Competitive Analysis
Study what competitors do well (and poorly) to sharpen your own product strategy.
What is it?
Competitive analysis is a systematic evaluation of competitor products, identifying their strengths, weaknesses, patterns, and gaps. It combines feature comparison, UX evaluation, and strategic positioning to inform design decisions with market context.
When to use it
Run a competitive analysis at the start of a project, before a major redesign, or when entering a new market. It grounds your design decisions in reality and reveals opportunities competitors have missed.
How to do it
Identify 4-6 direct and indirect competitors to analyze.
Define evaluation criteria: features, usability, visual design, onboarding, pricing.
Walk through each product as a user would, documenting screenshots and notes.
Create a comparison matrix highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and gaps.
Extract actionable insights and opportunities for differentiation.
Pro tips
Include indirect competitors, products solving the same problem differently.
Focus on user experience, not just feature lists. How something works matters more than what exists.
Update your analysis regularly. Markets evolve fast.