With the increasing popularity of AI technology, competitive product analysis, as an important means of design and product optimization, is constantly exploring new methods to combine with AI. From the perspective of AI-assisted competitor analysis, this paper discusses how to improve the efficiency and quality of competitor analysis through AI.
In many cases, the competitor analysis we painstakingly did not achieve the desired results, often because the report only listed information, but lacked opinions and recommendations for action. Or the conclusions and information are inconsistent, making it difficult to support opinions.
In the three steps of bidding, selection and notification, the notification is to organize, analyze and summarize.
Whether it is a formal multi-page report or a short one-page statement, the goal is to inform the conclusions of the competitor's research and contribute to the subsequent design agreement. In my opinion, a good competitive product analysis can be used as an answer to many questions such as how to make design highlights, how to reflect the design value, how to successfully pass the design review, and so on.
It is a means by design, not an end.
Share 3 ways to make competitor analysis more effective and AI-assisted improvement.
In When to take the initiative to do competitive research? ", I introduced 5 good times to intervene in research, each time corresponds to different problems, the research objectives are different, and the focus of content analysis is also different.
Although the specific objectives of each study are different, they can be summed up in two ways. Either give inspiration for "what to do" or give a reference for "how to do it".
Combined with AI, there are two dimensions to refine the information that is valuable to the target:
1. Check that your analysis gives guidance on what to do or "how to" for specific goals.
2. Send data to the AI and let the AI give its analysis of what to do or "how to do" for a specific goal.
When we check and collect the information of competing products, we can record some thoughts in time.
The content of the record includes 2 aspects:
6. Your own opinions or feelings. For example, "the interface is all dark and conforms to the feeling of the product", "the top is the state of the robot, it's too much like a button, it's not good", "the main interface is divided into 0 parts", "the model management is split by category, and there is no unified page for viewing"......
2. Key images and information. For example, the process interface on the main process or research function point, the introduction of key functions, the interaction point or interface form that makes you impressed, etc.
The advantage of recording is that the task of writing the report is to be front-loaded, and some ideas that seem fragmented and superficial at the time may be a good starting point when analyzing, and it is also convenient to use AI tools to help us classify and organize them according to the structured form.
Share a complete competitor analysis report framework that I have combed through:
5. Conclusion (necessary): Many generic templates will put this at the end, but I recommend the conclusion first. Start by summarizing and summarizing your findings with no more than 0 points on a single page.
2. Basic information: the version of the report, the time, the personnel, etc
3. Research Background: Explain why you want to do the research.
4. Selection basis: Explain why these competitive studies were chosen
5. Research content (necessary): According to the conclusion, the specific information and analysis content of the competitive product research will be presented in a structured form. Including but not limited to: function classification: core functions, secondary functions, auxiliary functionsInteraction process: main process, specific function process and other page performance: Comparative analysis of the presentation of interfaces, such as the layout of similar functions, information levels, visual lines, component use, icon forms and other design highlights: impressive functions or design methods that can be learned from.
6. Design suggestions: Competitive product research is a means of design, so finally put forward some design suggestions from the conclusion of the competition. If it is a more informal competition task, this part may be the main content, then you can also expand and state the specific improved design plan.
According to the timing and goals of competitor research, the necessary points are selected from the framework to expand, and the content of the report can be long or short, and the AI tool can improve our efficiency and quality from two aspects in the step of "reporting":
1. Reading efficiency. When there is too much content, AI can be used to summarize it, and the information of foreign competing products can also be directly translated.
2. Organize information in a structured manner and fill in gaps.
The following is a preliminary product competitor analysis that I asked Deepseek to do, which can be compared between the content that does not provide a framework and after the framework is provided, especially in terms of user experience, and it is obvious that the answer after giving the framework is more specific and practical.
On the left is the response of DS when no frame is given
This article was written by Everyone is a Product Manager [Lin Yingluo], WeChat public account: [Forest has a shadow fall], original/authorized Published in Everyone is a product manager, without permission, it is forbidden to reprint.
題圖來自Unsplash，基於 CC0 協定。