Competitor research

Competitor research…

… is the practice ofresearching and analysingyour business competitors

It can involve pretending tobe a competitor’s customer –but it’s not spying

- You can make better planning decisions

- You can target competitors’ weaknesses

- You can identify your own weaknesses and improve them

Benefits of knowing your competitors:

Methods of competitor research:

- Research website- Survey own customers- Test customer experience:

- Phoning - Mystery shopper

- Research public records - Buy industry reports

Choose them by similarities in target markets between your own company and your competitors, not by broad product categories…

… Drive-throughs and five-star restaurants don’t share target customers, for example

Step one: Identify competitors

Step two: Define parameters

What questions do you need answered? For example…-What are they good at?-What are they bad at?-How long does it take to be served?

Step three: Plan your tactics

- Create customer surveys

- Prepare phone scripts- Find mystery shoppers

and brief them- Automate web research

with alerts

Step four: Maintain records

Follow up research on a regular basis and update records as new information is found