How to Conduct a Competitor Analysis for Your SaaS Business

Published: October 25, 2019

An aerial view of people with laptops planning a competitor analysis

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) businesses are constantly developing new ways to stay ahead in the market and draw in more customers. If you plan to keep your business afloat in the ever-changing industry, you need a strategy that will help you stay up to date and find out what makes you stand out in a sea of competitors.

To keep moving forward while paving the way for business expansion, it’s important for you to know how to do a competitor analysis. With a SaaS business competitor analysis, you can make the most of your company’s potential and gain the knowledge to rise up in the industry.

Know Your Competitors

The first step in any SaaS competitor analysis is knowing who your competitors are. If you’re unsure where to start, ask yourself what kinds of services you offer and how you deliver them.

You could consider many SaaS businesses competitors if they share similar qualities with your company. However, you can narrow it down even further to direct competitors who offer the same or similar services to your business. If a customer is looking for a specific service and needs to decide between you and a competitor, your main goal is to stand out so that the customer ultimately chooses your service.

Gather Data

There are many factors you can look at when you start gathering data from your competitors. It’s crucial that you implement as many of the options available as possible so that you can paint a complete picture of competitor advantages and drawbacks. Some of these options include:

  • Website presentation and navigability
  • Service offerings and benefits
  • Pricing
  • Online reviews
  • Search results
  • Social media presence
  • Customer experience

Gathering data for your competitor analysis includes examining the SaaS business’s content and service benefits while also taking a close look at the relationships they have with current and past customers. To get in the customer mindset, you may even consider using the mystery shopper method by interacting with customer service and signing up for free trials when applicable.

Organize and Analyze

Once you’ve collected all the information necessary from your competitors, it’s time to organize and analyze the data. Use charts and reports to put all your data into a readable format and then start to compare business strategies. Did you find similarities between your competitors? What were some of the differences? Most importantly, what did you think were the biggest strengths and weaknesses of each business?

After you consolidate this information and compare these competitors with your own business strategies and offerings, consider the main takeaways from each finding. This process will allow you to determine where your business has room for improvement so that you can start developing ways to reduce inefficiencies and build on strengths.

Conduct a Competitor Analysis With Proactive Worldwide

If you think your SaaS business is ready to expand, that means it’s time for a large-scale competitor analysis. Proactive Worldwide is an industry leader in competitive intelligence and marketing research, which is why you can trust us to conduct a detailed, insightful competitor analysis that will help you increase service quality and revenue.

Contact us for more information today!