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Some of the best companies in the world keep a close eye on what their competitors are doing. One way they -- and you too -- can do this is through a competitor analysis survey.
A competitor analysis survey is a vital survey tool for helping businesses determine how they compare to their competitors in several key categories. It's important to know how customers perceive your business as well as how they view the competition.
Conducting a competitor analysis survey allows you to identify areas where you excel, as well as areas that need improvements in order to grab market share away from a competitor
What is a Competitor Analysis Survey?
Simply put, a competitor analysis survey is a customer survey designed to gain specific knowledge about customer perceptions, buying habits, and shopping preferences as they relate to you and your competitors.
While most marketing managers and business owners agree that obtaining this valuable information about their competition is instrumental to growth, they often lack both the resources and time to conduct a useful competitor analysis survey. Fortunately, using online survey software to conduct a competitor analysis survey overcomes these limitations as it is simple for you and to the valuable customers who take the time to answer the surveys.
Why Conduct a Competitor Analysis Survey?
Using survey software to conduct these surveys allows you to create your own set of questions to learn important elements that go into customers' decisions about where they shop and buy their products. Understanding the elements below can help you create changes within your organization that will generate greater customer loyalty. In particular, it can give you information on:
- Who is your competition?
- What products or services do they offer that compete with your business?
- What influences customer decisions to make purchases from competitors rather than your business?
- What do customers see as strengths and weaknesses of the competition when compared to your business, customer service, products, or services?
- What do customers believe it would take for you to have a competitive edge over your competition (be prepared to be surprised by this answer)?
Invest in a good survey tool so that you can get accurate information that will help you make product development decisions in the future, identify under-served needs in your industry, and create new strategies for marketing campaigns.
How to Conduct a Competitor Analysis Survey
The simplest way to do this is via online survey software. You can ask existing customers to fill out the survey online, major retailers include survey web addresses on cash register receipts, some send surveys to their email lists, other ask website visitors to fill out surveys, and some print out cards with survey information to hand to customers.
Once you have the method and the means of spreading the word, what's left is identifying the target audience you want to survey. Some small business owners choose to go broad and survey all customers while others want the opinion of a specific demographic (young mothers, teens, men, women approaching 40, etc.).
All that remains after conducting the competitor analysis survey and collecting the data is to put the information you gain from this insight to work -- whether that is a new product packaging, bundling new products or services, or adding additional customer services resources to fuel the growth of your business.
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