Competitive Matrix: What It Is + How to Make One (with Templates)

What Is a Competitive Matrix?

A competitory matrix is simply a instrumentality that helps you visually comparison your institution against competitors. To spot really you stack up.

It typically features a grid aliases array that lists your marque and cardinal competitors connected 1 axis. And important marketplace factors connected nan other. 

There are galore types of competitory matrices that show information successful different ways.

For example, this is nan Growth Quadrant from Semrush. It’s a competitor matrix you tin make utilizing nan Market Explorer tool.

This quadrant-based matrix helps you visualize your industry’s competitory landscape. And divides competitors into 4 categories:

• Game Changers
• Leaders
• Niche Players
• Established Players

We’ll explicate what these categories mean later. And show you really to build this matrix utilizing your competitors’ data. 

First, let’s research nan benefits of utilizing a competitory matrix. 

Why Is Using a Competitive Matrix Important?

A competitor study matrix provides competitive insights that thief you summation an advantage successful nan market. 

The matrix’s main intent is to show wherever your institution stands compared to your competitors. To beryllium much alert of your (and your competitors’) strengths and weaknesses. 

This tin past beryllium utilized to:

• Strategically position your brand: By seeing really your offerings stack up against competitors, you tin find amended ways to position your products aliases services. And item what makes you different and capable successful immoderate gaps successful nan market.
• Make informed decisions: With a clear position of nan competitive landscape, you tin make data-driven decisions astir merchandise development, marketing, and assets allocation
• Predict competitor moves: Understanding your competitors' strengths and weaknesses tin thief you expect their adjacent moves. And enactment up of them.

In short, a well-researched competitory study matrix provides you insights to confidently navigate fierce competition. Even successful a perfectly competitory market—where astir businesses waste identical products.

5 Competitor Matrix Types pinch Examples and Templates

There are various types of competitory matrices, each for different usage cases. You tin take 1 aliases much depending connected your study goals.

Let’s return a look astatine immoderate of nan astir celebrated types.

1. Competitive Comparison Grid

A competitor comparison grid (also called a competitory positioning matrix) is simply a model that visualizes really customers comprehend your institution comparative to your competitors. 

It considers factors for illustration price, quality, service, and invention to thief you understand your marketplace position.

Typically, it’s drawn utilizing 2 axes that each represents a important occurrence factor.

Let's look astatine nan G2 Grid for competitory intelligence devices arsenic an example.

Image Source: G2

It has “Market Presence” connected nan y-axis—which is calculated utilizing G2’s scoring methodology that draws from a number of sources. And “Satisfaction” connected nan x-axis is based connected personification reviews.

Based connected these scores, companies are divided into 4 quadrants:

• Leaders: High personification restitution and precocious marketplace presence
• Contenders: High personification restitution and debased marketplace presence
• High Performers: Low personification restitution and precocious marketplace presence
• Niche: Low personification restitution and debased marketplace presence

You tin visualize nan integer competitory scenery for your manufacture likewise pinch Semrush’s Growth Quadrant matrix.

Open nan Market Explorer instrumentality and click nan “Find Competitors” tab. Then, participate your location and domain name, and click nan “Research a market” button.

Scroll to nan “Growth Quadrant” widget. 

You’ll spot your website’s positioning compared to competing sites. Like this:

Using nan “Total Traffic” and “Total Traffic Growth, %” metrics, nan websites are categorized as: 

• Leaders: High-traffic sites pinch precocious maturation rates
• Established Players: High-traffic sites pinch debased maturation rates
• Game Changers: Low-traffic sites pinch precocious maturation rates 
• Niche Players: Low-traffic sites pinch debased maturation rates

You tin take different metrics for comparison arsenic well. 

Just click nan drop-down paper adjacent to “X-axis” and “Y-axis,” make your selections, and deed “Apply.”

Now, spot wherever you (and your main competitors) guidelines for your selected metrics.

Note nan cardinal metrics wherever your competitors are stronger. And usage nan insights to scheme your maturation strategy.

Further reading: What Is a Competitive Analysis & How to Do It (With Template)

2. Competitor Comparison Chart

A competitor comparison floor plan (also called a competitory scenery chart) is typically a array utilized to comparison your products, services, aliases strategies against those of your competitors. 

Like this:

This competitor matrix is particularly useful for a wide competitory analysis. Because nan side-by-side comparison gives you speedy insights specified as:

• The strengths and weaknesses of your competitors’ go-to-market strategies
• Your competitors’ comparative beingness successful circumstantial trading channels
• Your competitors’ astir successful acquisition channels

Use nan competitive comparison floor plan template (the 2nd tab) to create your own.

