Competitor Analyst Playbook

Competitive intelligence is the foundation of strategic business decisions, yet traditional competitor research is painfully time-consuming. Most marketing teams spend 10-20 hours per competitor manually visiting websites, extracting pricing information, cataloging features, and synthesizing findings into actionable reports.

Seenos Competitor Analyst changes this completely. Our AI-powered research assistant automates the entire competitive intelligence workflow—from discovering who your competitors are to generating executive-ready strategic reports—in as little as 10 minutes.

The Problem: Manual Competitor Research Is Broken #

If you've ever tried to build a comprehensive competitor analysis, you know the pain points:

• Time-intensive discovery - Finding all relevant competitors requires sifting through search results, review sites, and industry reports
• Pricing pages are inconsistent - Every SaaS has different pricing structures, hidden fees, and "Contact Sales" walls
• Features change constantly - By the time you finish analyzing 5 competitors, the first one has shipped new features
• Subjective positioning - Understanding how competitors position themselves requires reading between the lines of marketing copy
• Report synthesis is tedious - Turning raw data into strategic insights that stakeholders can act on takes hours

The result? Most competitive intelligence is either outdated by the time it's complete, too shallow to be actionable, or costs thousands of dollars in analyst time.

How Seenos Competitor Analyst Works #

Seenos Competitor Analyst combines intelligent web search, automated content extraction, and AI-powered analysis to deliver comprehensive competitive intelligence. Here's the workflow:

Phase 1: Product Analysis

First, Seenos analyzes your product or service to understand your market positioning. You can provide:

• Your website URL (homepage + pricing page will be analyzed)
• A description of what you're building
• Your target audience and key differentiators

This context is essential for finding the right competitors—not just companies in your space, but those competing for the same customers.

Phase 2: Competitor Discovery

Seenos uses multiple search strategies to discover relevant competitors:

• 1"[Your Product] alternatives" - Direct competitors users are considering
• 2"[Your Product] competitors" - Broader market overview
• 3"Best [category] tools [year]" - Top players in your space
• 4"[Key feature] software" - Feature-based discovery

The AI prioritizes direct competitors (same target market, similar features), established players with accessible pricing, and emerging disruptors.

Phase 3: Deep Data Collection

For each competitor (typically 5-8), Seenos extracts detailed information from:

Pricing Accuracy Matters: Unlike generic AI tools that guess pricing from marketing copy, Seenos specifically visits and extracts from actual /pricing or /plans pages. If public pricing doesn't exist, we mark it as "Contact Sales"—never ❌.

Phase 4: Strategic Report Generation

All collected data is synthesized into a comprehensive report saved as a professional DOCX document:

• Executive Summary - Market pricing ranges, your competitive advantages, key opportunities
• Competitor Overview - Each competitor with focus area, price range, strengths & weaknesses
• Pricing Matrix - Complete tier-by-tier comparison table
• Feature Matrix - Side-by-side feature comparison using Y/N format for clarity
• Positioning Map - Target market, primary use case, value proposition for each competitor
• Strategic Recommendations - Pricing strategy, feature gaps to address, differentiation opportunities

Try It Now #

Getting started is simple. Here's a prompt template you can customize:

Analyze my competitors. I'm building [YOUR PRODUCT TYPE] 
that helps [TARGET AUDIENCE] to [MAIN BENEFIT].

My website: [YOUR URL] (optional)
Known competitors: [LIST ANY YOU KNOW] (optional)

Find 5-8 main competitors and analyze their:
- Pricing tiers and limits
- Core features
- Target market positioning

For example:

Analyze my competitors. I'm building an AI-powered SEO platform 
that helps content marketers to automate keyword research and content optimization.

My website: https://seenos.ai
Known competitors: Clearscope, SurferSEO

Find 5-8 main competitors and analyze their pricing, features, and positioning.

Figure 1: Competitor Analyst discovering and analyzing competitors in real-time

Example Report Output #

Here's what a typical competitor analysis report includes:

Figure 2: Comprehensive competitor analysis report with pricing and feature matrices

Pricing Tier Matrix

The report includes a complete pricing comparison showing Free tier availability, Starter pricing, Pro pricing, and Enterprise options for every competitor analyzed. Each tier includes specific limits (users, storage, API calls) so you can accurately compare value.

Feature Comparison

Features are organized by category (Authentication, Core Product, Integrations, Support) and compared using clear Y/N notation. The report highlights:

• Features you have that competitors don't (your advantages)
• Features competitors have that you don't (potential gaps)
• Table stakes features everyone offers

Strategic Recommendations

The most valuable section provides prioritized action items:

• P0 (Critical) - Feature gaps that 80%+ of competitors address
• P1 (High) - Positioning opportunities in underserved segments
• P2 (Medium) - Nice-to-have features for roadmap consideration

Best Practices for Better Results #

1. Be Specific About Your Market

"AI writing tool for enterprise marketing teams" gets better competitors than just "writing tool." Include:

• Your target company size (SMB, mid-market, enterprise)
• Specific use cases you solve
• Industry vertical if applicable

2. Include Known Competitors

If you already know some competitors, mention them. This helps Seenos calibrate the search and find similar companies. Even one or two names can significantly improve discovery.

3. Provide Your Website URL

When Seenos can analyze your actual product, the comparison becomes much more relevant. Your pricing page is particularly valuable for direct comparison.

4. Focus on Direct Competitors First

Start with companies competing for the same customers, not just the same technology. You can run additional analyses for indirect competitors or aspiration benchmarks later.

5. Run Periodically

SaaS pricing and features change frequently. We recommend running competitor analysis quarterly to stay current with market dynamics.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid #

Frequently Asked Questions #

Related Playbooks #

Combine Competitor Analyst with these playbooks for a complete competitive strategy:

• Keyword Research Playbook - Discover keyword gaps between you and competitors
• Gap Analyst Playbook - Deep dive into content and keyword gaps vs specific competitors
• SERP Analyst Playbook - Analyze how competitors rank and what content structures win
• Comparison Writer Playbook - Turn competitor data into "X vs Y" comparison content

About the Author

Seenos Team@Seenos.ai

Product Manager at Seenos.ai. Pioneer in AEO research since 2024, exploring the convergence of SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). Led multiple AI-powered content optimization projects that achieved 300%+ citation increases in ChatGPT and Perplexity.