How to Get Information From Customers About Competitors

Questionnaires are useful for gathering information about competitors.

In order to expand your business, you need to consider the marketplace. In a free market system, there is a place for healthy competition between companies offering similar products or services. However, you still need to be mindful of ways to best get an edge over your competition in order to succeed in getting and retaining new customers. Get information about your competition from a variety of sources, including firsthand information from their own customer base.

Instructions

1. Organize a research and development team aimed at determining customer satisfaction. Identify who your competitors are, what they offer, how they are similar from you and how they differ. Think long term when establishing who your competition is; just because they don't currently pose a threat does not mean they will never be able to steal business.

2. Ask customers to fill out comment cards or questionnaires aimed at getting competitor information. It is often the case that your own dedicated customer base will have firsthand knowledge about your competition. In fact, their experience with the competition could be what leads them to you in the first place. Do not develop the cards or surveys as an attack; but ask questions that measure their satisfaction with the other providers and descriptions about their experience. Ask what led them to you.

3. Distribute customer satisfaction surveys to your competitor's customers as well. You do not necessarily need to have individual names of these customers; just a sense of the location or the areas the competition serves. Direct marketing questionnaires or even Internet surveys can be helpful in gathering this information.

4. Offer incentives to motivate customers to take these surveys or offer insight on comment cards. Whether they are your customers or are currently using your competition, you should give them reasons to walk through your door. Coupons, gift certificates, free gifts with purchase or even generous financing options will help drive customers in the door.

5. Review websites aimed at allowing customers to voice their opinions about their experience. Many websites and apps are designed to give consumers an opportunity to rate a business and describe their experience with the company.

References

• Aware: Competitor Analysis -- A Brief Guide: The Basic Principles of Competitive Intelligence
• Fathom Online Marketing; How to Get Customers to Choose You Instead of the Competition; Abigail Rossbach
• Survey Methods: Competitors' Customers -- What You Need to Know