You tin besides usage comparison charts for narrower analyses (e.g., merchandise aliases characteristic comparisons).

Which tin beryllium useful for:

• Product aliases work development: Identify gaps successful nan existent market, amended your offerings, and found a beardown differentiator
• Marketing and sales: Fine-tune your messaging to item your unsocial worth proposition 
• Strategic decision-making: Guide decisions astir pricing models, characteristic development, partnerships, and acquisitions

Or, place a fistful of areas that are astir applicable to your business to attraction your study on. 

You tin usage nan competitive scenery floor plan template (the sixth tab) to do this. And edit nan fields to fresh your needs. 

3. Gartner's Magic Quadrant 

Gartner’s Magic Quadrant compares really brands stack up successful a circumstantial exertion market. And analyzes them connected their expertise to understand and power nan early of nan marketplace and their capacity successful cardinal areas for illustration marketplace share, merchandise capabilities, income channels, and customer experience

Based connected nan supra factors, each institution is placed into 1 of nan pursuing quadrants:

• Leaders: These are well-established brands pinch beardown execution capabilities. And a clear imagination for nan early of nan market.
• Challengers: These brands person capable resources and a beardown expertise to execute. But they request to activity connected vision. 
• Visionaries: These players person a coagulated imagination and intelligence properties. However, they’re comparatively anemic aliases slow successful execution. 
• Niche players: These brands service only a circumstantial marketplace segment. Or person a constricted merchandise portfolio.

One illustration is Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for DevOps Platforms. And nan information wrong it tin thief you make informed decisions.

Let’s opportunity your marque falls successful nan “Visionaries” quadrant. You person a disruptive thought but deficiency nan resources to execute it. 

That penetration tells you wherever to focus. 

And you could see joining hands pinch a business successful nan “Challengers” quadrant. Since they request what you have—vision—you whitethorn beryllium capable to discuss a bully partnership. 

Just retrieve that nan Gartner Magic Quadrant Matrix is simply a snapshot. Not a definitive ranking.

4. SWOT Analysis 

A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) competitor study matrix evaluates a company’s soul strengths and weaknesses. Plus outer opportunities and business threats. 

It helps you: 

• Identify and usage your strengths (e.g., beardown marque awareness) to outperform competitors
• Know and reside your weaknesses (e.g., mediocre customer service). Before they origin damage.
• Spot and drawback emerging opportunities (e.g., caller marketplace segments)
• Foresee and debar imaginable business threats (e.g., governmental instability)

Here are immoderate questions to thief you get your SWOT study data:

SWOT Analysis

Gather your activity squad and brainstorm SWOT questions and answers. This way, you’ll get divers perspectives from aggregate stakeholders astatine your organization. 

Then, compile your results successful this SWOT study template (the 4th tab). 

Here’s an illustration SWOT for a recently launched, fictional integrated java marque called The Conscious Bean.

Further reading: SWOT Analysis: What It Is & How to Do It [Examples + Template]

5. Competitive Profile Matrix

A competitory floor plan matrix helps you benchmark your offering straight against awesome competitors. To supply a much nuanced position of really you comparison overall.

It focuses connected standing competitors connected captious occurrence factors (CSFs) by utilizing a weighted scoring method. 

Here’s really it works:

1. List 3 to 4 main competitors you want to evaluate
2. Determine your CSFs—these are cardinal areas that thrust occurrence successful your market. Like merchandise aliases work quality, pricing, customer support, distribution network, aliases innovation. 
3. Assign weights betwixt 0.0 (low importance) and 1.0 (high importance) to each CSF. The full weight must adhd up to 1.0.
4. Rate competitors crossed each CSFs connected a standard of 1-4 aliases 1-5. A higher standing indicates stronger capacity for that CSF.
5. Multiply nan weight by nan competitor's standing for each CSF to get a score. Add individual CSF scores for each competitor. It’ll springiness you a full weighted score.

Here’s a simplified competitory floor plan matrix example.

How do you construe this table?

The institution pinch nan highest full people is typically nan strongest. 

So, make judge to analyse really you rank successful each CSF compared to others. And revise your strategy accordingly. 

Use this competitive floor plan matrix template (the 5th tab) for your analysis.

How to Create Your Own Competitive Matrix

To complete a matrix, you request to behaviour competitor investigation and stitchery data—likely utilizing competitive intelligence tools.

We’ll show you how.

Step 1. Identify Your Competitors 

Start pinch a database of each imaginable competitors—direct, indirect, and emerging players successful your market. 

