Product Operation: How to conduct B-side competitive product analysis?

1. Why do we need to analyze competing products?

Competitors, as the name suggests, are competitors.

What kind of person can be considered a competitor? Stealing customers. Regardless of whether they have already been snatched or may be snatched in the future, they are all objects that we need to pay attention to.

Paying attention to and analyzing competitors can help us:

• Understand the competitive environment and formulate competitive strategies
• Understand the development of competitors and learn lessons
• Understand the functions of competing products in depth and learn from their strengths to make up for their weaknesses

2. How to choose the right competitor?

1. Identify competing products

Before choosing the right competitors, we must first clarify what our targets are. For B-side competitors, we focus on direct competitors. Indirect competitors are more difficult to capture and are less disruptive.

For the C-end, you can search on App Store, and for the B-end, you can find it through these two ways.

1) Sales customer service

Sales often tell us: xx has stolen our customers; customers also compared the xx system when signing the contract; the xx system that customers used before has functions that we don’t have.

The competitors mentioned here are those we need to pay close attention to because competition for customers has already begun.

2) Baidu search

Basically every product has its own official website. You can find many competitors by searching by keywords on Baidu. This is the simplest and most direct way.

2. Competitive product stratification

Competitors are a reference. Using your opponents as a mirror can help you understand your strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, it is important to choose a suitable competitor. If you choose a very strong competitor and just keep chasing after it, your product may become out of touch with what your users need. If you choose a very weak competitor, you may become complacent and stop moving forward.

We will stratify our competitors based on the amount of customers they have taken away, their functions, etc. The following is still using primary healthcare SaaS as an example. You may not be familiar with this type of brand, but the theory is universal.

1) Strong opponents

The biggest competitor who stole our customers has much more powerful functions than us. Our future iterations may be to develop the functions he already has, which gives us a feeling of following his pace and catching up.

For example, Kangbojia has a long development history, high-quality customers, and comprehensive and in-depth functions.

2) Weak opponents

They have taken away some of our customers, mostly regional customers, which account for a small proportion. There are some advantages, but overall the functionality is still relatively weak.

For example, Ruoshui focuses on the child protection system, but its other functions are average.

3) Reference players

We may have snatched away a few customers, or even failed to snatch them away, but we have been developing the business for a longer time and are more specialized. Or they may be in the same direction, but with different customer groups. All of them are of reference value.

For example, the HIS system does not compete strongly with the SaaS system; the dental system is different from the Chinese and Western medicine systems. But they are all of reference significance when designing products.

4) Competitive Product Map

We can draw an inverted triangle diagram to sort out this relationship, and then focus on the head and occasionally pay attention to the bottom.

For example, the competitor map of medical SaaS:

3. From which aspects should we analyze competitors?

Product managers are more concerned about the functions of the platform. This is the core, but it is not enough. We need to comprehensively analyze competitors from three aspects: positioning, function, and iteration. This way, it will be less likely that one will be blinded by one leaf and fail to see the mountain, and competitor analysis can truly help product design.

1. Positioning

Let’s first look at the competition as a whole. Because these factors will affect its function, when we compare its functions in the next section, we need to always pay attention to the reasons for its design and not just copy it.

We often hear sales say that they have encountered xx competitor, and then they go to Baidu to search for it and have a basic understanding. If you want to know more in depth, such as product development trends, you can search on vertical media platforms, such as Artery Network, Yiou, etc.

1) Product Background

The background mainly looks at:

• Establishment time: The earlier it is established and before it goes bankrupt, the more attention it needs to pay. Some up-and-coming companies started late and seem to be very aggressive, but in fact it is not easy for them to occupy the market all at once. After all, B-end products need to add functions and hire a large number of developers to do the work. It is hard to say whether they can survive a few years without going bankrupt.
• Company location: Software usage can also be regional. For example, if Ruoshui Medical is in Chengdu, the primary medical institutions in that area will be more inclined to use it. Perhaps it is because local marketing is more effective, perhaps it is because local identity is stronger, or perhaps it is more in line with local medical habits.
• Company endorsement: Some companies have some unique resources, which means that the relevant functions in the system have high barriers. For example, Huimei Cloud is backed by Mayo Clinic in the United States, which has a wealth of clinical auxiliary diagnosis data.

2) Main products

matrix

The company's products are generally not single, but have multiple dimensions and directions, forming a matrix network.

Some companies have very close relationships in their matrices, such as Kangbojia, which is centered around medical institutions. This type of product is more professional and more worthy of reference.

Some companies have a wide range of directions. For example, Kingdee used to focus on manufacturing, service and other industries, but later expanded to the medical industry, which made it seem less professional.

