# Predictive analytics: what it is and how it works
> Predictive analytics uses historical data, statistical models and machine learning to estimate the likelihood of future events.
URL: https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/digital-marketing/predictive-analytics.html

# Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics is the use of historical data, statistical models and machine learning techniques to estimate the likelihood of future events or behaviour

What it means, how it is used and where it comes up, with its related concepts.

[The whole glossary](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary)

## What it is and how it works

In marketing and sales it is used, for example, to identify which customers are most at risk of churning, which leads are most likely to convert, what demand a product will see or which offer may interest each person most. Its outputs are probabilities, not certainties, and their quality depends on the underlying data and on the model being reviewed when conditions change.

It differs from descriptive analytics, which explains what has happened, and prescriptive analytics, which recommends what to do. Using it with personal data must comply with data protection law, which restricts automated decisions with significant effects on individuals and requires transparency.

Also known as

Predictive marketing, Predictive analysis

Topics

[Marketing and sales](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/category/marketing-y-ventas)

## Related concepts

- [Machine learning](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/digital-marketing/machine-learning.html)
- [Big data](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/digital-marketing/big-data.html)
- [Lead scoring](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/dictionary/digital-marketing/lead-scoring.html)