The MBA Certificate in Consumer Analytics and Insights is a response to a growing interest among businesses to use consumer rich data to make decisions.
Students who earn the MBA Certificate in Consumer Analytics and Insights will be prepared to identify sources of data to examine how an organization’s actions affect relevant decisions, select suitable methods to analyze these data, and understand the risks involved. Through a series of courses, hands-on consumer analytics projects, and events allowing them to engage with experts, students will learn how to manage consumer analytics projects and translate the results into strategic insights.
Overview
Students who earn the MBA Certificate in Consumer Analytics and Insights will be prepared to:
- Frame business problems in terms of consumers’ behaviors and decisions;
- Identify appropriate sources of data to examine how organizations’ actions affect relevant consumer decisions;
- Develop an understanding of relevant methods to select for data analysis;
- Identify and conduct the appropriate analyses to address the business problem using both consumer-level data and/or aggregate data sources; and
- Provide recommendations to address the business problem, supported by data and analyses, including developing decision support tools.
Upon graduation from the MBA Program, students will receive a notation on their official university transcript along with a certificate of completion.
Coursework
Students focus a portion of their MBA electives on building an appreciation of how to provide insight into business problems using consumer data. Students will learn to identify appropriate sources of consumer data for the problems being addressed, select methods appropriate to the data, build decision support tools, and provide recommendations to address the business problems that are supported by data and analyses.
Two Required Electives
- Customer Analytics: This course provides an introduction to the methods employed in customer-centric analytics and the resulting applications. The objective is to introduce students to techniques designed for analyzing behavior at the level of the customer and to examine the implications of the resulting insights on marketing strategies.
- AI & Marketing: This course provides students with an introduction to artificial intelligence in marketing with an emphasis on both application and critical evaluation. Students will learn how AI tools (including generative AI, predictive analytics, conversational agents, and recommendation systems) are applied across the customer lifecycle: from acquisition through monetization and retention. At each stage, cases and exercises highlight both the opportunities for improved performance and the risks of misapplication. The course culminates with a set of cases that address the broader challenges of data privacy, regulation, and brand trust, forcing students to weigh the long-term implications of adopting AI at scale.
Choice of 3 additional electives from a list that includes topics such as:
- Core Principles of Data Visualization
- Digital Marketing Analytics
- Strategic Marketing Research
- Applied Product Management
- Global Marketing
- Consumer Behavior
- How to Build Strong Brands
- Decision Support Systems
- Data Science for Bus Decisions
- Database Development and Management
- Analytics Advantage
- Applied Data Visualization
- Regression Analysis
- Business Forecasting
**This list of MBA electives serves as a guide. It is subject to change and does not represent a guarantee that specific courses will be offered in specific academic years.
Participation
The certificate program is designed for and limited to enrolled McDonough MBA students. Students who are interested in pursuing the certificate are responsible for registering for certificate electives during each MBA registration period on a first-come, first-serve basis. Completing certificates requires in-person class attendance and careful course planning. Flex Online students are not eligible to complete a certificate unless they are able to enroll in and attend classes in Washington, D.C. Current students should view MyHoyaMBA for full details.
Director of the Certificate
Simon Blanchard
Provost Distinguish Associate Professor and Dean’s Professor