How do you conduct a competitive gap analysis and identify opportunities for improvement?

With more than two decades of experience in product I have seen that it's crucial to define the competitive landscape before you set your evaluation criteria. For example: 1) Competitive products that are nearly indistinguishable from your product. 2) Competitive products that are similar and compete for wallet share, but aren’t perfect substitutes. 3) Competitive products that are completely different but satisfy the same need. 4) Competitive products that compete for the same broad, finite resources (ie. money, time, attention, etc).

Make sure you are setting up the right questions. The right questions will give you the criteria to measure upon others and make decisions. Simple example: divide the journey into steps or features, analyze where you are vs market average, think who is market leader and why, and given your capacity, how much will it cost you to get any closer to them (resources, $, etc)

In our last project last year, we conducted a competitive analysis to have a well-rounded idea of the existing market solutions and how we can differentiate ourselves with our new product vs it. 1) We started assessing what are the standard criteria that the product category is evaluated based on it and what are the key parameters that are considered as a new trend where few of the competition are starting to show a trend . 2) We started to range the different parameters based on consumer preference which we defined as a mix of user feedback/review ratings and comments on social media. 3) We conducted consumer interview with super user to ensure we are utilizing the best parameters to describe the product category

The key to setting up an effective gap analysis is to come up with a few questions that you'd like answered. Using a framework like SWOT analysis can be helpful. Strengths What are your business advantages? What are your core competencies? Where are you making the most money? What are you doing well? Weaknesses What areas are you avoiding? Where do you lack resources? What are you doing poorly? Where are you losing money? What needs improvement? Opportunities Any beneficial trends? Niches that competitors are missing? New technologies? New needs of customers? Threats Obstacles to overcome? Aggressive competitors? Successful competitors? Negative economic conditions? Government regulation? Changing business climate? Vulnerabilities?

With my 2 decades of experience across industries, I am sure that the most important thing in any product lifecycle (or development) phase is understanding the customer need/problem that you are gonna solve! Identifying the same and trying to solve that, better than your competition is the key!

Nailing down exactly who you are competing against is a crucial stage. It’s too easy to gravitate to the ‘largest’ in your cohort but are they really your main competition? In my experience with smaller organizations, it means listening to your customers and understanding who they consider your competition. It’s important to ask them who they use and why to give you a line of sight to blind spots your organization may have in delivering value. Even more important is to talk to those customers that are your perfect target but don’t use you. Why don’t they use you, who do they use instead and why is that? Focusing on both customers and non-customers will give you a well rounded and more accurate picture of who your main competition is.

Picture your business success as a puzzle you're piecing together. One of the first key pieces is identifying competitors. Do thorough research online and with customers to pinpoint relevant rivals. Categorize them as direct or indirect competitors based on product and customer overlap. Analyzing these competitors then reveals gaps and growth opportunities for your business. Identifying competition puts vital pieces in place early, enabling you to craft an improvement strategy that fits your market landscape. It lays the groundwork for the whole picture of future progress.

Begin by exploring a variety of sources like industry publications, digital platforms, and social media to identify key competitors. Consider not only direct competitors with similar products but also indirect ones that address the same customer needs or problems. Segment competitors based on their impact on the market and their relevance to the target audience. This multi-faceted approach provides a detailed competitive landscape, revealing gaps and opportunities that may not be immediately apparent. By capturing a wide spectrum of competitive forces, a more nuanced understanding of market dynamics and strategic positioning emerges.

When identifying competitors, look outside your direct competitors. Your team may have their "go to" brands, but definitely look at adjacent and indirect competitors. This is how you widen your lane and increase market share.

- Research online sources and competitor websites to gather comprehensive information about their products, services, and strategies. - Analyze product reviews and customer feedback across platforms. - Conduct surveys and interviews with customers and industry experts. - Compare the gathered data against your predefined criteria to identify where your product outperforms or falls short compared to competitors. - Look for emerging trends and patterns in the data that can highlight market shifts or new customer needs. - Document your findings and use them to inform strategic decisions, focusing on exploiting identified gaps and enhancing your competitive edge.

In my experience, usability testing is a powerful technique for gathering insights into the strengths and weaknesses of competitors' offerings. By observing how potential users interact with your competitors' products or websites, you can identify where participants run into challenges. Based on your analysis, you can then improve these aspects when creating / updating your own product.

Approaching competitive gap analysis involves immersing in a comprehensive data collection strategy, utilizing sources like competitor websites, product reviews, and direct feedback. By engaging in mystery shopping and firsthand product testing, an in-depth understanding of competitors' strengths and weaknesses is achieved. This data, once meticulously gathered and analyzed, reveals not only where competitors may be lacking but also identifies strategic opportunities for innovation and market differentiation. Such insights guide product refinement and strategic positioning, ensuring a distinct edge in the marketplace.

It's important to understand it's not possible to implement everything you will find as part of your competitive gap analysis, even if they will be desirable by your customer The main factors you will need to consider are: - Feasibility (time/cost/complexity) - Impact - Effort Once you've identified opportunities that align according to the above factors, it's always a good idea to validate the opportunities as being relevant. You can do this by: - Experimentation - A/B testing/Release on a small scale - Get by in from stakeholders

To identify opportunities and actions for improvement based on a competitive gap analysis, prioritize those that align with your product vision, goals, and customer needs. Focus on the opportunities with the highest potential impact and value, such as developing new features or enhancing existing ones. Consider strategic changes like adjusting your pricing model or launching targeted marketing campaigns to gain a competitive edge. Continuously monitor and measure the outcomes of these actions to refine your product strategy and ensure sustained competitive advantage.

Conducting a competitive gap analysis can reveal valuable insights and growth opportunities. Here’s how to do it effectively: - Benchmark Competitors: Analyze key competitors' strengths & weaknesses. Eg, if a competitor excels in customer service, focus on enhancing your own support strategies. - Identify Gaps: Look for areas where your offering may fall short. Analyzing user feedback can highlight unmet customer needs. - Prioritize Actions: Not all gaps are equal. Prioritize those that align with your strategic goals—such as improving feature functionality if it drives user engagement. - Leverage Team Insights: Engage your team in brainstorming sessions to foster innovative solutions. #Leadership #ProductStrategy #GapAnalysis

Always keep an eye on what is going on with your customers and what they share about your product on social media and Q&A platforms. By monitoring these channels, you can understand how well your product is performing in the market and also gain insights into how your competitors are doing. During my internship at a Shopify-based SaaS startup, I was able to identify some incredible use cases reported by users on Q&A platforms. These use cases highlighted gaps in existing solutions and provided valuable insights that benefited our solution. As a result, these insights were planned to be incorporated into our product development strategy.

The key action is to maintain continuous communication with your end-users and product ambassadors. They are aware of their needs and will readily provide feedback and insights into what is not working well for them, including the cost/value equation in comparison to the competitors.