Product analytics is the set of tools you use to collect and pull insights from your product’s quantitative user behavioral data. When deployed properly, product analytics can tell you when and how often a feature is used and by whom. It can tell you what actions your users are taking before converting (or not converting).
In other words, with product analytics, you can walk around your product in the shoes of your customer. You are experiencing the product as they experience it, by reviewing the actions they take.
Product analytics vs. marketing analytics
Product analytics and marketing analytics both provide valuable insights into your users and how they interact with your company.
But as the names suggest, marketing analytics focuses on understanding how your users interact with your different marketing initiatives. It highlights the first part of your user’s journey before they come into contact with your product. Marketing analytics tools—such as Google Analytics—can help you track traffic sources, page views, time spent on your website, and other valuable campaign metrics.
Product analytics provides information on how users are interacting with your product at a highly granular level. It helps you measure engagement in a meaningful way and reduce friction throughout your product. Are users getting stuck at a certain point? Product analytics will tell you that.