How to Conduct a Competitive Audit

Don’t have time and want to know the specific steps of this process?

• Skip to: How to conduct a competitive audit?

What is a competitive audit?

A Competitive audit is a methodical examination of the product options available to users.This could be as simple as screenshotting how different apps perform the same task; or more complex, such as setting tasks for test users on a competitor’s website and recording their performance. Each part of the term is important: it needs to look at products that compete in your field, and it must be conducted with the rigor of a methodical examination.

Is a competitive audit the same as a competitor analysis?

A competitor analysis is done for marketing and visual design objectives, whereas a Competitive Audit is more concerned with deeper product and user experience issues.
High-quality competitor analysis can be done by a single person with only the internet and a spreadsheet. However, a high-quality Competitive Audit requires specialized tools and a pool of testers.

What is examined in a competitor audit?

All aspects of an experience can be assessed in the audit: 

• User flows
• Single screen UX and layout 
• Microcopy
• All forms of content use; or 
• User interface design and presentation. 

Basically, anything at all that users interact with.

Conduct a competitive audit with UXtweak

Learn from competitors' mistakes and mimic their strenths with our specialized tool!

Register for free

Why is a competitive audit important?

Given that most people are already keeping an eye on what competitors are doing, it shouldn’t be too hard to sell the concept of a Competitive Audit. However, if there are any doubts, there are many benefits to be considered.

• It’s a more structured and reliable way of doing what you’re already doing
  Colleagues may already be casually checking competitors, but that only scratches the surface. A thorough competitor audit gives your research more depth and impact.
• Save time with existing solutions
  Got a design idea that resembles something on the market? Audit the existing product to assess the concept before investing in prototypes or testing.
• Learn the user and market context
  By exploring competitors’ products, you’ll uncover pain points, successful design patterns, and opportunities to improve your own.
• Build better empathy
• Seeing how users interact with competing products helps you design solutions that outperform theirs.

The way to earn consumer loyalty & competitive advantage is to deliver the most satisfying experience.

Curt Collinsworth

Software Product and Design Leader

• Break out of insider thinking
  Competitor audits are a reality check, preventing you from falling into the trap of recycled ideas or jargon from internal conversations. 
• Spot wins and losses clearly
  Audits reveal friction points, missed opportunities, outright mistakes, and strategies competitors use effectively to solve user problems.
• Scale resources to your needs
  A competitive audit can be as light or in-depth as you need – anything from a quick afternoon task for a junior researcher to a more detailed analysis.
• No Special Expertise Required
• With a bit of planning, anyone with time can conduct a competitive audit. Tools like UXtweak’s competitive testing tool make the process easy, accessible, and budget-friendly.

Where a competitor audit can help

There are plenty of areas in your product where a competitive audit can make a difference. If you’re looking for ideas, here are some of the most common focuses:

• Homepage experience
  How users navigate and find their way around a website or app.
• Sign-up and onboarding
  The experience of getting started, from signing up to logging in and completing onboarding steps.
• Primary tasks
  How users start, perform, and complete key tasks—whether it’s on a website, app, or online store.
• Marketing landing pages
  How well landing pages guide users to hit key buttons or calls-to-action (CTAs).

Before starting your audit, always ask: What am I trying to accomplish? Staying focused on your goal – like improving your value proposition, removing objections, or understanding competitors’ keywords – keeps the audit aligned with what truly matters for your business.

Who is interested in competitor audits

The audience for an audit can range from high-level executives like the CEO, CTO, or other C-suite members to more commonly include product team members such as researchers, designers, managers, and engineers. Given the significance of the product-marketing relationship, competitor audit results may also interest those in sales and marketing roles.

Conduct a competitive audit with UXtweak

Learn from competitors' mistakes and mimic their strenths with our specialized tool!

Register for free

How to conduct a competitive audit

1. Plan Your Audit

• Define scope: audience, time, and budget.
• Set goals: What questions are you trying to answer?
• Choose tools and resources: Identify the people and tools needed for the audit.

2. Find Competitors

• Ask your team
  Your marketing team or senior leaders likely know who your main competitors are. Start there.
• Search on Google
  Try keywords like “buy,” “best,” or “cheapest” along with your product or service. Searching your business name with “alternative” can also reveal competitors.
• Explore customer journeys
  Sketch out a simple flow of how potential customers discover and choose products like yours. Look for points where they compare options—that’s where your competitors show up.
• Focus on key players
  Imagine your customer has a few tabs open, comparing your product with two others. Those are the competitors you need to pay attention to.
• Talk to your customers

Ask your customers what alternatives they considered before choosing your product.

3. Choose Competitors

• Direct Competitors: Direct competitors target the same users and solve the same problem as your product. Think Google Sheets vs. Microsoft Excel or Nike vs. Adidas. Users will naturally compare you to these alternatives when deciding which solution best meets their needs.
• For example:
  If you run a lemonade stand, the neighbor’s stand selling the same product at a different price is your direct competition.
• Indirect Competitors: Indirect competitors either address the same problem for a different audience or solve a different problem for the same users. These alternatives might not seem like direct threats, but they shape user expectations and behaviors.
• For instance:
• Streaming services like Netflix compete directly with Disney+ and HBO Max, but they also face indirect competition from YouTube, TikTok, and even video games – any platform where users spend their entertainment time.
• Prioritize 2-3 direct and 1-2 indirect competitors for analysis.

