How to do competitive product analysis? 4 directions + 13 key points to tell you how to analyze competitive products!

How to make a practical competitive product analysis report is a skill that many operators lack, but I believe that if you master the method, this ability will be better improved.

I have compiled a fairly comprehensive competitive product analysis method for everyone. Welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion~

Many people have made competitive product analysis reports, but few people can really do a good job of competitive product analysis . Many people are still at the stage of piling up information and applying formulas. The content seems to be very full, but in fact, not much valuable information is obtained after the analysis.

Recently, two of my friends have been doing competitive analysis, one is doing competitive analysis for public accounts , and the other is doing competitive analysis for products. The PPT of a friend who did a competitive analysis on a public account was very beautiful overall, but the content was dry and poor, and even the most basic data and information were not analyzed properly. The most important thing was that the right competitors were not found. Another friend's document lists all the product information of competitors, but does not extract any valuable data information for reference. There is no comparison dimension, just like a pile of lifeless bricks.

If you knew the impact of doing a good competitive analysis on your work efficiency - at least it can increase it by 3-4 times, then you would definitely want to do a good competitive analysis. The most important thing is that when your boss needs it, you can submit a competitive analysis report that satisfies him.

Next, we will analyze the methods of making competitive product analysis reports from four aspects.

1. Clarify your analysis goals

Many people do not have a goal-oriented consciousness, or because they have never done it before, they are completely confused and cannot find a method. When their leader asks them to do a competitive product analysis, they reflexively look for templates on Baidu, Zhihu, or groups and start analyzing. They do not do research or homework, and the analysis reports they produce in the end are often "out of focus."

So I emphasize to remember this: no matter what job you do, only when you have a clear goal can you know what you should do.

For example, two people are reading the book " Growth Hacker ". A simply wants to understand what growth hacking is, while B wants to know very specifically how to rely on the power of technology and data to achieve various marketing goals. So when reading the book, he will collect more information about the problem he wants to solve. Who do you think has a higher learning efficiency between A and B?

Therefore, for any analytical report, clarifying the goal is the first priority. We should focus on different aspects for research and comparison based on different purposes.

For example, if you want to do a competitive analysis of public accounts in order to determine the positioning and push time of your own public account, then what you should do is to find your competitive platform through data platforms such as Xinbang , and then analyze their public account positioning, push time, push quantity, content tone, layout style, column settings and other data, and then determine the content of your own public account.

If you want to see which features of your competitors are better, then your focus should be on looking at some demand scenarios, business processes, interactive experiences, UI, etc. in combination with specific product features to analyze why they are good and how to learn from them.

If you want to focus on what the other party is going to do next, the focus should be on business model, data performance, functional iteration, operation path, recruitment information, etc.

If you want to start a new project and want to understand the operating conditions of similar products on the market, then you should mainly analyze the market position, market share, business model , operating strategy and other aspects of your competitors.

In short, different goals require different analysis directions and methods. After determining the target, the next step is to find competitors.

2. How to choose competitors?

The selection of competitors is very important, but many people tend to make the wrong choice in this step, just like my friend mentioned in the previous article. If he chooses the wrong competitor, all his efforts will be in vain.

Generally speaking, our operations manager will tell us what our competitors are, and you can go and research them. But if we were asked to find competitors ourselves, how would we do it?

1. Products with basically the same core services/products and target users

That is, products whose core services, company products, market target directions, user groups, etc. are basically consistent with our product positioning can be said to be direct competitors.

Finding direct competitors is the most common method we use for analysis. Generally, through comparison, we can directly see our strengths and weaknesses, which helps us to accurately identify product positioning and operation direction.

For example, when talking about Meituan ’s competitors, you will blurt out Ele.me. When talking about QQ Music’s competitors, you will think of NetEase Cloud Music and Kugou Music. When talking about Scallop Words, you will think of Baidu Cichuang, etc.

However, if you only focus on direct competitors when doing competitive product analysis, it is easy to limit your thinking and make it difficult to make breakthroughs and innovations.

2. The target users are the same, but the user needs they meet are different, so there will be no competition.

For this type of product, we usually conduct cross-industry cooperation, but we can also obtain reference and reference by analyzing their products and operating strategies.

For example, an institution that provides piano training can cooperate with painting or dancing training institutions. Although their teaching contents are different, children who learn piano may also have the need to learn painting or dancing. At the same time, you can refer to and learn from their enrollment models, activities, etc.

3. Products with different target users but similar product processes and service processes

Researching this type of product at the business process, interaction details, etc. may generate some inspiration for the design of your product features, etc. For example, the product manager of Meituan Takeout may find inspiration in the product design of "Take Some Time".

4. Products with highly overlapping core user groups, but not providing our core functions and services for the time being, but may be upgraded through later product iterations

For example, there is a product in the music market called "Youzi Practice Piano", which is an APP for online instrument practice through video. However, there is a product on the market that also provides instrument practice, but the teaching method is voice. In this case, it is possible to add the function of video teaching in the later product iterations.

When analyzing this type of competing product, it is often necessary to study it from dimensions such as market structure and product evolution path to prevent the other party from making a sneaky move and catching you off guard.

After finding the competitors, the next step is to collect information about them.

3. Information collection direction and how to collect competitive product information

1. Research the current status of the industry and market structure

For information on industry analysis reports and market structure, I often check iResearch Consulting , Analysys, DCCI Internet Data Center, industry yearbooks , etc., where there are a lot of data and information for reference.

2. Product version iteration

The product version iteration can be checked in the Android Market or APP Store.

3. Product operation events and operation information

This information can generally be found on WeChat public accounts , Weibo, Zhihu, web news and other pages. However, for many products, initial operational events or information are generally difficult to find. However, I can tell you a method. First, find out the scale of its user base on iResearch, and then find a few significant user growth points. Based on this point, use reverse thinking to find its operational events. This is a shortcut.

4. Product business process sorting

This requires you to operate and practice it yourself in order to understand how the entire business of your competitor operates.

4. How to use the collected data to analyze competing products in multiple dimensions

1. Compare product data and market recognition

The data mainly includes download volume, number of users, market share, etc. By comparing the data, we can find the gap. After finding the gap, we need to find coping methods and solutions, such as which aspects should be improved and which aspects should be increased efforts.

Market recognition can be obtained from web pages, Zhihu, and user reviews.

2. Compare the differences between the product’s business model and business logic

It is recommended to compare and study the other party’s business model and business logic with your own in the form of charts or maps to find the differences and analyze the reasons. If the business model of the competitor is better, then analyze how it does it, what resources are needed, and whether I can achieve it if I do it. If you think yours is better, you can just continue to use it. This process is not a process of completely affirming competitors and completely denying your own, but rather choosing the best one.

3. Compare features

Comparing special features means comparing the focus of both parties' products, which is where the product gap is widened. Analyze the value of this feature, why users like it, whether it is replicable, etc.

4. Compare operational strategies and operational directions

The operation strategy is actually the promotion direction and user acquisition method of competing products. It involves analyzing how they operate, promote, build a matrix, etc. at each product stage, learning from it, and optimizing it.

5. Compare product version iterations and evolution paths

Sorting out the version iteration and evolution path of competitors is mainly about finding out its key time nodes, version update status and the operating methods at the time, and most importantly, predicting their future development direction.

Have you learned this competitive product analysis method? If you have anything to say, feel free to interact in the comment section!

Source: 51COO (ID: COO-51)