Competitive analysis or competitor analysis is a method that is used to identify your competitor and their strategies. Competitive analysis in UX design is a part of UX research, where you try to understand your competition, and then, based on that, you work on your company’s strengths and weaknesses. The process provides you with a higher chance to identify the gaps and fill them accordingly.
With the help of UX design competitive analysis, a designer can learn a lot of things, including the needs and requirements of the customers, which in the end, leads to boosting your brand.
Why Perform UX Analysis?
There are thousands of people working in the online market. You are not alone, to stand out from the crowd, you have to understand your product first and then the customer demand, and performing the competitive analysis in the UX design is the easiest way to do so. You see your competition with the eyes of your client, and that’s the reason why it is always advised to do a competitive analysis before starting your new project. However, you should do it regularly, as there can be changes in the market, and your competitor may improve their services.
When you research more about the market and your competition, it leads to:
- Introduction of a new, unique and improved product.
- Increase in product usability.
- Fix and fasten market strategies.
- New design ideas.
- Generate more ideas and information about your target customer.
Things To Keep In Mind Before Initiating The Competitive Analysis For UX
- Start by choosing 4 or 5 main competitive brands, gather all the information about them, and then make a strategy according to the design of your brand.
- Make a list of products and services you are going to compare and use it as a guide at the time of comparison.
- Check and compare your product to know about its positive and negative points.
- Use the tool that helps you in gathering information easily.
- Take ideas from your others but don’t copy. Do your research, understand the competition, but also try to design a new and unique product. Identify the gaps between the competition and the customer, then try to fill them with an improved solution.
The Advantages Of Doing UX Design Competitive Analysis
There are various advantages of conducting the UX competitive analysis, as it is a crucial process for your business. A few of them are:
- Recognition Of Market Gaps
With the help of competitive analysis, you will learn about the gaps in the market, these gaps can be an opportunity for you and your business. By gathering information about the gaps, you can work on your product and give the customer a better product.
If someone finds a gap in the market, it can be a great opportunity for them to rule the industry by making their product worthwhile. However, companies usually try to go with the competitors' ideas instead of finding the gaps.
- Developing New Products Or Services
UX developers repeat product design and services many times, but they need to take care that they are not simply copying things from people but they are also developing something new.
- Support Research
The UX designing team uses competitive analysis to support their research about the market also.
What Are The Types Of Competitors In Competitive Analysis?
There are two types of competitors:
- Direct competitors
- Indirect competitors
1. Direct Competitors
Direct competitors are the ones who compete based on the price of their product. They work in the same market, target the same clients, and offer almost the same thing. If you understand your direct competitor, you can boost your brand name by modifying your product and its pricing, if needed.
2. Indirect Competitors
Whereas when we talk about indirect competitors, they are the ones who are in the same market as you, but they are offering some other products. However, these different products can be used to fulfil the same kind of needs. Indirect competition is usually seen in Tech markets.
How To Do UX Design Competitive Analysis?
If you are doing competitive analysis for the first time, then you must follow these steps. For a better result, we have made a proper guide from the initialization to the end.
1. Decide Your Goals
What is the reason behind this competitive analysis? What kind of solution do you want at the end of the research? Your goal must be clear and specific, even before initiating the analysis. It will make things better and easier for you. If you know about your goal, you can compare it with the results you are getting and check if you are going on the right path.
2. Make A List Of Competitors
As we have mentioned above also, decide on 4 to 5 competitors. They can be both direct and indirect according to your requirements.
3. Look At What You Have In Common With The Competitors
It is not always possible to be unique from others, though we try to do so. At times we share some common things with our competitors. So, to make our page look different, we must do research and write down all the common UX design aspects we are sharing with our competitors.
4. Things One Must Consider When Checking For Common Aspects
- The positive and negative features.
- What user’s review?
- The waiting and loading time of the page.
- The way of delivery of the competitors.
- The whole design.
- The Customer services your competitor is providing.
5. Prepare A Feature Comparison Chart
Check and verify all important features provided by your competitor, including:
- The UX elements
- The UI design
- Images available
- Filters available
- The responsiveness of your page
6. Analyze UX Research
When you are doing the overall analysis of your UX research, make a summary of that as well. This will help you in learning about what new you have found from the research, and if you will apply it to your product, what will be its impact.
This is done at the last stage; when you are done with the collection of information, it helps you understand your competitor's flaws, strengths, and weaknesses as well, which in the end, helps you in making a better UX design.
Presentation Of Your UX Competitive Analysis And Summary
Once you are done with your research, analysis, and summarization of the gathered information and data, you need to make a proper presentation. You can present this set of information to your team, clients, or stakeholders.
Prepare a presentation that has all the important and interesting data and information with good evidence. Discuss its impact on your UX design and the business. Try to make the presentation interesting and engaging to the people.
If you want to make your presentation even better, you can add more information, like the calculation of the overall ROI of the UX activities. This will mainly add more weight to your information.
What Are The Common UX Competitive Analysis Issues?
You must have a thought right now in your mind about what issues you can face while doing competitive analysis, right? We will not say that there are various errors, but a few once that you have to handle.
One of the most common and simple issues you face while UX competitor analysis is the presence of thousands of competitors. Deciding on one or two competitors is tough when there are thousands in the market.
Apart from that, the information that you have gathered can not always be great information for the growth of your business, so it is advised to discuss it with at least 3-4 people before taking any action or decision.
Final Words
We are living in a world where everyone is trying to be unique and innovative in their field. So, before working on a new project or starting a new product’s design, one must ensure to do an appropriate competitive analysis. It helps you gather all the great solutions you can implement on your product to make it better.
If you also want a proper competitive analysis in UX, you can reach out to our team of professional experts at Advology Solution. We are a leading Web Development and Best Website Design Company In Gurgaon. Check out our website for more information, or call us at +91-8447813291.
You May Also Read: UI Design Best Practices To Follow In 2023