Steal This Idea: How to Use Competitor Reviews to Improve Your Product

When was the last time you dug into your competitors’ customer reviews? If the answer is never or a while ago, you’re leaving valuable intel on the table.

Customer reviews are a treasure trove of insights about what customers love, what frustrates them, and what gaps exist in the market.

The best part? It’s like eavesdropping on a market-wide focus group, with all the juicy insights about what works, what doesn’t, and where the unmet needs lie.

Here’s how to mine this overlooked treasure trove and use it to outwit your rivals.

Step 1: Choose Your Treasure Maps

Start your hunt for insights on platforms rich with unfiltered customer sentiment. These are your modern-day goldmines:

• G2 (perfect for B2B Saas)

• Capterra

• Trustpilot

• App Store/Google Play

• Amazon (if relevant)

The Goal: Identify competitors serving your ideal customer profile or overlapping with your product. You get the idea. Wherever customers are able to review a purchase.

Step 2: Dig Into the Extremes—5-Stars and 1-Stars

The magic lies at the polar ends of the spectrum:

• 5-Star Reviews: What are customers raving about? This reveals what your competitors are doing right and what customers value most. Can you replicate—or better yet, enhance—those strengths?

• 1-Star Reviews: Where do their customers feel let down? These frustrations are your golden opportunities to differentiate your product.

Example:

• Competitor complaint: “Great features, but poor customer support.”

• Your move: Double down on stellar customer service and make it a key selling point.

Step 3: Spot Themes and Patterns

Put on your detective hat and look for recurring themes in the reviews. Create a simple spreadsheet to categorize feedback:

• Features: “Lacks integrations.”

• Usability: “Confusing interface.”

• Pricing: “Too expensive for small teams.”

• Support: “Unresponsive customer service.”

• Onboarding: “No tutorials or guides.”

Count how often each theme pops up to uncover patterns and prioritize what to address.

Step 4: Turn Weaknesses Into Opportunities

The gaps in your competitors’ reviews aren’t just problems—they’re your product roadmap in disguise.

• Missing features? Build them (if they fit your vision).

• Overpriced offerings? Highlight your value-for-money proposition.

• Terrible support? Become the brand in your space known for exceptional customer success.

The Secret Sauce: Position your product as the solution to the frustrations your competitors can’t solve.

Step 5: Spy on Sentiment Trends

Want to go next level? Use tools like MonkeyLearn or Lexalytics to analyze reviews at scale. These tools can process hundreds of reviews to surface trends, like rising dissatisfaction with a competitor’s pricing or performance.

Bonus Insight: Look for shifts over time. Are customers becoming happier or more frustrated with a rival? These trends can guide your strategy.

Step 6: Infuse Insights Into Your Messaging

Your marketing should directly address the frustrations uncovered in competitor reviews. For instance:

• Competitor Complaint: “Hard to use.”

• Your Message: “The simplest, most user-friendly [Product Type] on the market—get started in minutes!”

Tip: Frame your messaging as a solution to the problem—not as an attack on the competitor. Customers resonate with brands that understand their pain points, not ones that throw shade.

Bonus Tip: Go Outbound and Message Their Customers Directly

Want to turn competitor frustrations into opportunities? Go straight to the source. Reach out to their customers with a simple, tailored message like:

The customers you reach out to don't even need to be the ones who post reviews. If a few customers are feeling a pain bad enough to post about it on a review site, chances are there are even more frustrated customers who haven't publicly stated so.

Don’t know who else their customers are? Their website will be a great next place to check, as will a closed lost to competition report.

This direct approach can win you new customers—just make sure to approach them respectfully and with genuine value to offer.

Don’t Forget: Look at Your Own Backyard

Competitor reviews are only half the story. Your own customer reviews can reveal just as much:

• Recurring complaints are opportunities to improve.

• Unexpected delights are angles to amplify in your marketing.

Takeaway: Reviews as Strategy, Not Vanity

Reviews can be a blueprint for better strategy, but the real genius lies in using them to:

1. Refine your product.

2. Craft messaging that hits the mark.

3. Find market gaps your competitors ignore.

Now, go read the reviews they hope you won’t.

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