You can conduct a competitive analysis in different ways and have a lot of other purposes. However, it boils down to what you want to learn. This learning will determine what the analysis will look like. For example, you could focus on one element of the marketing mix, such as their website or email. Conversely, you might need to understand their overall marketing approach and not just focus on one element. These two approaches can look very different and will reveal differing insights.
Here are the critical components that you'll want to take note of:
Who are their target customers?
What is the main differentiator or unique value proposition for their business?
What is the main differentiator or unique value proposition for their product(s)?
What are the key features and benefits?
What are their price points?
Which marketplaces and channels do they use?
The answers to the questions above will give you an aerial view of your competitor, and you will see who they are and how they intend to gain market share.
Conversely, if you want to focus on more specific elements of your competitor's marketing, you should consider looking at the following aspects:
Website Features
Design & layout,
Product images(look and feel)
Do they upsell and cross-sell?
the customer experience (UX)
online payment experience
copywriting tactics and style
calls to action?
How much traffic do they get?
Mobile Experience
Or
Social media
Which social channels do they use
How many followers do they have
How often do they post
Are their followers engaging with them
Good or bad sentiment from their followers towards the brand?
Copywriting Tactics
Images used (is it user-generated or not)
What calls to action do they use?
Or
Promotions
What kind of promotions
Discounts?
Or
Email marketing
Do they have a newsletter or welcome email?
Frequency of send
Does it land in your SPAM folder?
Creative, Images and Copy used
Call to action used
Do they personalize their message
Abandoned basket emails?
Or
Reviews
Are people happy/unhappy with their products and why (Which products exactly)
Are people satisfied or dissatisfied with their brand, and why
As you can see, there is no uniform way to conduct a competitive analysis. Instead, you want to identify what info you need from your competition to position yourself strategically.
Next time we'll talk about why this matters.
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