Back to all glossary articles

Predictive metrics

In analytics, predictive metrics help you determine what drives progress toward a goal. Metrics of this type do not measure results but rather drivers of behavior. It is more process-oriented than performance-oriented. Using predictive metrics, you can see whether you are creating the desired outcomes day-by-day and month-by-month.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) supports predictive metrics gathered from machine-learning algorithms that measure conversion progress. This means that GA4 uses machine learning to predict future customer behavior. These predictions are based on your site visitors, structured event data, and Google’s machine-learning algorithms. The combo generates predictions about your users’ future behavior.

You may also like:

Universal Analytics vs. Google Analytics 4: Data models and other key differences explained Google Analytics alternatives – free and paid Piwik PRO vs. Universal Analytics & Google Analytics 4

  • Privacy by design in practice: How “just enough” data beats “just in case” collection

    While collecting more data “just in case” feels safer, according to Matt Gershoff, it’s also one of the biggest sources of unnecessary compliance risk, analytical noise, and wasted organizational resources in the analytics industry today. His approach of “just enough” data collection is more intentional, more aligned with privacy regulation, and often more analytically effective.

  • 4 ways to make your analytics HIPAA-compliant: Implementation guide

    Healthcare organizations have four main approaches to achieving HIPAA-compliant analytics. Each has different trade-offs in cost, technical complexity, and analytics capabilities. This guide compares all four implementation methods – from using Google Analytics with workarounds to deploying fully HIPAA-compliant analytics platforms – so you can choose the right approach for your organization’s needs and resources.

Other definitions

Recent posts from Piwik PRO blog