Competitor Analysis and Monitoring Dashboard: What Metrics, Channels and KPIs Should You Track?

Every business, whether a fledgling startup or an established giant, operates within a sea of competition. Understanding and monitoring your competitors is a key aspect of strategic planning, and a well-crafted competitor analysis dashboard can provide the insights you need. Let’s dive into what metrics, channels, and KPIs you should be tracking.

Decoding Metrics: The Numerical Narrative of Success

Metrics form the backbone of any analysis, offering quantifiable measures of performance. In a competitor analysis dashboard, they help you compare your performance against your competitors. Here are some key metrics you should include in your dashboard:

Market Share

Market share indicates the portion of the market controlled by a particular company. Comparing your market share to your competitors gives you a sense of the playing field and can inform your strategies to capture a greater slice of the pie.

Pricing

Monitor your competitors’ pricing strategies. Are they offering discounts or bundles? How does their pricing compare to yours? Understanding these can inform your own pricing and positioning strategies.

Customer Satisfaction

This can be gauged through reviews, net promoter scores, or social media sentiment. Customer satisfaction metrics can provide insights into where your competitors are succeeding or failing in the eyes of consumers.

Product/Service Features

What features are your competitors offering that you aren’t? What is their unique selling proposition? By keeping an eye on this, you can uncover gaps in your own offerings and find opportunities for differentiation.

Keeping an Eye on Channels: Where the Action Happens

Next, consider the channels your competitors are using to reach their customers. Here are a few key channels to track:

Social Media

Monitoring your competitors’ social media activities can provide a wealth of information. Track their followers, engagement rates, and content strategy. Look at how they respond to comments and criticism. This can give you a sense of what resonates with your shared audience.

Website

Your competitor’s website is their digital storefront. Monitor changes to their site, such as new products, blog content, or changes in messaging. Tools like SEMRush or Ahrefs can also help you track their SEO performance.

Email Marketing

Subscribe to your competitors’ newsletters and promotional emails. Look at their frequency, content, design, and calls to action. Are they offering special deals or exclusive content? This can inform your own email marketing strategy.

Tracking KPIs: Your Competitive Scorecard

Lastly, your competitor analysis dashboard should include Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These are the metrics that align directly with your business objectives and help you evaluate your performance. Here are a few competitor-related KPIs you should consider:

Share of Voice

This measures how much of the online conversation around your industry or product category is about your brand, compared to your competitors. It’s a good indicator of brand awareness and market dominance.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Compare your CAC to your competitors’. This can highlight differences in efficiency and effectiveness of marketing strategies.

Average Order Value (AOV)

How much are customers spending per transaction? Compare your AOV with your competitors to see if there are opportunities to increase your own AOV.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

This is the total worth of a customer over their entire relationship with a business. If your competitors have a higher CLV, it might indicate stronger customer loyalty and retention strategies.

Creating and maintaining a competitor analysis dashboard is an ongoing process, not a one-time task. The competitive landscape is constantly shifting, and your dashboard should adapt and evolve accordingly. By keeping a keen eye on the right metrics, channels, and KPIs, you can stay one step ahead of your competition and navigate the market with confidence.

Competitive Benchmarking: Position Yourself Among Giants

A core element of competitor analysis is benchmarking – comparing your performance against industry standards or best-in-class companies. Incorporate this into your dashboard to see where you stand.

For example, if your competitors have an average email open rate of 20% and you’re currently at 15%, that indicates an area for improvement. Similarly, if your customer satisfaction scores are higher than the industry average, that’s a strength to capitalize on.

Social Listening: Uncover the Unspoken

Beyond traditional metrics and KPIs, there’s an ocean of unstructured data to explore – social conversations. Social listening tools can help track mentions of your competitors, sentiment, trending topics, and influential voices. This can uncover strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the competitor landscape that aren’t evident through quantitative metrics alone.

Tools of the Trade: Harness the Power of Technology

There are numerous tools available to aid in competitor analysis. For social media, tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout Social offer powerful analytics. For SEO, SEMRush and Ahrefs are popular choices. For all-round competitor analysis, tools like Rivalyzer can provide comprehensive insights. Choose tools that fit your needs and budget, but remember, it’s the insights you draw and the actions you take that truly matter.

Dashboard Design: Simplify the Complex

The design of your dashboard is equally important. It should present data in a clear, concise, and visually appealing manner. Use charts, graphs, and color-coding to highlight important trends or anomalies. It should be easy to update and customizable, allowing different users to focus on the metrics that matter most to them.

Conclusion: The Art and Science of Competition

Competitor analysis isn’t a mere box-ticking exercise, it’s a strategic process that requires ongoing attention and curiosity. It’s about understanding the strategies, actions, successes, and failures of your competitors and translating that understanding into actionable insights.

A competitor analysis dashboard is your window into the competitive landscape. It allows you to track your competitors’ moves, anticipate trends, identify opportunities, and ultimately, make informed decisions that drive growth and success. Remember, in the game of business, knowledge is not just power; it’s the fuel for growth, innovation, and sustained competitive advantage.