Competitive Analysis
Understanding how your competitors are solving problems can offer inspiration and show you what similar customers are gravitating towards. It is a good way to gauge how you are performing compared to the industry.
1. CREATE A LIST OF BRANDS TO OBSERVE
These brands can be a mix of direct competitors and brands in other industries. Walmart, Target and Amazon are typically my go-to competitors.
2. PRETEND TO BE A CUSTOMER OF ONE OF THESE BRANDS
Pretend to be a customer for each of the competitors. Take a screenshot, picture, or screen record their solutions. How does the user get here? What do they visit after this state? Focus on the specific details, at this point nothing is too small to capture.
3. CREATE A VISUAL PRESENCE OF ALL THE BRANDS
It helps to print all these screenshots or pictures out and put them on a board. If you don’t have a board, then use Sketch, Invision, or whatever program you’re comfortable with. Just dump all of the screenshots so you can see one holistic view of all the competitors. Create a state-by-state flow when it’s beneficial.
This was a competitive audit around the subject of native payment options on apps. I drew arrows from the specific action to the next state.
4. IDENTIFY ANY PATTERNS
Group brands that have a similar approach. The size and number of groups will vary based on the problem. I try to first group based on medium or location (app vs web, results page or cart). Patterns can take a while and you might find yourself going back and forth for a while. If you find yourself spinning out of control, take a break or ask a friend to review it.
5. ITERATE!
Some people hate this part because it typically involves sketching. Sketches never need to be beautiful. Iterate on your sketches through little and big differences. If you research 5 brands, you should probably aim for at least 10 sketches. These sketches help you focus on the strategy, not the visual UI.
6. LIST OUT ANY PROS OR CONS FOR EACH ITERATION
At this point in time you want to focus on the actual solution, not the brand or the aesthetic. Ask yourself “what is good about this?” and “what is bad about this?” Your answers should be succinct.
After having a few ideas from the competitive audit, I was able to iterate quickly through sketches. Giving each sketch a name and listing the pros vs cons helps you remember the differences. After a while, a lot of these sketches can blend together in your mind.
NEXT STEPS: CHOOSE YOUR TOP 3 & USE THIS SKETCH AS A BASE WIREFRAME
Depending on the project, you can use this to test and share out with the team or you can start prototyping the wireframe.