Competitive analysis

Look at how others solve the same job, so you know what people already expect and where nobody does it well.

Steps

1. Pick the flow and the job, not the whole product ("getting a first car insurance price").
2. Pick five to eight products: direct competitors, one or two adjacent ones that solve a similar job well, and a best in class example from another industry.
3. Walk the flow in each as a new user, capturing screenshots of every step.
4. Compare on the same criteria: how it starts, steps before the first useful result, what personal information is asked and how it's explained, how errors and edge cases are handled, trust signals, accessibility basics, mobile experience.
5. Separate: conventions (most do it, so users expect it), differentiators (one does it notably well), and gaps (nobody does it well).

Output

A comparison table (product by criteria) with screenshots, then conventions, differentiators and gaps, and one to three ideas worth testing. Every cell is something you can point to; if you couldn't see it, write "not visible".

Don't

• Don't copy a pattern just because a big company uses it. Don't create accounts with real personal data to get through a flow.