What are the best practices for conducting a competitive gap analysis in the digital age?

1 Define your goals and criteria

Before you start analyzing your competitors, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. Depending on your industry, market, and objectives, you may want to focus on different aspects of your competitors' performance, such as their market share, customer satisfaction, brand awareness, product features, pricing, distribution channels, or online presence. You should also define the criteria that will help you compare and contrast your competitors with your own business, such as their target audience, value proposition, positioning, or unique selling points.

3 Collect and analyze data

Once you have identified your competitors and segments, you need to collect and analyze data to evaluate their performance and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Surveys, interviews, mystery shopping, web analytics, social media analytics, and content analysis are all methods that can be used to gather quantitative and qualitative data. It is also important to collect data about your own business so that you can compare yourself to your competitors. Customer satisfaction, loyalty, brand awareness, brand image, product features, pricing, distribution channels, and online presence are all key metrics and indicators that can be used to analyze the data. Specifically, you should consider how happy customers are with your products or services compared to your competitors; how likely customers are to repeat purchases or recommend your products or services; how well-known and recognized your brand is in the market; how positive and distinctive the brand perception is in the minds of customers; how innovative and valuable your product features are; how competitive and profitable your prices are; how accessible and convenient your distribution channels are; and how effective and engaging your website, social media, email marketing, or online advertising is compared to those of your competitors.

4 Visualize and communicate your findings

The final step is to visualize and communicate your findings in a clear and compelling way. You can use various formats and tools, such as charts, graphs, tables, dashboards, or reports, to present your data and highlight the key insights and trends. You should also use a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to summarize your findings and identify the main gaps and opportunities for your business. You should communicate your findings to your relevant stakeholders, such as your team, managers, or clients, and use them to inform your decision-making and action plans.

5 Implement and monitor your actions

The last but not least practice is to implement and monitor your actions based on your findings. You should use your competitive gap analysis as a guide to improve your performance, optimize your marketing strategies, and differentiate your value proposition. You should also track and measure the results of your actions and compare them with your goals and criteria. You should also update your competitive gap analysis regularly, as the market and customer behavior may change over time.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?