HACKER Q&A
📣 tnsrig

How do you monitor competitors in your industry?


Hello everyone, I'm looking for effective ways to track competitors in my role as a Chief Product Officer at a start-up. We have several competitors, and I'd like to keep tabs on their progress and product updates. Currently, I just have their apps installed on my phone and occasionally visit their websites for new information. I feel there must be more efficient methods to stay informed. What tools or strategies do you recommend?

  👤 amazingtonyb Accepted Answer ✓
Hello!

I'm working for a B2B SaaS so it might be different for you, as I understand you do mobile apps.

- Regular review of won / lost deals, the best info about our competitors was the one gleaned through the eyes of the customers, as it helps assess whether the actual users think their product/features are good or not

- #competitors channel on Slack. Sales / PM/ Marketing share interesting news/articles or questions when they are dealing with a customer objection.

- I always sign up for their product, and receive competitor newsletters. It's the best way to get informed of their news / product launches.

- For monitoring competitor plans and features, I setup custom alerts to get a notification when they change their pricing page.

- Google Alerts with your company and competitor names.

- Periodic review of their product with credentials shared among our product team, when we needed to check out how they built a particular feature.

- Check out their reviews on the stores + Trustpilot regularly

It can be time-consuming, but yields great insights for my roadmap and marketing positioning.

I have now built my own tool to automate everything: https://peerpanda.app . Would love to get your feedback on it!

👤 CharlotteSophie
Hi! For social post tracking you can monitor their brand / social handles. Google alerts doesn’t pick up on non indexed social updates on x, LinkedIn, Reddit and co.

Either manually or tools like Octolens.com (disclaimer: it’s my company).

👤 joezydeco
Does your product sector have a trade show or annual convention? Are there any journals or magazines that cover your field?