Businesses like to have as much information as they can about what customers want to buy. This information can be gathered in several ways – including from software that records how customers behave and from surveys in which people are asked about their lifestyle and buying habits.

The job of the insight analyst involves analysing this data and making recommendations to management. For example, a business might do better if it reduced the price of an item, or perhaps if it targeted a different age-group in its advertising.

As an insight analyst, you would start by finding out what your managers needed to know.

You might help design a survey, or commission an outside company to run one. Once the results were in, you would use specialised software to extract as much information as possible.

You might also study existing research on your industry or perhaps the state of the economy.

You would use all the knowledge you had gained from your analysis to write reports for management.