To run a successful business, staying competitive is essential. That means staying one step ahead of your competitors. Do what they do, but do it better. How? Spy on them!
That might sound illegal and unethical, but there are legal ways to do it, and I’ll share them in this blog. Use these methods to look at what your competition is doing and improve your strategies based on that data.
1. Check Out Your Competitors' Suppliers
First, you should investigate your competitors’ relationships with their suppliers. Find out what brands they sell for. Go to their websites and look for the “brands” or “manufacturers” page. If they don’t have one, simply scroll through their product listings. Check the brands of their products, especially their best-selling ones, and note them down.
Use this information for research—nothing unethical about this. Aside from brands you already work with, see which of their suppliers you might be able to partner with. Contact them and establish your own relationship with them. This way, you can compete by selling what they’re selling.
2. Look At Their Online Reviews
You can also spy on them through their reviews. Search online for reviews about their store. You can learn what they’re good and bad at based on the feedback of various online users. There are two ways to do this:
Use the feedback to identify their strengths and weaknesses. What do people like about them? What do they not like? Use them to further improve your business in those areas.
3. Utilize Their Website to Look for Weaknesses
Double down on the weaknesses you discovered by studying their website. Look at every detail. In many cases, their weaknesses are right in front of you if you know what to look for. Here are some common elements to look at:
4. Find Their Traffic Sources
You don’t have to lie or cheat to know these. Go to SimilarWeb and use that website to determine where your competitors get their traffic from.
Enter their website URL, and the platform will show where their traffic is coming from. It can be from Google, YouTube, Facebook, and even organic search. Use this data to determine if there are sources you might be missing out on.
5. Check Their Top Performing Content
Leverage their content to ethically spy on your competitors. Check what their top-performing content is. Most of the time, it’s their buyer’s guide. But don’t forget to check their blog posts and YouTube videos, if they have a channel. Check the engagement in these—are people commenting?
Find out which pieces of content generate the most engagement. Use their content for new content ideas for your own business. Never copy their content; that’s unethical.
6. Look At Their Running Ads
From their existing content, move into their existing ads. Check their social media ads, especially Facebook and Instagram ads. Look at what they’re currently running and how long they’ve been doing it.
Here’s how you can check that using Facebook:
Visit their page.
Go to “page transparency”.
Click the link that says, “Click to see their ads.”
You’ll see all their active ads and when each one started running. Look for the ones that have been running the longest. These are most likely the ones that work best for them for leads and traffic. Use that ad as an inspiration for your ads. You can even twist it and try a different angle that you haven’t used before.
7. Sign Up for Their Email List
Next, get on their email list. Visit their website and see if they offer a newsletter sign-up or show an exit-intent pop-up. Whatever the method, sign up using a secondary email, not the one you use for your store.
Signing up means you’ll get to see their email marketing materials. Check how often they send emails and what type of emails they send. For example, they might be all for promotions or they might also be using emails to communicate other things to their email audience. Use this information to improve your own emails.
8. Ask About Top Retailers From Your Suppliers
The last method doesn’t directly involve your competitors. Instead of going to your competitors, go to your suppliers. Reach out to your top suppliers and ask them about their top retailers. You can tell them that you’re simply getting a baseline for your target sales as a reason for asking.
Specifically, ask how many units their top-performing retailers sell per month. Then, for those selling more than you, ask who they are. Tell your suppliers that you just want to know what they’re doing that allows them to sell that many.
Now, suppliers may give you that information or not. Some suppliers like that kind of competition, but some may decline due to confidentiality. Either way, at least you ask legally and ethically.
If they did tell you, remember to check what they’re doing and use that to improve yours. Beat them—don’t copy them. Use what works and make it better.
Conclusion
You don’t have to resort to sketchy methods just to spy on your competitors. As a recap, here are the best ways to do it:
Anything other than these may not be legal and ethical, so it’s best to avoid them. Feel free to drop any other tactics you’ve used in the comments, and we can discuss whether they’re ethical or effective. If you have any questions, comment below as well.
Do you want to learn more about how to improve your store and strategies? Join our webinar today!
