Why Product Competitive Analysis is Essential For All Stakeholders

Why product competitive analysis is essential for all stakeholders
This article explains why product competitive analysis is essential for all stakeholders. We get it. You’re a Product Manager working in a crowded market sector. And you are busy enough working on your day job. Keeping your customers happy and making sure the cash keeps coming in. But it’s essential to understand your competitive advantage offerings over your rivals.

You need to understand your competitors. Have a grasp of their product strategies, features and benefits. The best way to collect helpful information is by conducting Product competitive analysis.

Product Competitive Analysis evaluates competitor offerings. Isolating your and their strengths, weaknesses, and market position. To maximise your potential results. There are many things to understand when assessing competitor products. But who else can benefit from Product Competitive Analysis?

Stakeholders
Product Competitive Analysis (and Competitive intelligence) can be beneficial for many stakeholder customers. These customers of the intelligence include marketing, sales, customer services, finance and more. A competitive product analysis offers these stakeholders and others more informed decisions. Providing more certainty of where they sit within the market landscape.

Leadership
Often Product Competitive Analysis remains with the Product marketing teams. And sometimes your company leadership. We’ll show here why Product Competitive Analysis is important. However, Product Competitive analysis is very important for leadership teams. Especially those who like data. Data is great. It’s an essential part of the business and the actual Competitive Intelligence process. But data is historical. You can predict the future with data, and it’s always right. Until it’s wrong. And when it’s wrong, it tends to kick you in the groin.

Using your mirrors
Personally, we prefer to drive our car facing the direction the vehicle is travelling. It’s so much easier than trying to drive down the motorway by using just your wing mirrors. You need your mirrors but looking forward most of the time is so much safer. Your leadership must always be aware of the market landscape.

They should also know how their products are matching up to others in the market. Product Competitive Insight will allow your Senior team to decide on the next steps to take. And plan the long terms strategy based on more certainty and insight. Not guesswork and experience

Product
Competitive product analysis is very important for product teams. Insight helps highlight gaps in your product development. Encourage new ideas, and create further product innovation. Product teams need to look at competitors’ weaknesses continuously. And stay one step ahead. Giving them time to improve their own product’s features and capabilities.

When a product team launches a new product, they do so with the knowledge of what else is out there. After a launch, Product teams then need to ask – what’s next.

Sales
Sales teams armed with as much competitor product information will really help them. Add to this insight by defining how to position your own products with theirs. Then build counter-arguments. Arguments that convince a prospect you are the supplier to go with. If a prospect mentions how good a competitors product is or it has an interesting new feature.

Your sales team can counter it with a land mine of your own. Or on the other hand, if your sales team didn’t know, then they could look sloppy and unprepared.

Marketing
Marketing teams must know where your company’s positions compared to your competitors. And how its target market sees it. Marketing Managers should know their own message, market position and trends. But also understand their competitor’s products. Their messaging, tone of voice and where they position themselves.

Product-related Competitive Analysis helps create a better tone of voice, campaigns and strategies. And be able to shout from the rooftops about your significant competitive advantage.

Customer service teams
Customer service teams are a great source of Competitor intelligence. They speak with customers all day. And they understand their frustrations and what others are doing to tempt them. Fresh competitive product analysis allows them to enhance product satisfaction and retain customers.

Customers looking elsewhere should be picked up by customer services teams. Giving customer teams insight will allow them to fight your corner with counter-arguments. Product Competitor Analysis enables customer service teams to anticipate customers getting itchy feet.

But only if they know about competitor changes, product enhancements and innovations. Product Competitive Analysis will improve customer retention rates.

Doing Competitive Analysis within your organisation is definitely not a quick job. And It needs to be planned to maintain the analysis over the long term. A quick Competitive Analysis when doing the annual business plan will not cut it.

Conclusion
Why product competitive analysis is essential for all stakeholders
This article explained why product competitive analysis is essential for all stakeholders. We suggested that Product Competitive Analysis needed to be done consistently. New products launches and the creation of new product ideas. The development of marketing strategies. Ensure every stakeholder should understand where your business is in the market. And how much better or worse your offering is compared to competitors. Competitor analysis creates conversation. Valuable conversation which makes certainty.

So, a question. Why do you think product competitive analysis is important to your organisation?