How to find your competitors’ customers

If you want to understand your competitors, you really need to know their customers.

After all, your competitor’s customers tell you a lot about their ambitions, their performance, their limitations and their goals. By pinpointing your competitors’ customers, you can explore how they acquire new business, which may help you acquire more customers of your own. Of course, for most companies, this research is purely about poaching the best customers.  

Identifying your competitors’ customers may also help you find gaps in their product portfolio. For example, if you discover that a key competitor has many customers in a specific niche, you might know that those customers are looking for a feature or service that your competitor doesn’t yet offer. By filling the gap, you can capture the interest (and the business) or some of those customers.

Developing a clear map of your competitors and their customers provides a foundation of market intelligence. It shows you the environment in which you operate, and delivers abundant clues as to promising manoeuvres. For many companies, this kind of market awareness is essential, even if it isn’t used to direct sales, marketing or product strategies, but because it provides reassurance that your own practices help you stand out against incumbents.   

Let’s assume that you’re already convinced of the need to identify your competitors’ customers. The next question is: how do we find the companies that are choosing our competitors? 

How to conduct competitor customer research

You might choose an experienced firm of competitor intelligence researchers, such as Aqute Intelligence, but there are tools and techniques that anyone can use to build a portrait of their market.

Customer websites

A lot of the information you need is easy to find.

Most companies want to shout about their customers. They plaster their websites with customer logos, case studies and testimonials.

From their perspective, it is powerful social proof (one of the most powerful tools of persuasion) and a great way to demonstrate their proficiency and expertise.

But this is also a clear window into their customers. And the names that they choose to share may offer hints about their priorities and the kinds of clients they want to attract.

Resume databases

Resume databases such as Indeed can help you find people who claim to have used your competitors’ products. Their employment history provides the missing link to help you identify the employer that uses the product.

Social media

Who is following your competitors? Who is talking about them? Or sharing information on them?

Social media can reveal many connections between your competitors and their customers. Blogs and forums are also potential sources of illuminating discussions. For example, developers might seek support for using a particular platform on a forum, and project managers might discuss using a new product to manage their tasks.

Software company research

Many of our clients are software businesses. A major advantage in this industry is the ability to pinpoint code that identifies software implemented on public websites.

The following tools show you the software running websites:

• PublicWWW: a search engine for source code

• Built With: what are websites built with?

• NerdyData: explore technology adoption

Conferences and exhibitions

You might visit your competitors’ stands, attend their talks, or watch to see who talks about their presence on social media. There are plenty of clues about who is buying from your competitors.

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