Competitive Analysis Services
Competitive analysis is the systematic study of what your competitors offer, how they price it, how they position it, and where they're vulnerable. Praxia Insights runs competitive analyses that combine secondary research, mystery shopping of competitor sales processes, and primary research with the buyers who evaluated both you and them.
Most competitive analysis is done by reading competitor websites. That tells you what they claim about themselves, and their own claims are the least reliable information available about them.
What actually matters is what happens behind the form: what their sales team says on a demo, what number appears on the quote, what they concede when a prospect pushes back, and what buyers say about them after evaluating both of you.
We get that. Then we tell you where you’re genuinely differentiated, where you're exposed, and which arguments win against which competitor.
Discuss your competitive analysis needs
When You Need Competitive Analysis
Competitive research is worth commissioning when a specific decision depends on knowing what the alternatives really do:
Before setting price: you need to know what competitors actually charge once a real quote is on the table.
When you're losing deals: win rates dropped and nobody can say reliably who you're losing to or why.
Before a launch: you need to know which claims are already taken and which position is still open.
Entering a new market: the incumbents are unfamiliar and you need the landscape mapped before committing.
For a fundraise or board review: an investor wants a defensible account of the competitive set and your differentiation.
What’s Included:
Identification of your real competitive set, including the substitutes and status-quo alternatives buyers actually consider, and that set is usually broader than the list your team names internally.
1. Competitor landscape mapping
What each competitor leads with, what problem they claim to solve, who they target, and what they conspicuously don't claim. Gaps in what everyone is claiming are often the most useful finding.
2. Positioning and messaging analysis
3. Pricing intelligence
What competitors actually charge, including discounting behavior, packaging, and the numbers that only appear on a real quote.
Structured comparison of what each product does, weighted by what buyers tell us actually matters to them.
4. Feature and capability comparison
Interviews and surveys with people who evaluated you against the competition, including those who chose someone else. Lost-deal conversations are uncomfortable and consistently the most valuable data in a competitive study.
5. Buyer research
Where you're differentiated, where you're vulnerable, and what to change in positioning, pricing, or product as a result.
6. Recommendations
Mystery Shopping
Where it's useful and appropriate, we go through competitors' sales processes as a prospective buyer: requesting demos, asking for quotes, and following the funnel the way your buyers do.
This brings back information that no amount of desk research produces. How they qualify a lead. What they say about you when your name comes up. Where their pricing actually lands after discounting. What they promise verbally that the website doesn't state.
We scope and agree the approach with you before any of it begins.
Project Examples
A NIH-funded study examining neuropsychological predictors of adaptation after trauma.
A five-year randomized control trial (RCT), funded by the U.S. Department of Ed, to study individualized math instruction.
Led a national survey study in partnership with Berklee BEATL & Adobe to study AI use in the music industry.
How We Work
1
Initial consultation and plan
We meet to discuss your specific needs and confirm this is the right approach for the decision you’re facing
2
Project scoping and budget
You receive a custom scope of work with tasks, due dates, and budget before any work begins. Fixed scope, no hourly surprises.
3
Project execution
You receive updates on progress throughout, including recruitment status and fielding milestones.
4
A true partnership approach
We share insights with you as they come up throughout the project, so your team can start acting on what we learn long before the final report is finished.
5
Project completion
We deliver final insights in the format your team will actually use, whether what’s a written report, an executive presentation, or a working session.
Frequently Asked Questions
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At minimum: identification of your true competitive set, analysis of each competitor's positioning and messaging, pricing intelligence, and a structured capability comparison. Stronger studies add primary research with buyers who evaluated multiple options, and mystery shopping of competitor sales processes.
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Internal teams can read competitor websites well. What they generally can't do is request competitor demos and quotes without being recognized, or run candid interviews with buyers who chose someone else. Independence is what makes both of those possible.
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Three to five direct competitors is typical for a focused study, plus any
substitutes or status-quo alternatives that show up in buyer research.
Analyzing more than that usually produces breadth at the cost of the depth
that makes the findings useful.
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Focused studies covering three to five competitors typically run three to
five weeks. Adding buyer interviews or mystery shopping extends that, since
both depend on scheduling with people outside your control.
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Cost depends on the number of competitors, whether the study includes primary buyer research, whether mystery shopping is in scope, and the depth of deliverables. We provide a fixed-scope quote after an initial consultation.
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Public sources including competitor sites, pricing pages, review platforms, job postings, and industry reports, combined with primary sources that desk research can't reach: competitor demos and quotes, and interviews with buyers who evaluated multiple vendors. The primary sources are where the useful findings usually come from.
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Often, yes. Requesting quotes as a prospective buyer brings back real pricing, including how much they'll discount. Buyer interviews also produce pricing information, since people who evaluated multiple vendors generally remember what they were quoted.
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Yes, where you can provide contacts. Lost-deal interviews are consistently the highest-value component of a competitive study, because they tell you what the buyer actually decided on, in their own words.
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Typically a written analysis with a competitor comparison matrix, positioning map, pricing summary, and specific recommendations. Many clients also want a presentation version for leadership or the board, and we'll build that.
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Annually for most markets, or whenever something material changes: a new entrant, a competitor repricing, or a noticeable shift in win rates. Fast-moving categories are better served by shorter updates more often.
Our Experience
More than 60 studies designed, including case study, quasi-experimental, RCT, and mixed-method designs
More than 100 focus groups and in-depth interviews conducted
More than $4 million in grant-funded research managed
Clients spanning Fortune 500 companies, startups, nonprofits, universities, and federally funded programs
Our researchers hold doctorates in educational neuroscience, psychology, and related fields
Want to know what your competitors actually do?
Tell us who you're up against and what you're trying to decide. We'll advise on scope and what the research would need to include.