Competing Products

There is one or several products in the matrix that are our direct competitors and are also our core focus below. However, we still need to pay attention to other products in the matrix and their potential impact on competing products, especially products with high correlation within the matrix. You can also try it as an extension. However, for industries with a large span, such as retail, it is not recommended to spend time studying them.

3) Target customer group

We still focus on the customer base of our direct competitors. It is easier for B-side customers to have segmented differences. Even for the same type of customers, slight differences in scale, concepts, etc. may lead to completely different solutions.

For example, there is a huge gap in demand between pediatric clinics that provide general consultations and prescribe medicines and clinics that specialize in assessing children's growth and development.

We need to identify our competitors' main customer groups so that we can better understand the needs of these customer groups when doing functional analysis.

2. Function

To do functional analysis, the best way is to log in to the system and experience it. However, it is not easy for B-side products to obtain competitor accounts, so you need to think of some methods at this time. You can apply for a trial account, or ask for one from customers who have transferred from you and with whom you have a good relationship.

However, since the permissions of the trial account are limited, we also need to look at its functions in conjunction with the help center of competing products. We often conduct comparative analysis from these five aspects, and finally compile a competitive product function analysis report to summarize the advantages and disadvantages, and then learn from them to optimize our own products.

1) Terminal

A complete set of products may have several terminals, such as PC, APP, H5, and mini program. Each end has different functions and purposes. This allows us to understand our competitors’ closed-loop systems.

For example:

2) Functional framework

For different terminals, we will look at their functional frameworks separately. This is the same procedure as when we design our own products. It's just sorting out other people's things.

It is recommended to analyze the whole first and then the details. It is easy to be confused and miss the key points if you just look at the details at first.

It is not recommended to present it in the form of a structural diagram. Using this table for comparison will be clearer. The functions of each competing product are clear at a glance. (Note: The following picture is just an example and the function is not complete)

3) Functional points

Continue to refine the framework table above and list the functional points under each function. In this way, you can know the specific implementation of each function. It seems that all competing products have major functions, but when we look at the functional points, we will find that the emphasis is quite different.

Following the comparison table above:

4) Details field

Then look down at the detailed rules in each business, such as the configuration items of a process parameter and the field differences of a page. Analyze the reasons why competitors do this, and whether it is an advantage for our system that we can learn from, or a disadvantage that needs to be abandoned.

The more detailed you look at this section, the more help it will be in product design. If you just take a cursory look at the competitors to see what major features they have, you will feel that they are all the same and you will gain very little.

For example, it can be expressed as follows:

Reference functions and optimizations can be recorded in our demand pool, and will be considered together with other requirements when iterating product functions later.

5) Interaction and Visuals

Regarding the importance of interaction and vision, you can read my previous article "Do B-side products need to pay attention to user experience? 》Many times, product managers don’t know much about interactive controls and just think that the existing methods and controls are not easy to use, but they can’t think of a better way. Referring to competing products is actually very helpful.

For example, the previous prescription interface was a waste of space, with data like this one line at a time.

However, competitors use a table format, which displays twice as much content on one page, greatly improving user efficiency.

These reference points can also be recorded in the same format as the detail fields in the previous section, and can be modified when the front end has time.

3. Iteration

The product itself is a process of continuous iteration. While developing yourself, you must also always pay attention to the development of competing products.

1) Iteration speed

When the product is under normal maintenance, the iteration cycle is mostly half a month to one month. If there is no iteration for a long time, it will basically fall out of the scope of competitive products. After a few years, you will find that some of your previous competitors have gradually disappeared from your sight.

Knowing the iteration speed of competitors' products, you should check their version notes regularly to learn about the latest developments.

2) Iteration direction

This is another point of concern. We can tell from its version iteration whether the competitor is iterating in the original direction or changing its route. For example, someone who originally practiced Western medicine suddenly came up with a specialized version of traditional Chinese medicine or a specialized version of medical aesthetics. When there is such a big change in direction, we need to pay attention to the reasons behind it and conduct in-depth analysis.

Summarize

Competitive analysis is something every product manager must do. We must first choose the right competitors, and then conduct a comprehensive analysis from three aspects: positioning, function, and iteration.

When analyzing competing products, pay attention to comparing your own products horizontally, summarizing the advantages and disadvantages, and learning from their strengths to overcome their weaknesses.

Finally, competitive product analysis is an ongoing process. Only by following the iterations of competitive products and your own products and paying close attention to them can you know yourself and your competitors.

Author: PR Home

Source: PR Home