Google has added some new predictive metrics into Google Analytics which seek to help businesses connect with website visitors and app users that are increasingly likely to take certain, defined actions, in order to then guide your marketing activities based on those predictions.

As explained by Google:

“Analytics will now suggest new predictive audiences that you can create in the Audience Builder. For example, using Purchase Probability, we will suggest the audience “Likely 7-day purchasers” which includes users who are most likely to purchase in the next seven days.”

That could be handy, right? If you had a fair inkling as to which of your website visitors were likely to make a purchase soon, you could target them with relevant ads or offers to encourage that action.

So how does Google determine people likely to make a purchase?

The process utilizes Google’s advanced prediction capacity, based on your website data, in order to evaluate the likely response actions from each visitor.

“For example, users who have studied product details or added items to their carts have given strong signals that they’re already taking ownership of those products. Analytics goes beyond these simple signals and uses machine learning to find deep patterns of behavior that are unique to your property and show that a user is likely to convert.”

So it goes beyond these key indicators and factors in other actions which may not be as obvious, based on recorded user flows on your, specific website. That could provide some valuable pointers as to where, and how, you should focus your marketing efforts.

There are, of course, some data requirements to facilitate such.

First off, websites need to be connected to Google Analytics (obviously), and also have benchmarking enabled within your data-sharing options. Websites also need to be collecting purchase (and/or “in_app_purchase”) events data, while Google’s system also needs a lot of activity to provide accurate predictions. 

• A minimum number of positive and negative examples of purchasers or churned users. In order to be eligible it is required that 1,000 users triggered the relevant predictive condition and that 1,000 users did not.
• Model quality must be sustained over a period of time to be eligible.

So, it won’t be for every business, but if your website meets these requirements, it could be a valuable addition, with Google’s new predictive audience options able to highlight specific subsets of people who are likely to make a purchase within the next week, as well as those likely to stop visiting your site, which you can focus on with re-engagement campaigns.

In addition to this, Google’s predictive metrics can also be used within your general marketing research process. Using the analysis module within Google Analytics, the data can highlight which of your campaigns helped you acquire users with the highest Purchase Probability, based on the same calculations.

“With that information you may decide to reallocate more of your marketing budget towards that high potential campaign.”

These are more technical analytics options – and as noted, you need a fair amount of purchase activity for them to function. But as more businesses look to eCommerce options amid the COVID-19 shutdowns, there’ll no doubt be a lot of interest in these advanced data points.

And if they apply to your website and process, they are most definitely worth a look.

You can read more about Google’s new predictive insights here.