4. Conduct analysis 

You can conduct the analysis alone, collaborate with colleagues for broader perspectives, or – most objectively – use a testing tool with real participants. Testing tools provide unbiased feedback on what competitors do well, where they fall short, and what sets them apart. Here you can choose the right type of competitor audit for your needs.

Strengths and Weaknesses

• Strengths: What does the company do well? Use reviews, testimonials, and user feedback as a guide.
  • Do customers mention reliable customer support or a smooth user experience?
  • Have they addressed a need or problem that others haven’t?
• Weaknesses: Where does the company fall short?
  • What are the most common customer complaints?
  • Are there recurring issues, such as slow response times, poor usability, or unfulfilled promises?

User loyalty and engagement

• Review social media activity, comments, and online discussions.
• What keeps users returning? Do they respond consistently to feedback or create spaces for direct interaction, such as forums or community channels?

Key Differentiators

• Identify what sets their product apart, such as:
  • Unique features, processes, or approaches.
  • Clear value propositions and a distinct tone of voice.
  • Smooth user experience, efficient service, or faster delivery.
• Look for standout elements like free resources, simplified workflows, or communication practices.

Address competitor strengths, weaknesses, unique features, and user engagement.

Build a competitive audit template

Include details:

• Company name and URL
• Value proposition and target audience
• Strengths, weaknesses, and key differentiators
• Ratings and reviews 
• Features, revenue, traffic, etc.

We’ve prepared a template to help you compare your product with competitors.

Download UXtweak competitive audit template now!

5. Summarize and share competitive audit report

• Highlight key findings, tying them back to your goals.
• Address competitor strengths, weaknesses, unique features, and user engagement.

Competitive audit example

Competitive Audit Example: Online Task Management Tools

1. Plan Your Audit

• Scope: We decided to focus on individual professionals and small teams using task management tools, like freelancers and startups.
• Time: We chose to allocate two weeks for this audit.
• Budget: We set a budget of $200 for respondent compensation, sticking to free tools wherever possible.
• Goal: Our goal was to understand how competitors handle onboarding and task assignment workflows to find ways to improve our platform’s user experience.

2. Find Competitors

• Team Suggestions: We started by talking to the marketing team, who suggested looking at Trello, Asana, and ClickUp.
• Google Search: A quick search for terms like “best task management tools 2024” and “alternatives to Trello” pointed us toward Notion and Monday.com as potential competitors.
• Customer Feedback: We reached out to existing customers and asked what tools they used before switching to us. Their responses highlighted Asana and Trello as direct competitors and Excel as an indirect one.

3. Choose Competitors

• Direct Competitors:
  1. Trello: Known for its simple Kanban boards.
  2. Asana: Offers flexible project management.
  3. ClickUp: Provides highly customizable workflows.
• Indirect Competitors:
  1. Excel: Often used manually for task tracking.
  2. Notion: Combines knowledge management with task tracking.

4. Conduct Analysis

• Strengths and Weaknesses:
  • Trello:
    • Strength: Simple and visually appealing Kanban interface.
    • Weakness: Lacks advanced reporting features.
  • Asana:
    • Strength: Clean design and strong third-party integrations.
    • Weakness: Overwhelming for small teams due to its complexity.
  • ClickUp:
    • Strength: Deep customization options.
    • Weakness: Steep learning curve for new users.
• User Loyalty and Engagement:
  • Trello: Active community forums but slow to implement feature requests.
  • Asana: Detailed documentation and strong testimonials from remote teams.
  • ClickUp: Engages users with frequent webinars and quick feature rollouts.
• Key Differentiators:
  • Trello: Best for simplicity and visual workflows.
  • Asana: Great for project tracking with multiple views.
  • ClickUp: Ideal for teams needing high customization.
• Competitive Analysis Matrix:

The table above is illustrative and may not reflect the current situation of the tools.

5. Summarize and Share Action Points

• Key Findings:
  • Trello’s simplicity makes it appealing to individuals, but it doesn’t scale well for bigger projects.
  • Asana and ClickUp have rich features but can overwhelm smaller teams.
  • There’s an opportunity to offer customizable features without the learning curve.
• Action Points:
  1. Simplify our onboarding process to match Trello’s ease of use.
  2. Create pre-set templates for common workflows to replicate ClickUp’s flexibility without the complexity.
  3. Boost community engagement by hosting webinars and creating a user forum.
• Supporting Visuals: Include screenshots of competitor onboarding flows, user reviews highlighting pain points, and a visual comparison of their user interfaces.

