Best Competitive Analysis Templates for Business Operations

Understanding the competitive landscape is a fundamental aspect of steering a business towards success. It informs you of where your product or service stands in comparison to others in the market, highlighting areas for improvement and opportunities for growth. A Competitive Analysis template can simplify this process by providing a framework to systematically evaluate your competitors and gather actionable insights.

Before you begin crafting your own Competitive Analysis document, consider reviewing these templates to streamline your efforts and enhance your strategic planning.

What Should Competitive Analysis Templates Include?

Choosing the right competitive analysis template can streamline your strategic planning and provide clear insights into your market. Here are key components to look for in an effective template:

  1. Market Overview: This section should provide a comprehensive view of the industry, including market size, growth trends, and key players. It sets the stage for deeper analysis.

  2. Competitor Benchmarking: Essential for comparing your business directly with competitors on various aspects such as pricing, product features, market share, and customer service.

  3. SWOT Analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats should be clearly outlined to help identify strategic positions and potential areas of improvement.

  4. Customer Segmentation: Understanding who the competitors are targeting and how they position themselves can help tailor your strategies to better meet customer needs.

Selecting a template that effectively organizes and presents this information will empower your business with the tools to make informed decisions and stay ahead in the competitive landscape.

What Should Competitive Analysis Templates Avoid?

Choosing the right competitive analysis template is crucial for effective business strategy development. However, certain elements can detract from the template's utility and should be avoided:

  1. Overly Complex Metrics: Templates that include too many intricate metrics can be confusing and may detract from key insights. Simplicity often leads to better clarity and usability.

  2. Irrelevant Competitor Information: Ensure the template does not focus on irrelevant data about competitors. Concentrate on information that directly impacts your strategic decisions.

  3. Static Content: Avoid templates that do not allow for easy updates and scalability. Competitive landscapes change rapidly, and your template should be able to adapt.

Ultimately, the best template is one that is clear, relevant, and adaptable, helping you to focus on strategic insights that drive actionable business decisions.

1Competitive Analysis

Track and stay ahead of competitors operating in your market. Edit individual items to add notes, screenshots, etc. about each competitor.

A template preview for Competitive Analysis

2Feature market analysis

Quickly and elegantly identify differences between your product and primary competitors when it comes to features. Always have a sense of the market and where different players are innovating.

This can also help your sales team understand at a glance where they have opportunity to point out your product's unique advantages.

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A template preview for Feature market analysis

3Competitor Analysis

Make sure your entire company understands your competitive landscape, where you're best in class, and where you still have room for growth. This is very helpful for keeping urgency high.

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A template preview for Competitor Analysis

4Competitive Positioning Framework

Use this table to quickly compare your brand or company to the competitors in your industry and develop differentiated solution/benefit statements, core differentiators, category(s), and market position. Take a look at incumbents and well-established competitors as well as emerging disruptors and innovators in your space. You might also consider comparing your company to complementary brands—brands your customers may already be loyal to or use in conjunction with your product, such as an integration.

A template preview for Competitive Positioning Framework

5Business Model Canvas

Business Model Canvas Template for Notion & FigJam
The Business Model Canvas splits a business model into 9 areas and invites you to brainstorm how your business will capitalize on each. Whether you're starting up a new business or trying to understand an existing one, the Business Model Canvas will help you map it out.

The Business Model Canvas is ideal for quick thinking and brainstorming with sticky notes, so grab your team and start thinking about:

Value Proposition. What does the business offer to meet the needs of its customers? What distinguishes it from its competitors? Is it something innovative? Price? Quality?

Key Activities. What does the business do to execute its value proposition?

Key Resources. What resources does the business have to give it an edge? People? Knowledge? Assets?

Key Partners. Does the business have any complimentary partnerships or relationships? Joint ventures or strategic alliances?

Customer Segments. Who are the customers? A niche market or mass appeal? Multiple different segments? Multi-sided market?

Customer Relationships. What sort of relationship will the business have with its customer segments? High touch sales? Self-service? Community-based?

Channels. What channels will the business use to get its value proposition to its customers? Marketing? Partnerships? Online or physical?

Cost Structures. How will the business expenses be structured? Fixed costs and variable costs? Economies of scale? Minimize costs or maximize value?

Revenue Streams. How will the business make money from its customers? Selling something? Subscription fees? Advertising?

A template preview for Business Model Canvas

6SWOT Analysis

The template guides you through a systematic evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats associated with your project or initiative. also aids in the development of effective strategies to accomplish your goals. Through a clear understanding of the internal and external factors affecting your situation or idea, you can build a robust strategic plan that maximizes your strengths, addresses your weaknesses, leverages available opportunities, and mitigates potential threats.

A template preview for SWOT Analysis

7Competitor Battlecards

Knowing your competition is one key to success. With this Competitor Battlecards template, you can see the landscape, know your positioning, and set your company up to win.

A template preview for Competitor Battlecards

8Competitive Analysis Template

A competitive analysis is an assessment of our competitor’s products & services to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in comparison to ours. This template focuses on UX/UI analysis of competitors' products.

A template preview for Competitive Analysis Template

9Competitor UX analysis

UX competitive analysis focuses on evaluating and comparing the user experience elements of competitors' products or services, like navigation, information architecture, visual design, content quality, usability, and overall user satisfaction.

In this process, you'll create a list of competitors (check out a competitor page), examine their features compared to yours (feature audit), look at how users interact with their product and what challenges they face (UX analysis), and put together a visual board for inspiration from their design choices (benchmarking).

A template preview for Competitor UX analysis

10Notion Competitor Monitoring Template

Our Notion Competitor Monitoring Template will allow you to jumpstart your competitive analysis without starting from scratch. This template contains four pages including a SWOT Analysis, a competitor Kanban board, guiding questions, and a 100+ resource database. Stay ahead of your competition and start using competitor insights to your advantage.

A template preview for Notion Competitor Monitoring Template

Closing Thoughts

Utilizing these templates can streamline your competitive analysis process, ensuring you efficiently identify and capitalize on market opportunities. They provide a structured approach to gathering and analyzing data, saving you valuable time.

Implementing these tools allows for a clearer understanding of your competitive landscape, which can lead to more informed strategic decisions. Start integrating these templates into your business operations today to enhance your competitive edge and drive success.

What is a SWOT Analysis?

SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or business venture.

What is a PEST Analysis?

PEST Analysis is a framework used to assess the external macro-environmental factors that impact a business, specifically Political, Economic, Social, and Technological influences.

What is a Market Positioning Map?

A Market Positioning Map is a visual tool that displays the positioning of a company's products or services against their competitors, based on relevant criteria to the target market.

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