> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.zigpoll.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.zigpoll.com/guides/how-to-find-out-which-competitors-you-are-winning-against.md). # How to Find Out Which Competitors You're Winning Against Ask buyers which brands they considered and why they picked you, and find out where your positioning wins, where it only just wins, and where you're losing Every customer who buys from you considered not buying from you. Many of them had a competitor's tab open at the time. They know exactly why they closed it, and on the thank-you page they'll tell you, because the decision is seconds old and they feel good about it. This is competitive research from the only people whose opinion is backed by a purchase. It's cheaper than a brand study and more honest than a review site, and it tells you which parts of your positioning are doing the work. *** ## Building the survey ### Question 1 — The consideration set Add a **Multiple Choice** question: **"Which other brands did you consider before buying from us?"** List your real competitors by name, including the ones you'd rather not mention, plus: * A marketplace (Amazon, etc.) * A store brand or generic * I didn't consider anyone else Use **Multiple Choice** rather than Single Choice. Buyers often compared several, and a single-select forces a false ranking. "I didn't consider anyone else" is the escape: it also measures how much of your demand is brand-led rather than category-led. Enable **"Other"** with a write-in. The write-ins are where you discover a competitor you didn't know you had. ### Question 2 — Why you won Show this only to buyers who considered someone else, using [Question Logic](/questions/question-logic.md). Add a **Single Choice** question: **"What made you choose us over them?"** * Price * Product quality or ingredients * Reviews or reputation * Better selection or the specific item I wanted * Shipping speed or cost * Return policy or guarantee * A recommendation * Your brand or values * A discount or promotion Keep each option a reason you can act on. "Price" and "a discount" are listed separately on purpose: winning on list price is a position, winning on a coupon is a cost. ### Question 3 — What nearly lost you the sale Add a **Long Answer** question: **"What did they do better, or what almost made you choose them?"** This is the question your competitors would pay for. Customers will name the competitor's free shipping threshold, their subscription discount, their size range, their faster delivery estimate. Those are the gaps you're currently winning despite, and the ones that will cost you the next customer who's slightly less convinced. ### Question 4 — Cross-shopping Where it applies, add a **Multiple Choice** question: **"Have you bought from us anywhere else?"** with your retail partners and marketplaces as options. This tells you how much of your DTC demand was created at retail, and vice versa. *** ## Where to run it * **Thank You page** — the default. Buyers have just finished comparing, and the memory is perfect. Use **Thank You & Order Status** delivery. Zigpoll's **Competitor Comparison** template is a ready-made start. * **First-time buyers only.** Target with the **New Customers** preset under **Settings → Targeting**. A repeat customer's consideration set is stale, and asking them wastes a thank-you page you could spend on [why they came back](/guides/how-to-turn-first-time-buyers-into-repeat-customers.md). * **Rotate it in.** Competitive questions don't need to run forever. A few hundred responses is enough to see the pattern, and then the thank-you page can go back to attribution. Set an [Activation Schedule](/polls/visibility-settings.md#activation-schedule). * **Exit intent, for the other half.** The people who considered you and chose the competitor never reach your thank-you page. An [exit intent survey](/tutorials/exit-intent-survey.md) on the product page asking "What would make you choose us?" is the mirror image of this guide, and [How to Find Out Why Visitors Aren't Buying](/guides/how-to-find-out-why-visitors-arent-buying.md) covers it. *** ## Reading the results ### Consideration share, weighted by revenue Rank competitors by how often they appear in the consideration set, then re-rank by the average order value of the customers who considered them ([Order Stats](/tutorials/order-stats.md)). The competitor your highest-value customers are comparing you to is the one your positioning needs to answer. ### Win reasons by competitor Break Question 2 down by the competitor chosen in Question 1. The pattern is usually sharp: | Pattern | What it means | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **You win on quality against brand A, on price against brand B** | Two different positionings for two different audiences. Your ads should know which one they're competing with | | **You win mostly on discount** | Your position is a coupon. Expect to lose the moment the competitor matches it | | **You win on reviews or recommendation** | Social proof is the asset. Protect the review flow and the referral program before anything else | | **High "didn't consider anyone else"** | Brand-led demand. Attribution will show where it comes from, and that channel deserves the budget | | **Marketplace in the consideration set** | You're competing with your own Amazon listing, or someone else's. The write-ins will say which | ### Read the "what did they do better" write-ins first Z-GPT Insights will cluster them into themes. Treat the top theme as a roadmap item: it's the one gap that the customers who still chose you noticed, which means the customers who didn't choose you noticed it too. *** ## Act on it * **Product page** — Put the top win reason above the fold. If you win on quality, lead with quality, not with the discount. * **Ads** — Build one creative per win reason and match it to the channel where that competitor's consideration is highest. * **Pricing** — If "price" wins against a competitor but their average order is higher, you may be winning the wrong customers. See [How to Find Optimal Pricing](/guides/how-to-find-optimal-pricing.md). * **Push the answer to Shopify** — **Add Customer Tag** with the competitor considered, so your email platform can run a comparison sequence for buyers who nearly went elsewhere. *** ## Related {% content-ref url="/pages/uZzmwXRquTBAxLPBAgeA" %} [How to Test Your Messaging and Positioning](/guides/how-to-test-your-messaging-and-positioning.md) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/70rirBfJvG59hsGptkAE" %} [How to Find Out Why Visitors Aren't Buying](/guides/how-to-find-out-why-visitors-arent-buying.md) {% endcontent-ref %} {% content-ref url="/pages/jep3ZyGAGh7Un6jTVncW" %} [How to Build a Post-Purchase Survey Customers Actually Answer](/guides/how-to-build-a-post-purchase-survey.md) {% endcontent-ref %} --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. 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