Fraud: Enterprises such as financial institutions can improve pattern recognition and prevent illegal conduct by using various analytics methodologies, including Predictive Analytics. Predictive Analytics can detect anomalies that could indicate fraud or advanced threats. This type of analytics is used by banks to detect and prevent fraud, assess credit risk, and retain important customers. Predictive analytics is used in the Healthcare Industry to uncover claims fraud and identify people at high risk of chronic disease.
  • Improving Operations: This type of modeling is used in the travel and tourist business, as well as the hotel industry, to manage inventories and resources. Airlines, for example, use this type of data to set real-time ticket rates. Hotels, on the other hand, employ it to improve occupancy and revenue.

Predictive Data Analytics in Marketing

A company must grasp the importance of developing a winning marketing mix plan for a product or service to be successful in marketing. Marketers have historically used data to determine a campaign’s Return on Investment. They’ve become increasingly advanced throughout the years. Predictive Analytics improves marketing campaigns by reducing Customer Attrition, increasing Response Rates, and increasing conversions.

Initially, marketers relied on media mix modeling to determine the long-term impact of a campaign on sales. As Data Analysis progressed, they went on to more complex attribution models, such as the Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) model, which assisted them in understanding consumer purchase routes.

Predictive Data Analytics in Digital Marketing refers to the development of predictive models utilizing statistical analysis, algorithms, and other approaches to both structured and unstructured data sets. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning breakthroughs have further aided this.

Conclusion

In this article, you learned about Predictive Data Analytics, the techniques, different models, etc. There is so much room for Big Data Analysis now that firms can easily download enormous datasets from the cloud, and there are several Cloud-based Predictive Analytics software alternatives on the market. While having a team of professionals interpret data models are critical, the software is required to reduce the time it takes to collect, clean, and analyze data. Predictive Analytics software can analyze both stored and real-time data and help with formatting.

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