Analysis of competitors is the basis for making strategic decisions

For companies that have strong competitors and want to be one step ahead of them.

The starting point

One of our customers is the world leader in the cryptocurrency processing market. Making a development strategy for the year, we have identified key directions for a multiple of profit growth.

One of these areas were:

• Development of the partner network of resellers;
• Optimization of the process of attracting and onboarding potential customers;
• The expansion of the market segments with which we work;
• Increased brand recognition.

A number of questions and hypotheses appeared in each area. For example:

The development of the partner network:

• In what geo it is necessary to develop in the first place;
• How to increase conversion from a potential candidate for reseller;
• How to increase the conversion into the reseller of himself.

Optimization of the process of attracting and onboarding potential customers:

• How to increase conversion at various stages of the funnel;
• How to reduce the transaction cycle;
• Whether educational content is needed and on what topics;
• How to increase the competitiveness of a proposal;
• Do you need a test environment at the first stages of the funnel.

Expansion of market segments:

• In what geo of the greatest potential;
• What areas to focus on first.

As a result, we received a list of questions, the answers to which had to be found in the market. For each question, one or more methods of data collection were determined, one of which was an analysis of competitors.

Information about competitors can be collected in various methods. In our example, an analysis of open sources and the method of secret buyer were used.

Analysis of open sources

In this analysis, information on public resources on the Internet is collected.

In this case we analyzed:

• Website;
• User’s personal account;
• Accounts on social networks;
• Articles on branded queries on the search;
• Register of financial licenses.

25 competitors were selected, which we analyzed in 4 areas (product, marketing, sales, partnerships) in the context of 86 parameters.

Examples of parameters that we evaluated:

• The number of steps before the payment;
• Transaction speed;
• Customer storage system;
• The possibilities of integration with other systems;
• Reporting system for tax authorities;
• The complexity of the processing processing process;
• Business model SaAS solutions;
• Commercial offers;
• Price policy;
• Loyalty systems;
• Partner program conditions;
• Focal industries;
• Positioning, unique trade proposal;
• Sources of traffic by channels and ge;
• Content types and their popularity.

Several insights that we received after analyzing the collected data:

• Most competitors work with an e-commerce direction. Clients from this segment are offered special solutions, for example, plugins focused on CMS under E-Comm;
• One of the growth points can be software integration of processing with POS terminals;
• Partnership programs are aimed at 3 types of audiences: current clients, reseller and opinion leaders. They may contain ready -made presentation materials that simplify the process of promotion and resale of services. Some competitors offer transparent reporting systems on the effectiveness of each partner, which significantly increases confidence in the partner program. All major competitors have a referral program and a loyalty program for current customers;
• In addition to classic priority gears in which competitors work (USA, Great Britain, Canada, France, Netherlands, Turkey, Russia), we noted a number of other countries that have increased interest in the product (Brazil, Venezuela, Pakistan, India, Iran a number of African countries, etc.);
• Most competitors have the function of independent registration for the use of a test environment, as well as to simplify the passage of the KYC procedure. Such functionality increases the conversion at the first stages of sale, and also significantly reduces the transaction cycle;
• Almost none of the competitors monetizes the possibility of paid listing of additional tokens in which payment may be accepted;
• Competitors widely use educational content. He can close the doubts PSG sells NFT tickets of potential customers regarding the legality of the crypto of payments and tax reporting, as well as to illuminate typical issues – how the product, stages and difficulty of connection, cases and reviews work.

Insights from the analysis of open sources closed most of the questions, but some data cannot be found in the public domain. Therefore, we have started deeper analysis.

Analysis by the Secret Buyer method

To conduct such an analysis, it is first necessary to develop a believable legend. She should not doubt competitors, otherwise we will not get answers to the questions of interest to us.

It is worth noting that this method of collecting information is not illegal, t.to. Information can be provided to any company that falls into the target audience of competitors.

At the stage of preparation for data collection, we did the following:

1. They asked one of the current loyal customers permission to appear on behalf of his company;
2. Registered corporate mail for a new employee;
3. The details described the business situation and the request with which we will come to competitors;
4. Of the 25 competitors, 10 of the most interesting from the point of view of the results of the analysis from open sources;
5. Compiled a list of questions to which you need to get answers at various stages of communication with competitors.

With each competitor, we went through all the stages that a potential client passes – from filling out forms and registrations in personal accounts, until readily connect the product to the site.

Analysis by the method of secret buyer gave us a detailed answer to 3 strategic questions:

1. How competitive we are?
2. How to improve the sales process?
3. Are there any additional methods of monetization or other opportunities to increase profits?

Some of the most valuable conclusions:

1) Our pricing policy is within the average market values. However, in the current process of sale, a potential client recognizes accurate commissions for his business only at the stage of communication with the manager. Such an opaque pricing system can greatly reduce the conversion, t.to. Some potential customers first make a reserve of offers and compare them at prices.

2) competitors give the user the maximum amount of information through its placement in open sources: a separate page on the site, Vicki section or section in the personal account of Merchan. This optimizes the work of the sales department and improves user experience.

3) Most competitors use an automatic on -collection system with a personal account that opens several growth points at once:

• Reduces the costs of sales specialists by several times;
• Significantly increases the conversion to the following stages;
• Multiplying the transaction cycle;
• Improves unit economy and allows you to increase marketing costs and development.

4) Automatic onboard allows customers to start using the service the next day without passing the KYC/KYB procedure, if they do not need to transfer the cryptocurrency received as payment to fiat currencies. This opens up an opportunity to work with additional market segments, with which we have not previously worked.

In addition to strategic conclusions, we also received detailed lists of what exactly and how to improve or do. For example, we received a detailed baclog of functions that must be laid in the personal account of the merchant.

According to preliminary estimates, the introduction of improvements based on conclusions from the analysis of competitors will allow our client to increase the net profit of the direction of 200-250% within one year after the implementation of 80% of the recommended functions. The term of implementation taking into account risks is 4-6 months.

If you are just as seriously your competitive environment, we can help in a deep research.