Three Must-Haves When Buying Digital Analytics Solutions In 2026

Digital analytics solutions have evolved far beyond simple web tracking. Today, they provide a holistic view of customer behavior across websites and apps, uncover UX/UI issues, track product feature adoption, and ultimately help improve digital experiences and drive business outcomes. As you prepare for buying digital analytics solutions in 2026, choosing the right one is critical.

Our latest research, The Forrester Wave™: Digital Analytics Solutions, Q3 2025, compares the capabilities and strategies of the top 10 vendors in this market. To complement this analysis, we conducted 22 interviews with enterprise digital analytics buyers across industries. Their insights can help guide your vendor selection.

Key Behaviors Shaping The Digital Analytics Buyer

Our interviews revealed several trends in how digital analytics buyers use digital analytics solutions. Here are the most notable that can help guide your own buying decision-making for digital analytics solutions:

GenAI-driven automation is on the rise — but still in its early days. Vendors are introducing generative AI tools to automate tasks such as generating charts, identifying trends, and summarizing key insights. While most organizations are eager to embrace automation, they are still exploring its capabilities, benefits, and risks.
Ease of use is driving the democratization of insights. Modern platforms emphasize intuitive design and self-service, enabling adoption beyond data and analytics teams. Marketers, product managers, and other stakeholders are increasingly leveraging these tools to create and apply insights across departments. This broader set of users is making digital analytics solutions more holistic, with analysis of customer behavior, UX/UI, and digital product performance. Today, however, no single solution fully addresses the breadth of digital analytics use cases, including both quantitative and qualitative insights.

Three Key Considerations For Buying Digital Analytics Solutions

If you’re planning to adopt, replace, or expand your digital analytics solution, keep these three factors in mind in particular:

Ease and speed of use matter for faster decision-making. Solutions that are intuitive, easy to learn, and scalable to non-analysts accelerate insight generation and sharing across teams. Evaluate the UX/UI to ensure that it supports quick, actionable insights and fosters an insights-driven culture throughout your organization.
Data integration is essential for tailored actions. Connecting online behaviors with offline transactions, call center interactions, and other data sources remains a top priority for companies. Look for vendors that support robust data integration — whether through cross-channel analysis, multisource connections, or bidirectional data warehouse integration.
Affordability doesn’t mean compromise. Cost-effective solutions can still deliver strong performance and reliability. Many vendors offer affordable options while holding their heads high against more expensive competitors. Align your budget with the capabilities you truly need — often, a well-rounded set of features from a lower-cost vendor can meet your objectives without unnecessary extras.

To dive deeper into digital analytics buyer insights, read the Buyer’s Guide: Digital Analytics Solutions, 2025. For a detailed comparison of all 10 vendors — including the criteria that set them apart — check out the full Forrester Wave evaluation. And if you’d like personalized guidance, schedule a session with me!