Competitive and UX Analysis
Competitive Analysis
A competitive analysis allows a UX designer to assess how competitors to the proposed app or website have done the design for their users. Getting to know the key competitors helps designers get an idea of what users might expect from the app or website to be designed, where competitors are doing a good job at solving user problems, and where they aren’t, and to identify opportunities where your app or website can meet an unfulfilled user problem.
The process itself is interesting and can be quite informative. My UX Immersion course project is for a boating weather app, so I conducted a competitive analysis on two leading boating weather apps. I identified UX design features which worked well, and a few that did not work so well. For example, one app did not include the weather feature in their navigation menu (even though it is a feature they promote as being part of the app).
Overview
There are three main areas a UX designer is looking to cover in a competitive analysis: Key Objectives, Overall Strategy, and Market Advantage. CareerFoundry offers a nice summary of these three focus areas:
| Key Objectives | A competitor’s core message, the way in which they present themselves, and how they claim to set themselves apart from the competition |
| Overall Strategy | A competitor’s business strategy, the way in which they attract customers, and how they position themselves against other companies in their industry |
| Market Advantage | What it is that makes a competitor better, faster, stronger, and/or more unique than the competition |
Source: CareerFoundry.
Marketing Profile
After looking at these three areas, a UX designer wants to examine the Marketing Profile of the competitors. This helps in understanding the target market and, specifically, how the competitors market their app or website. This will give the UX designer an idea of what efforts may be needed to put their app or website in front of the target users – and spot some opportunities where competitors may not be currently taking advantage to market to users.
SWOT
The next step in competitive analysis was interesting for me to see. The SWOT analysis. I’ve been part of doing SWOT analyses before with organizational boards. It was interesting to apply it toward my boating app project.
SWOT is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. I never really liked using the term ‘Threats,’ (it seems a bit too negative and aggressive), but it is well-ingrained in the method.
- Strengths: The competitor’s biggest strengths.
- Weaknesses: The competitor’s biggest weaknesses.
- Opportunities: A missing feature or a design flaw in the competitor’s product that could be filled by the proposed product.
- Threats: An outside threat the competitor might be fac
Taken together, the competitive analysis gives the UX designer a better understanding of the market for the proposed app or website and what it will take to compete in that marketplace.
UX Competitive Analysis
After the general competitive analysis is complete, a UX designer will also want to do a UX competitive analysis. This is where a designer will look specifically at the competitor’s user experience. Here, again, CareerFoundry offers a nice summary of the steps involved in a UX competitive analysis.
| Usability | The ease with which you can interact with, navigate through, and find information via the interface |
| Layout | The ease with which you understand the overall design, individual pages, and structure of the app or site |
| Navigation Structure | The logic of the app’s user flow and navigation structure. For example, is the home menu easy to find? Are the menu options organized logically? Did you struggle to find any particular page or function? This category is similar to usability, but with a greater focus on search engine optimization—how a search engine ranks your page in search queries. |
| Compatibility | The behavior and response of the app across devices (phones, tablets, computers), operating systems, and browsers (e.g., PC vs. Mac, Internet Explorer vs. Google Chrome). Does the product still work if you switch between browsers and devices? What operating systems do they support? Maybe there’s a chance to steal customers who aren’t supported! |
| Differentiation | This part of your competitive analysis works similarly to a summary. This is where you pull together the observations you’ve made regarding what makes the competitor unique to other apps on the market. Additionally, you’ll want to add some suggestions on how you might position your own app ahead of the game based on your observations of what they may lack. This is a great place for you to draw out specific, actionable points |
| Calls To Action (CTA) | Sign-up forms and contact forms where users can purchase a product, sign up for a service, or receive more information. Are they easy to find? Is it clear to you (or any other user) where you’ll be taken after submitting the form? |
Source: CareerFoundry
My Competitve Analysis Example
Following is my Competitive Analysis, including UX Competitive Analysis, for the boating weather app I will be designing for my UX Immersion course project.
