Competitive analysis template: a copyable matrix with a filled example

A competitive analysis template is a table with one column for each option your buyers could choose instead of you, and one row for each question you need answered about those options. The version worth using separates what competitors say about themselves (public sources) from what buyers told you (your own interviews), and records where each answer came from and when you checked it. Copy the blank template below, then see a filled hypothetical example and how to fill each row.

For the full method, including which buyers and former staff to interview and what not to ask them, see competitor analysis. This page is the worksheet.

The blank template

Put the options across the top. Include at least one option that is not a product, such as a spreadsheet, a hire or doing nothing, because buyers often choose it. Rows 1 to 7 come from public material. Rows 8 to 12 come from conversations.

Row	Question	Where the answer comes from
1	Type: direct, indirect or workaround	Buyer interviews, your judgment
2	Who they sell to (segment, size, region)	Website, case studies, job posts
3	What they claim, in their words	Homepage, ads, sales decks you received as a buyer
4	Price and packaging	Pricing page, quotes you received
5	What the product does and does not do	Help docs, changelog, free trial
6	How important your target market is to them	Case studies, hiring, annual report
7	Barriers to switching or entering	Contracts, integrations, buyer interviews
8	Why buyers chose it	Interviews with people who chose it
9	Where buyers say it falls short	Interviews with users and people who left
10	What switching away would cost a buyer	Interviews with buyers
11	Who decides and who uses it	Interviews with buyers
12	Evidence count and last checked	Your notes

Rows 2, 6 and 7 follow the SBA's competitive analysis checklist, which suggests identifying competitors by product line and market segment and assessing market share, strengths and weaknesses, your window of opportunity, how important your target market is to each competitor, barriers to entry, and indirect or secondary competitors. The SBA also lists in-depth interviews among the ways to do direct research. Rows 8 to 11 are where those interviews go.

A filled example: reorder software for veterinary clinics

Suppose you are building software that tracks drug and supply stock at independent veterinary clinics and drafts reorders. Everything in this example is hypothetical: the options, the findings and the interview counts. Option A is a practice-management suite with an inventory module. Option B is a distributor's free online ordering portal. The workaround is a shared spreadsheet plus the practice manager's memory. You interviewed six practice managers: two using Option A, two using Option B and two using the spreadsheet.

Row	Question	Option A: practice suite module	Option B: distributor portal	Workaround: spreadsheet
1	Type	Direct	Indirect	Workaround
2	Who they sell to	Multi-location groups (case studies, job posts)	Every clinic that buys from that distributor	Anyone
3	What they claim	"One system for the whole practice"	"Order in two clicks"	Nothing to buy
4	Price and packaging	Not published; module sold with the suite	Free with purchases	Staff time
5	What it does and does not do	Tracks stock; no reorder suggestions (help docs)	Reorders from one distributor only	Whatever the manager maintains
6	Importance of your market to them	Low: marketing aimed at groups	High: clinics are their customers	Not applicable
7	Switching barriers	Replacing the suite is a large project	None for the clinic	None
8	Why buyers chose it	Came with the suite (2 of 2)	Free and already in use (2 of 2)	"We never had time to set anything up" (2 of 2)
9	Where it falls short	Counts drift because staff skip scanning (2 of 2)	Cannot compare prices across distributors (1 of 2)	Stockouts of controlled drugs noticed late (2 of 2)
10	Switching cost	Only the module is needed; suite stays	None	An afternoon of setup
11	Who decides, who uses	Owner decides; manager uses	Manager decides and uses	Manager
12	Evidence and last checked	Docs, 2 interviews, Sep 30	Portal, 2 interviews, Sep 30	2 interviews, Sep 30

Read across a row to compare. Read down a column to write a one-paragraph summary of each option. In this example, the pattern is that the spreadsheet clinics and the suite clinics share a problem, stock records they cannot trust, while the portal is a free habit you would sit next to rather than replace. That points toward selling to managers who already feel the counting problem and making the product work alongside the distributor portal. It also shows what you do not know yet: two interviews per option is enough to form a view, not to settle it.

How to fill the public rows

Rows 2 and 3: copy claims in the competitor's own words, with the page and the date. Claims are what the competitor wants buyers to believe, not evidence that the product delivers.
Row 4: many B2B products do not publish prices. Write "not published" rather than guessing, and note any quote you received as a buyer.
Row 6: for a public competitor, the annual report helps. Investor.gov's guide to reading a 10-K explains that Item 1 describes the business and may cover competition, and Item 1A lists the most significant risks. Private competitors generally do not file these, so use their case studies and job posts instead, and label the answer as an inference.

How to fill the interview rows

Rows 8 to 11 are the ones a desk search cannot fill. Talk to people who chose each option recently: customers who picked you over it, prospects who picked it over you and customers who left you for it. Ask them to walk through the decision in order: what started the search, which options they looked at, who was involved and what settled it. How to interview customers who chose another product covers these calls in detail.

Say who you are at the start of every interview. The SCIP Code of Ethics asks competitive intelligence practitioners to disclose their identity and organization before all interviews, and to tell a competitor's former employees up front that you do not want confidential information. Competitive intelligence covers where those lines sit.

Write the count next to each finding, as in "2 of 2". It stops one vivid quote from turning into a conclusion, and it shows which cells need more conversations.

Mistakes that make the template misleading

Leaving out the workaround column. If most buyers still use a spreadsheet, the spreadsheet is the main competitor.
Scoring without definitions. A 1 to 5 score for "ease of use" means little unless you write down what a 1 and a 5 look like and who gave the score. If you score, score from interview evidence and keep the count.
Mixing sources in one cell. A competitor's claim and a buyer's complaint about the same feature belong in different rows.
Letting it go stale. Row 12 exists so you can see which columns are out of date. Recheck public rows on a schedule that suits your market, and refresh the interview rows when lost deals start sounding different.

Your next step

Copy the blank template, fill the columns with the options your last five buyers considered, and complete rows 1 to 7 from public sources. Then circle the empty interview cells for the option you lose to most and book three conversations with people who chose it.

If those people are outside your network, Instant Expert can find people who match a description you write, such as "practice managers at independent veterinary clinics." You review who it finds, it sends your invitations, and you pay only for calls that get booked. The directory pages for operations professionals in veterinary services and sales professionals in veterinary services are one place to start.