9 Marketing Analytics Trends to Expect in 2022

Marketing analytics is vital for running a successful marketing strategy and achieving a great ROI. 

Today's world involves a rapidly developing digital landscape, where marketers and analysts are constantly faced with new opportunities and activities. Keeping up to date with the latest marketing analytics trends is the most important way to ensure your marketing mix is delivering the best results. This is necessary for maintaining a good bottom line and making sure your marketing dollars are spent in the right places. 

As the world continues to spend more time online, the way we approach marketing analytics is also different. And with the developments of machine learning and artificial intelligence, marketing analytics tools are presenting all kinds of new possibilities. 

Here are some of the key trends to look out for in 2022. If your business isn’t following these marketing analytics trends yet, then it's probably a good idea to start. 

1. Using AI for Prescriptive Analytics

AI has been a hot topic in marketing over the last couple of years. Instead of just talking about how it will be the next big thing, we are now seeing it in use. The application of AI in marketing analytics is a major trend to watch out for. 

One of the key areas that AI will be used is to offer clear and precise advice on how a company can execute the most optimal marketing strategies. Instead of just using marketing analytics to discover predictions, AI analytics tools can be used to provide clear prescriptive examples of how to execute the best way forward. 

Prescriptive analytics is one of the most powerful ways that businesses can make decisions, save time, and totally optimize the marketing mix. This makes it way faster to make marketing decisions - instead of having to manually analyze predictive data and make decisions based on that. 

Prescriptive analytics tools combine automation and AI to offer the most advanced marketing analytics solutions. If you want to speed up time-to-market, and make it easier to make accurate decisions, then prescriptive analytics is the way forward. 2022 and beyond should see a rise in AI-powered prescriptive marketing analytics tools. 

Follow our guide to learn more about  , and how to use it to optimize the marketing mix. 

2. Identifying Opportunities with Predictive Analytics

Yes, prescriptive analytics is a key marketing analytics trend for 2022, but this doesn’t mean that predictive analytics is no longer relevant. We’ve seen a significant rise in predictive analytics over 2021, and businesses will continue to use this form of marketing analytics more and more in their operations. 

Predictive analytics is when you use data to predict future outcomes. This is based on historical data, and the outcomes are generated by machine learning software. By using predictive analytics, organizations can identify opportunities faster and more accurately. 

For best results, predictive and prescriptive marketing analytics can be used together to help identify trends and find the best way forward. Instead of relying on guesswork, marketers in 2022 can use analytics tools to identify the best way forward easily and efficiently. 

Follow this guide to learn more about and how it can help your marketing strategy.

3. A Greater Focus On Real-Time Marketing Analytics

Something that we’ve seen a lot of since Covid is a focus on using marketing analytics in real-time. This is a trend we will continue to see during 2022. Businesses want to be able to address customer issues and concerns in real-time, so they’re using low-latency data platforms to help make this happen. This lets organizations understand how their marketing investments and efforts are performing in real-time to measure success as it happens. 

Instead of running campaigns from start to finish and looking back at historical data, organizations can use marketing analytics to focus on data as it is unfolding. A major advantage of this is being able to detect any issues or potential threats as they happen, which allows marketers to make faster decisions. 

Staying up to date with real-time data, and watching data unfold in small steps will be a key analytics trend in 2022.

4. A Greater Focus On Customer Experience

We know that customer experience is one of the most critical factors in customers’ purchasing decisions. The problem is so many companies aren’t focused enough on optimizing this experience. One of the key areas of marketing focus over the last year, that we will continue to see in 2022, is a focus on the customer experience and the CRM. 

In 2022, customers expect personalization and experiences that are optimized for them. This is where we will see one of the year's biggest marketing analytics trends. Organizations will be focused on gathering layers of information around their customers, and keeping this in a centralized CRM. This is essential for creating more personalized experiences and improving marketing success. 

And with the decline of cookies, 2022 will see marketers putting more attention into CRM tools to enhance customer relationships.

So, we will see a greater focus on the management of customer data and customer analytics. With more CRM systems developing, and more data options available for this, customer relationships will remain a key area of focus. This means analytics around customers and market segments will match this.

Learn more about  from Chris Walker who recently shared his insights with us on the Accelerating Value Podcast. 

5. Higher Adoption of Automation & Advanced Analytics

Marketing automation has been on the rise, and we expect to see automated marketing systems becoming even more widely adopted. According to Findstack, 51% of companies are using marketing automation, and 58% of B2Bs are planning to adopt the technology. This increase in automation has also resulted in an increase in multichannel marketing. 

Because of the increase in multichannel marketing and automated marketing, greater focus has been placed on advanced analytics. Advanced analytics are necessary for running effective omnichannel marketing campaigns that achieve the best possible ROI. 

