Research method
Competitor Review
A competitor review involves reviewing the website UX of your competitors, using the UX heuristic principles, to help gather an understanding of the market/industry, identify trends, gather inspiration and compare the user experience to the client’s website.
A competitor review could also include review of the competitor's offering, pricing and overall proposition, to gather an understanding of the industry and identify opportunities.
When to reach for it
A competitor analysis can be beneficial to understand the different user experiences your potential customers may be exposed to in their comparison process.
If you're struggling to solve a specific problem that is very specific to your industry, it can be beneficial to understand how others in your industry solve these problems.
If you're new to a role / industry then a competitor review can be beneficial to give you an overview of the industry and the competition. It's good practice to keep up to speed with what competitors are doing, but it should not side track you from focusing on solving your own business challenges.
Strengths and limits
Pros
Understand the wider industry, who is doing what and where you sit within this (from a UX, price, offering and proposition perspective).
Gather ideas and inspiration about how to tackle key customer problems.
Cons
Just because a competitor is doing something, does not mean it is working for them. It is important not to blindly copy competitors, but to use the insights as inspiration.
Practical considerations
Which competitors?
You can include as many competitors as you have time for in your competitor review. Typically, we would review between 3-5. You may also want to consider including companies outside your "typical" competitor set, but who offer a solution to a shared customer problem, or have similar challenges (even if they are actually in a different industry/sector).
Common tools
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Recipes that use this method
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