Analytics is the practice of measuring what happens in a product or business — visits, clicks, sales, retention — and turning those numbers into decisions.
On the web, tools like Google Analytics track page views, traffic sources, and conversion goals — plus retention, churn, and customer lifetime value if you instrument them. Product and UX teams also use heatmaps, session recordings, and A/B tests to go beyond “how many” into “where” and “what changed.” Good analytics answers questions: Which channel brings buyers? Where does the funnel leak? Which page is slow?
A real-life example of analytics
A bakery’s site gets lots of weekend traffic but few catering requests. Analytics shows people land from Instagram, bounce on a long form, and never reach the thank-you page. That’s a signal to shorten the form — not to buy more ads. Without measurement, you’d only guess.
Analytics isn’t just dashboards for their own sake. Define the metrics that matter, then act. For a practical website toolkit, see Web Wise: Analyze Performance and How to Read Business Data.