Why spy on your competitors?

We're in the social change journey together yet there are other organisations that might be conducting similar projects. What can you learn from them? How can they become your partners in change?

Understanding what your competitors are doing well or badly will help you deliver a better experience for your users. When referring to competitors here, I don't mean direct competitors. They could be a service that does something similar to you in a different region or they could be a service that does something completely different from you but the way they deliver it may be similar to how you will deliver your service.

Insights you can gain from competitor research include:

• interesting funding or income generation models

• what frustrates their users

• what delights their users

More money in than out

The number one rule of business is, more money in than out. It's as simple as that. No matter how worthy the cause you are working on or how needed your product or service is, without cash flow to keep going you won't be able to serve anyone.

To help you in this quest, exploring competitor funding and income generation models can help. It may inspire you to come up with some interesting and lucrative models of your own.

What frustrates their users

People complain. Sometimes they complain publicly. If reviews are available for your competitor's service or product, read and learn from them.

What delights their users

When people are delighted by a service or product experience, they may write about it too.

Google tip: If you find a product or service similar to yours and you want to see what other sites link to that page, use thelink:trick. Type the following into Google:link:england.shelter.org.uk

Who are your competitor's competitors?

Here's another way to discover your competitors using a Google search:

Google tip: Use related: to search for sites that are similar to other sites i.e. related:crisis.org.uk