Many teams do a competitor analysis once, fill a spreadsheet with 40 features and a dozen rivals, and never open it again. The usual problem is that nobody wrote down which decision the research was meant to inform. A useful competitor analysis starts from a decision you need to make, collects only the evidence that affects it and ends with a recommendation. The method below works for a small team in one or two weeks.
Start with the decision
Write one question at the top of the page. For example:
- Should we price above or below the market leader?
- Which customer segment is least well served by current options?
- Do we need feature X to win deals, or can we skip it?
- Which channel are competitors ignoring?
- Should we enter the UAE now, or after we are established in India?
Each question needs different evidence. A pricing question needs public price pages, discount behaviour and contract terms. A segment question needs customer reviews and notes from deals you won and lost. Pick one or two questions per round.
Map every alternative a buyer has
Your competition includes anything a buyer might choose instead of you. List four groups:
- Direct competitors selling a similar product to the same customer.
- Indirect options that solve the same problem another way, such as an agency, a consultant or a general tool set up for the job.
- In-house solutions: a spreadsheet, an intern, a developer building something internally.
- Doing nothing, which in B2B is often the option you lose to most.
Ask your last ten prospects what else they considered. Their answers make a better competitor list than any search engine.
Collect evidence that changes minds
Gather only what bears on your question. Good sources include:
- Pricing pages, saved with the date, because prices change.
- Customer reviews on software directories, app stores, Google Maps or marketplaces. Three-star reviews are often the most useful, because they say what is missing without pure anger.
- Your own sales calls: what prospects say about rivals, and why lost deals went elsewhere.
- Job postings, which show where a competitor is investing, such as a new sales team in Dubai or a push to hire mobile engineers.
- Product changelogs and release notes.
- Signing up for trials and going through onboarding yourself.
Record the source and date of every fact. A claim that nobody can trace back will be argued over later.
Turn the competitor analysis into a decision
Once the evidence is in, write up the result under these headings:
- What we found: five to ten facts that bear on the question, each with its source.
- What it means: your interpretation. For example, “All three direct competitors price per user, and small teams complain about cost in their reviews.”
- What we will do: a specific decision and a way to test it. “Launch a flat team price for up to ten users and compare trial-to-paid conversion with the per-user plan for six weeks.”
If the analysis does not end with a “we will” sentence, it is not finished.
Frames that help, used sparingly
A few simple tools give the thinking some structure without turning it back into a spreadsheet:
- Positioning map: plot competitors on two axes buyers care about, such as price and setup effort. Empty areas are worth investigating, though sometimes they are empty because nobody wants that combination.
- Jobs comparison: list the jobs your customer hires a product to do, and rate how well each alternative does each job, based on reviews and calls rather than on feature lists.
- Win/loss table: for your last 20 deals, note who you competed against, who won and the reason the buyer gave.
An example (hypothetical)
Say a Bengaluru team runs a booking tool for salons and asks: “Should we build a loyalty programme to win against our two main rivals?” Reviews show that both rivals have loyalty features, but salon owners rarely mention them. Complaints focus on missed appointments and WhatsApp reminders that fail to send. The team’s win/loss notes show that three of its last five losses went to one rival because of more reliable reminders. The decision: skip loyalty for now, improve reminder reliability, and check whether losses to that rival fall over the next quarter.
Keep it current without a big project
Give each major competitor an owner who spends 30 minutes a month checking pricing, the changelog and new reviews, and adds anything significant to a shared note. Read the note before each quarterly planning session. Our automation work can set up alerts for pricing page changes and new reviews, so monitoring takes less manual effort.
Competitor research is part of every strategy engagement we run, and we always tie it to a decision on pricing, positioning or market entry.
If a decision of yours is waiting on competitor research, talk to us.
Frequently asked questions
How many competitors should a competitor analysis cover?
Cover the three to five alternatives that come up most often in your sales conversations, plus the in-house or do-nothing option. Going wider adds research time without changing most decisions. If a new name keeps appearing in calls, add it then. A short list studied properly is more useful than a long list of logos.
Where can I find information about private competitors?
Public sources go a long way: pricing pages, product documentation, changelogs, customer reviews, job postings, social media and company filings where they are public. A trial account shows onboarding and plan limits. Your own prospects are often the best source, since they have seen competitor demos and proposals. Never misrepresent who you are to get information.
How often should we update our competitor analysis?
Light monitoring every month and a fuller review each quarter suit most startups. Run a fresh analysis whenever a specific decision depends on it, such as a price change, a new market or a major product bet. Tie each update to a question, so the work ends in a decision rather than a longer spreadsheet.