How do you get feedback on your differentiation?

1 Customer surveys

Gathering feedback from customers is a great way to understand your differentiation. You can use online tools like SurveyMonkey or Typeform to create and send surveys to your current and potential customers. These surveys should include questions such as how they perceive your brand compared to competitors, what benefits and challenges they experience when using your product or service, how likely they are to recommend you, and what features or attributes are most important in your category. This data can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your differentiation, as well as areas that require improvement.

2 Competitor analysis

Another way to get feedback on your differentiation is to analyze your competitors. You can use tools like SWOT analysis, Porter's five forces, or value chain analysis to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You can also look at their websites, social media, reviews, testimonials, and marketing materials to see how they communicate their value proposition and what kind of feedback they get from their customers. This can help you spot gaps, trends, and best practices in your industry and compare your differentiation with theirs.

3 Focus groups

A third way to get feedback on your differentiation is to conduct focus groups. Focus groups are small groups of people who represent your target market and who are invited to discuss your product or service in a moderated setting. You can use focus groups to test your differentiation ideas, concepts, messages, or prototypes and get honest and detailed feedback from your potential customers. You can also observe their reactions, emotions, and preferences and ask them follow-up questions. Focus groups can help you validate your assumptions, generate insights, and improve your differentiation.

5 Social media

Engaging with your audience on social media is a fifth way to get feedback on your differentiation. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn can help you build relationships with customers, share your story, and collect feedback. Asking questions and polls, sharing testimonials and case studies, creating contests and giveaways, and responding to comments and messages are all activities that can help generate engagement, awareness, and loyalty. Joining relevant groups and communities can also provide valuable feedback on your differentiation.

6 A/B testing

A sixth way to get feedback on your differentiation is to use A/B testing. This method of comparison allows you to experiment with different aspects, such as pricing and discounts, features and benefits, names and slogans, colors and images, and headlines and copy. By doing so, you can measure the impact of your differentiation on key metrics such as conversions, sales, retention, or satisfaction. A/B testing can provide valuable insights into how to best differentiate your product, service, or marketing material.