Mistakes to avoid when conducting a competitive audit

Competitive audits can be incredibly useful, but there’s a fine line between inspiration and falling into bad habits. Here’s what to watch out for when planning your audit:

• Outright copying
  Taking ideas is fine – copy-pasting isn’t.
• Blindly following the crowd
  Just because a pattern is common doesn’t mean it’s good. Don’t repeat low-quality solutions.
• Obsessing over features
  Don’t aim for feature-for-feature matching. Focus on what truly matters to your users, not what competitors are piling on.
• Confirming your biases
  Stay objective. Don’t use the audit to justify decisions you’ve already made.
• Trying to answer everything at once
  Keep it focused. Aim to answer one or two key questions per audit, not all of them.
• Skipping other research
  A competitor audit doesn’t replace qualitative research. You still need to dig into users’ real problems and needs.
• Relying on it as your only source of ideas
  Competitor insights are valuable, but they’re not the whole picture. Combine them with original research and creative thinking.

Choosing the right competitor audit

Not all competitive audits need to be full-scale, time-consuming projects. The type of audit you choose depends on your goals, resources, and timeline. 

Ad-hoc / Grab-and-Go
This is the quick, informal competitor research you might already be doing. It’s not a full audit, but it can still be useful. By defining the problem, identifying competitors, and adding some historical context, you can make this approach more effective without much effort. It’s perfect when time or resources are limited.

Desk Research
This approach involves one researcher planning and documenting their own findings. While it’s straightforward and productive, it lacks the perspective of a group effort. To make it stronger, include input from colleagues, friends, or even family members as quick testers. It’s simple, fast, and can surface fresh ideas that one person might miss.

Research Study
For a more thorough approach, plan the audit using tools and testing participants. This can range from small, focused studies to larger ones with broader input. Tools like UXtweak Competitive Usability Testing make setup quick and easy, offering access to online respondent pools at a reasonable cost. It’s a practical way to get answers without overcomplicating the process.

Conduct a competitive audit with UXtweak

Learn from competitors' mistakes and mimic their strenths with our specialized tool!

Register for free

UXtweak competitive Usability Testing

Which tests can you use in UXtweak for competitive testing?

First Click Test

The First Click Test helps you understand whether users can quickly find the right element to interact with on your page. Set up a clear task, such as “Where would you click to sign up?” or “Find the button to start a new project.” Run the test on your website and then on your competitor’s site to compare results. By measuring how many users find the correct target and how long it takes them, you’ll see which design is more intuitive. If your competitor outperforms you, analyze their layout and button placement for potential improvements.

For example, on Amazon’s homepage, you could test how quickly users locate the “Books” section or the search bar to evaluate the clarity and efficiency of the page layout.

Five Second Test

Use the Five Second Test to evaluate users’ first impressions and how quickly they understand the main message of a page. Show your website or app to users for five seconds, then ask them questions like, “What is this page about?” or “What elements stood out to you?” Repeat this test with your competitor’s page to see which one communicates key information better. This is a great way to identify if your visuals, messaging, or layout need tweaking to make a stronger impact.

For example, on Tripadvisor’s homepage, you could test whether users quickly recognize it as a platform for booking travel experiences, hotels, and activities.

Preference Test

The Preference Test allows you to find out how your page design or presentation stacks up against a competitor’s in the eyes of your target audience. Show participants two versions – yours and a competitor’s – and ask them, “Which design do you prefer and why?” This test reveals which visual elements, messaging, or layout resonate more with users. You might find that users prefer certain features of your competitor’s design, which can help you decide what to adjust or emphasize on your own site.

For example, you could compare Puma’s and your’s product pages, asking participants which layout or design they prefer and why – focusing on elements like product images, descriptions, or the visibility of price.

How to set up a study in UXtweak?

1. To get started, sign up for a UXtweak account. You can use the free plan to set up your competitive audit, with payment only required for collected responses.
2. Once your account is ready, create a new website testing study by entering the competitor’s URL and defining the parameters or questions for the assessment. Specify the tasks you want respondents to complete – make sure they’re realistic and reflect common user actions.
3. When everything is set, hit ‘Launch.’ Share the study link with your respondents. They’ll be asked to install the UXtweak Chrome Extension to enable data collection. 
4. Once installed, they can begin the study and complete the tasks. You can use your own participants or access UXtweak’s pool of respondents with our User Panel.

P.S. The Extension can be handy for assessing your own sites as you don’t need to change any code, keeping your site performant and your code clean.

One thing I like about this setup is the accuracy and visualization of the stats which are gathered, together with the qualitative recordings which can be viewed for more context. Also, I don’t think a high-grade study could be any more simple to create. 

Check out our Demo Competitive Audit Study to see UXtweak in action!

Check out UXtweak’s Competitive Usability testing tool.

Conclusion

Evaluating competitors is an effective way to validate ideas and find fresh approaches to solving user problems. That said, informal competitor research can lack credibility and may even pose risks for businesses.

A structured Competitor Audit overcomes these issues and can improve how products are designed, marketed, and experienced. Plus, as a designer, it’s always interesting to see the different ways similar problems are tackled – and now, tools for conducting an audit are easier to use than ever.

Try your first competitive usability test with UXtweak!