What are the best practices for conducting competitive analysis in B2B SaaS market research?

I see SWOT analysis is the powerful tool in external and internal analysis for both your intenal invironment which will show you what is your competitive advantage which you must deliver and focus on it to your customers. Externally , it will give you all information about market like competitors and shoe you your weakness points which mean competitors strengths . also it will show you threats which you need to deal with it as a new opprtunities.

When you’re starting a business it is important to know your competition and your potencial customers: a. "You can minimize risk": you can immediately identify if there is a need in the market, as well as an opportunity to enter. If you find that the barriers to entry are too great, you can pivot your business or try to adapt your product or service instead. b. "You’ll avoid costly mistakes": t’s during these times, where you’ll want to take a good long look at what your competition is doing before making any large-scale business decisions. c. "Competitive matrix": Starting with this matrix can give you an idea of potential strengths and weaknesses and can help you kickstart the next analysis.

In most of the cases, there is a higher probability that we may miss considering indirect competitors. Because its relatively difficult to identify them. One of the thumb rules to use can be, to connect the market share details of competitors with the overall target segment opportunity. If the market share of competitors are not very dominating, time to dig more deeper, could indicate presence of more indirect alternate solutions.

If you can afford it, do a comparison of key features your product offers compared to your competitors. That gives you good picture of your key differentiators and why customers should choose you.

I also use Owler, along with SimilarWeb and G2. Owler is also a good tool to explore details of any company. To know about revenue, growth one could also check the 10k reports of the companies.

Beyond SWOT analysis, conducting a comparison between your product and competitors key features can provide a lot of insights into the unique aspects of your offering, aiding in refining your value proposition for a competitive edge.

Going beyond basic competitive analysis requires one to align the research on competitors with your product strategy. Knowing your ideal customers, personas, market, and how you will win in this environment is key. It helps to start there first and then you can more clearly see the gaps and opportunities as they arise.

Totally agree with you: you need to clarify your point of differentiation to set a unique selling proposition but the most important is to set a list of point of parity to know how are you are close to other customers.

Continuously monitor competitors' marketing strategies, analyze customer reviews, assess scalability, and collaborate with customer success teams. Engage in industry events to stay informed and build relationships for a proactive approach to competition.

-conduct an efficient, focused, and actionable competitive analysis based on Product strategy. -Define scope: identify direct competitors offering similar data products and indirect competitors providing similar sols. -Gather data from public sources, competitor trials and demos, and customer reviews. -Focus on key metrics like market share, pricing, features, and customer sentiment. -Identify market gaps and opportunities by exploring unique data insights, targeting underserved segments, and offering superior usability. -Translate these insights into refined product roadmaps, targeted marketing strategies, and continuously adapt approach. -Regularly update competitive analysis to stay ahead in the market.