Find them utilizing resources like:

• Industry reports 
• Company websites and property releases
• Customer reappraisal platforms
• Social media and online communities
• Trade shows aliases conferences
• Customer surveys

Or simply caput to Semrush’s Market Explorer instrumentality and click “Find Competitors.”

Select your location, participate your website name, and deed “Research a market.”

In nan default “Overview” tab, you’ll spot “Market Summary.” It shows a database of cardinal players. And their marketplace share. 

Scroll down to scope nan “Growth Quadrant.”

You’ll spot nan competitory scenery on pinch competitors' positions successful nan market. 

Now, place your quadrant (“Leaders,” “Established Players,” “Game Changers,” aliases “Niche Players”). And click “Domains” adjacent nan apical correct area of “Growth Quadrant.” 

You’ll spot nan afloat database of nan competing domains successful your market. 

Scroll to nan database of domains successful your aforesaid quadrant and prime a fewer for your analysis. 

Step 2. Determine Comparison Factors

Next, prime comparison factors based connected your competitory study goals. 

They’ll guideline your research. And thief you take nan correct competitory matrix type for your analysis. 

For our example, we’ll look astatine nan pursuing factors:

• Website postulation data: Visits, unsocial visitors, acquisition conversions, pages viewed per visit, sojourn duration, and bounce rate
• Social media data: Followers/subscribers, posts/videos, and engagement rates
• Demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic data: Dominant property group, gender, income level, and main market

Then, adhd you/your competitors and your comparison factors to a transcript of nan matrix template that useful champion for your situation. In this case, we urge utilizing nan competitive scenery chart (the sixth tab). 

Step 3. Gather Data

Now, you’ll request to cod nan information that corresponds pinch your comparison factors to capable successful nan matrix. 

Here’s what that entails based connected nan ones we identified above:

Website Traffic Data

We’ll usage Semrush’s Traffic Analytics instrumentality to get nan website postulation data. 

Open nan instrumentality and click “Check Competitors.”

Next, prime nan location, participate your domain and your competitors’ domains, and click “Analyze.”

You’ll spot nan important website postulation metrics for nan selected sites for nan past afloat period (you tin alteration nan day scope if you wish). So you tin analyse your site’s capacity against nan competing domains. 

Click “Export to PDF” to get this information successful your email. 

Or paste it straight into your template copy.

Now, let’s spell complete really to get competitors’ societal media information utilizing nan Social Tracker instrumentality (part of Semrush Social). It lets you way nan societal media activity and capacity of up to 20 competitors. 

Open nan tool. And travel nan Social Tracker configuration instructions.

At nan apical of nan “Overview” tab, you’ll spot nan chosen competitor’s assemblage size, posting activity, and engagement connected different societal platforms. 

Scroll to nan “Comparison With Competitors'' widget to spot really you stack up against your competitors.

The “Audience” tab shows nan full number of followers aliases subscribers crossed nan societal platforms. Including nan changes successful nan assemblage size. 

Click nan “Activity” tab to spot nan full number of societal posts of each competitor. For nan selected period.

Similarly, analyse nan full engagement.

You tin now adhd this information to your competitory scenery chart. 

Further reading: How to Uncover Your Competitor's Social Media Strategy

Demographic, Geographic, and Socioeconomic Data 

Comparing demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic information tin uncover valuable insights astir your target audience.

Use Semrush’s One2Target instrumentality to find this information. 

Enter nan aforesaid domain names and prime nan location. Then, click “Analyze.”

In nan “Demographics” tab, you tin propulsion information astir age, gender, and country.

In nan “Socioeconomics” tab, you’ll spot family size and employment status. Plus acquisition and income level.

These insights tin guideline your product, pricing, and marketing strategy. 

For example, if a ample portion of your assemblage is successful a low-income bracket, past you’re astir apt operating successful a price-driven market. That intends buying decisions are apt to beryllium influenced astir by nan value of nan product. 

In specified markets, you whitethorn want to attraction your messaging astir worth for money. And thrust income measurement pinch discounts, offers, and promotions. 

Step 4. Fill In nan Matrix

Now that you’ve collected your data, simply adhd it to your comparison matrix. In this case, nan competitory scenery chart.

It mightiness look thing for illustration this:

Use Your Findings to Gain a Competitive Advantage

The main extremity of creating a competitory matrix is turning information into insights you tin enactment connected to thrust growth.

But maintaining a semipermanent competitory advantage besides requires an consciousness of your competitors’ actions.

Use Semrush’s EyeOn to automate search your competitors’ online trading activities. 

It keeps you updated connected your competitors’ recently published pages, blog posts, Google ads, societal media updates, and more.