Why Hire a Fractional Analyst Instead of a Full-Time Analyst?

Jack
Sep 8
5 min read

Every small business is swamped with data. From sales rep tracking and email campaigns, to customer Life Time Value (LTV) and Cost of Acquisition (CAC), the info you need to make better decisions is already in your systems. BUT. Most companies don't have the internal resources to actually analyze, visualize, and be data-driven (or at least not the level they want to be).

Hiring a full-time business intelligence analyst can feel like the obvious solution—until you see the six-figure salary, benefits, training, and overhead that come with it. For many small and mid-sized businesses, that investment is out of reach.

That’s where a Fractional Analyst comes in.

Instead of adding another full-time hire, you can partner with a fractional data expert who builds dashboards, analyzes your results, and helps you grow profitably—without the full-time cost. At Pineapple Consulting Firm, we call this building your Custom Analytical Machine: a system that gives you clarity, confidence, and growth by turning your raw data into actionable insights.

See pricing and examples

What Is a Fractional Analyst?

A Fractional Analyst—sometimes called a part-time or outsourced analyst—is an affordable partner who provides the same value as a traditional business intelligence analyst, but on a flexible and scalable basis.

Their job is to handle the heavy lifting in the “data world”:

Building dashboards tailored to your KPIs
Performing ongoing analysis
Identifying trends, risks, and opportunities
Making recommendations that guide business decisions

Instead of paying for hours without guaranteed results, you get a dedicated expert whose sole purpose is to help you use data to grow.

A Fractional Analyst is not always involved in strategic decision-making the way a CFO might be, but they provide the essential foundation of insight that leaders need to make confident, informed decisions.

How the Fractional Analyst Model Works

At Pineapple Consulting Firm, we've got a proven three-part process to be the best possible partner for you and help you grow (the data-driven way)!

Step 1: Initial Diagnostic

We start by diving into your business goals, KPIs, and current data setup. From there, we create a Data Strategy Roadmap and build your first dashboards.

This diagnostic phase ensures that what we build aligns directly to your highest-priority goals.

Average cost: ~$2,500 (flat fee)

Step 2: Analytics Retainer

Once your dashboards are up and running, we keep the engine humming. The Analytics Retainer covers ongoing analysis, continuous dashboard improvements, and data maintenance.

We're your own data team - ensuring you always have accurate, up-to-date insights, recommendations, and the dashboards to see them all the easy way.

Average cost: ~$400/month

Step 3: Impact Commission

This is where we set ourselves apart. Traditional consultants charge big retainers whether or not they move the needle for your business. We flip that model.

Our biggest upside comes from the growth we help you achieve. We call this the Impact Commission—a performance-based fee tied directly to measurable gains in your business.

Standard rate: 10% of gains above baseline
Example: If we uncover an additional $10,000 in monthly profit, we earn $1,000. You keep the other $9,000.
If there’s no measurable gain, you only pay the retainer.

This model makes our incentives 100% aligned with yours. We only win if you do.

Fractional Analyst vs. Full-Time Analyst

So why not just hire full-time? Let’s look at the numbers.

Full-Time Analyst Costs:

Average salary: $100,000+ per year
Benefits: ~$9,200 per year
Employer costs (taxes, overhead, payroll): ~$26,000 per year
Total annual cost: ~$136,000 (or ~$11,300/month)

And that doesn’t include hidden costs:

Recruiting and onboarding
Training and development
Paying for hours instead of results

Fractional Analyst Costs (with Pineapple):

Initial Diagnostic: $2,500 (one-time)
Analytics Retainer: ~$400/month
Impact Commission: 10% of measurable gains (performance-based, capped)
Total monthly investment: ~$1,400 on average

That’s a 10x cost advantage, with the added assurance that you only pay for results, not empty hours.

Start being data-confident at 1/10 the cost

Real-World Examples

Here’s what this looks like in practice:

Ecommerce Company Example

KPI: Customer Retention
Deliverables: Cohort retention dashboard + monthly analysis on free trial effectiveness and CAC
Pricing:
- Initial Diagnostic: $3,000 one-time
- Analytics Retainer: $250/month
- Impact Commission: 10% of gains from new customers above baseline

Food Distributor Example

KPI: Gross Profit from Sales Reps
Deliverables: Sales rep dashboard + weekly analysis on product & customer recommendations
Pricing:
- Initial Diagnostic: $2,000 one-time
- Analytics Retainer: $500/month
- Impact Commission: 10% of gross profit gains above baseline, capped at $10,000/month

Outcomes of Working With a Fractional Analyst

When you partner with Pineapple Consulting Firm, here’s what you can expect:

✅ One central location for all your data — no more disconnected spreadsheets and conflicting reports

✅ Custom dashboards tailored to your KPIs and growth goals

✅ Ongoing analysis so you don’t just see what happened, but why it happened

✅ Actionable recommendations to grow profit, reduce costs, and improve retention

✅ Impact calculations to quantify the value of every decision

✅ Aligned incentives — you keep 90% of the upside, always

Why Businesses Choose Fractional Analysts

The benefits go beyond cost savings. A Fractional Analyst helps you:

Build tools and dashboards that are always up to date
Take raw data and transform it into usable, decision-ready formats
Free up leaders to focus on relationships, vision, and execution
Scale without adding headcount or internal overhead

You get all the benefits of an in-house analyst—at a fraction of the cost—plus the confidence of knowing your partner is incentivized to deliver results.

Skills and Versatility

Fractional Analysts aren’t tied to a single type of data. Our team is skilled across:

Financial Analysis: Digging into QuickBooks and ERP systems to provide insights into profit, cash flow, and forecasts
Marketing Analysis: Connecting platforms like Google Analytics and HubSpot to maximize ROI on campaigns
Operational Analysis: Sifting through systems like Clockify or Fishbowl to uncover efficiency gains

We’ve worked across ecommerce, distribution, manufacturing, consulting, and home services—so we can adapt to almost any industry.

Tools We Work With

If it has data, we can connect to it. Some of our common integrations include:

BI Tools: Looker Studio, Tableau, Power BI
Finance Tools: QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite
Marketing Tools: Google Analytics, HubSpot, Shopify
Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL-based systems

The Value of Data-Driven Decisions

Pretty dashboards, and some fancy spreadsheet models only go so far.

The real value of a Fractional Analyst is all about helping you making better, faster, more confident decisions that grow the company.

When you can clearly see your numbers, measure impact, and build a strategy quickly, you unlock opportunities that would otherwise be invisible.

For one client, that meant uncovering $120,000/year in hidden profit. For another, it meant identifying exactly which marketing channels were wasting spend and reallocating budget for a 5x return.

Would you invest $12k to make $120,000?

Calculate your monthly opportunity

Summary: Unlock Growth Without the Full-Time Cost

A Fractional Analyst gives you clarity, confidence, and growth—all without the cost of a full-time hire. You get dashboards, analysis, and recommendations that turn your data into decisions - confident ones, too.

At Pineapple Consulting Firm, we’ve built our model so our incentives are always aligned: a low retainer to keep things running, and an Impact Commission that ensures we only win when you win.

Start being data-confident