This means a major marketing analytics trend that we will continue to see through 2022 is a focus on using data from various marketing channels. With so many different channels available and being put to use, marketers need to have a complete understanding of how each channel is contributing to the marketing mix, and how the overall marketing mix is performing.

Marketers will be using more advanced analytics to track the impact of each marketing investment and measure how each area is performing. This will help organizations gain a greater understanding of cause and effect in marketing, to see where the best place is to spend their marketing dollar. Ultimately, this means greater ROI with each marketing action. 

So, the trend we will see in 2022 is a greater focus on advanced analytics across a multichannel marketing approach. Instead of measuring the results of the overall strategy, marketers will be looking for deeper insights into the cause and effect of each individual channel. 

Listen to this podcast to learn more about

6. A Shift to Faster Marketing Decisions

The traditional marketing mix modeling (MMM) approach may allow businesses to reach accurate results, but getting these results can be slow. In 2022, businesses want to achieve analytics results and make marketing decisions as fast as possible. These need to be completely accurate, but they also need to be swift. 

This is why we’ll see a greater shift towards gaining fast analytics results. This can be achieved through using the right AI and automation solutions. By making use of tools that combine predictive and prescriptive analytics functions, marketers will be able to make much faster decisions based on data and put these decisions into action. 

Making timely decisions and gaining fast insights will be a major trend for marketing analytics in 2022 and beyond. 

7. More Emphasis On Data Security & Privacy

As businesses put more emphasis into their online activities and data, cybercrimes also see a rise. Protecting data against cybercrimes is an important issue to address, and it's something that businesses need to pay careful attention to going into 2022. 

With a greater focus on data protection, businesses are putting more focus and money into data and analytics technologies that provide additional safety. This includes investing in technology with encryption, access control, and network monitoring measures in place. 

Data security is important for any company, and it’s only becoming more relevant as companies put more focus on gathering and using data. This applies to the company data, but it also applies to customer data.

Marketers also need to pay careful attention to protecting consumer data and privacy. 2021 saw numerous new data and privacy laws come into action. This includes the California Consumer Privacy Act, the Colorado Privacy Act, the Federal Data Protection Laws, and more. There have also been tightening data regulations around Europe.

8. A Pivot to First-Party Data

Third-party cookies are no longer a thing in 2022. This was the case after Google announced it was removing these cookies from its Chrome web browser. 

In the past, businesses could use third-party cookies to stay on top of consumer behavior, and it's been a very helpful marketing tool up until now. With the removal of third-party cookies though, marketers now need to look towards other data sources. 

This includes focusing on first-party data to better understand customers. 2022 will see a rise in first-party data collection to help businesses track low-friction consumer behavior. This will provide slightly different insights into customers, potential customers and their online activities. 

Another thing we’ve seen since the fall of third-party cookies is a rise in contextual customer experience. Basically, this is when you run campaigns that target customers based on their attitudes and position in the funnel. 2022 will continue to see businesses use analytics that focus on the contextual customer experience. 

Although third-party cookies are no longer a feature, there are still ways that marketers can gather and track consumer behavior. 

9. Marketers Are Becoming Analysts

In today’s world, there are all kinds of powerful technology advancements in terms of marketing and analytics. This means modern marketers do so much more than just perform basic marketing functions - they also need to have analytical skills. We’ve seen this trend developing over the last couple of years, but it continues to become more relevant and important. 

In 2022, marketers need to be able to apply strong analytical skills. This is no longer a job reserved for analytical specialists. A key trend we are seeing in this regard is the development of analytics software that is more accessible and more powerful. Today, regular marketers can use tools that offer powerful insights and analytics functionality. This has become a core part of marketing.

The challenge for marketing professionals is making sure the right insight questions are formed to gather the right data for analysis. Ensuring the data is completely accurate before analysis begins is vital. This is an area that modern marketers will be more heavily focused on. 

Learn more about the impact of having the right insights and identifying the right metrics on . 

Final Thoughts

Staying on top of marketing trends is important if your business is going to thrive in a rapidly changing digital landscape. At the same time, you will also need to keep up to date with marketing analytics trends. Without taking the right analytics approach, marketers won't be able to achieve full success with each campaign and marketing investment. Your marketing decisions are only as good as the analytics you use to back them up. 

The different marketing analytics trends we’ve outlined are some of the best ways to measure success, evaluate the market, and make decisions. By utilizing the right analytics technology and approach, businesses will be able to vastly optimize their marketing spend and achieve greater success with each marketing channel and investment. 

to see how you can use Proof BusinessGPS™ to make faster, smarter marketing decisions. This is the easiest way to streamline your marketing operations in 2022.