ChatGPT Prompts for Competitor Analysis

Digital transformation has spawned many new businesses and remade others. Identifying and monitoring competitors has never been more critical.

ChatGPT can help identify and analyze direct and indirect competitors, including those you’ve not heard of. Here are some essential prompts.

Identify Competitors

ChatGPT’s assessment of competitors is useful for understanding a brand’s positioning in the tool’s knowledge base. New companies will need to provide ChatGPT with background info on their industry and products. For testing, however, I pretended to be the founder of Substack. Here’s my prompt:

I am the founder of Substack. Who are my competitors?

ChatGPT’s response was spot on:

1. Newsletter Platforms:

- Revue: Acquired by Twitter, Revue offers similar services allowing writers to publish and monetize newsletters.
- Ghost: An open-source platform that focuses on professional publishing. It’s known for its simplicity and flexibility.
- Mailchimp: While primarily an email marketing service, Mailchimp also offers features that could be used for newsletter monetization.
- TinyLetter: Owned by Mailchimp, it’s a simpler platform primarily used for personal newsletters.
- ConvertKit: A platform that offers email marketing services for creators, including paid newsletters.

2. Broader Content Monetization Platforms:

- Patreon: Known for allowing creators to get paid directly by their fans through subscriptions, memberships, and per-piece payments.
- Medium: Offers a partner program where writers can earn money based on reader engagement with their articles.
- Ko-fi: A platform where creators can receive donations and sell subscriptions or products.

Features

What are my competitors’ unique features? This prompt can help founders with product development and positioning:

Create a table listing the unique features of each competitor and pricing.

Here’s ChatGPT’s response. I’ve repurposed the table for this article. Always ask ChatGPT for the date of its data if it doesn’t provide it. In my test, the response was based on the April 2023 update.

Platform	Unique Features	Pricing
Revue	Integration with Twitter, allowing for easier sharing and audience building on the social platform	Free; Twitter takes a 5% cut of subscription revenue
Ghost	Open-source with advanced customization options; SEO and membership features integrated	Starts at $9/month for the hosted version; free if self-hosted but requires server costs
Mailchimp	Extensive email marketing tools; detailed analytics and A/B testing capabilities	Free tier available; paid plans start at $9.99/month
TinyLetter	Simplistic design and functionality focused on personal newsletters	Free; limited to 5,000 subscribers
ConvertKit	High deliverability rates; strong automation and tagging system for segmentation	Free tier up to 1,000 subscribers; paid plans start at $29/month
Patreon	Membership tiers for different levels of content access; strong community-building tools	5% to 12% of monthly income plus payment processing fees
Medium	Large built-in audience; earnings based on reader engagement rather than subscriptions	Free to publish; readers pay $5/month or $50/year for unlimited access
OnlyFans	Known for adult content but also used for other types; direct messaging with subscribers	Free to create an account; OnlyFans takes a 20% commission
Ko-fi	One-time support options ('buy me a coffee'), no platform fee for donations	Free; Ko-fi Gold membership at $6/month for extra features

Audiences

What are my competitors’ target audiences? ChatGPT is very helpful for that type of analysis, in my experience. My prompt:

Go to each competitor’s site and analyze its primary audience. Create a table showing the competitor, the primary audience, and the site elements and pages that indicate the target audience.

Here’s the result, which, again, I’ve repurposed.

Competitor	Primary Audience	Site Elements Indicating Target Audience
Revue	Freelancers, Twitter users	Integration with Twitter, simplicity in newsletter creation, memberships and paid subscriptions.
Ghost	Independent journalists, professional publishers	Open-source technology, focus on professional publishing, advanced creator tools, audience growth capabilities, and integration options
TinyLetter	Individuals preferring simplicity	Basic design tools like a standard email client, option for HTML customization, simplicity and ease of use for personal or small-scale use
ConvertKit	Wide range of creators (coaches, authors, podcasters, musicians, YouTubers)	Tools for audience growth, email automation, monetization, testimonials from various creators, broad appeal across different creative fields
Patreon	Diverse content creators (video makers, podcasters, writers, musicians, educators)	System for creators to offer exclusive content/benefits for financial support, focus on diverse content types, and sustainable income stream for creators

Responding to Competitors

Should I reposition my site based on competitive research? Here’s my prompt:

What should I do on my site to attract competitors’ audiences? Analyze competitors’ sites for the most effective tactics.

ChatGPT identified powerful tactics for Substack:

Content variety: Showcase a diverse range of content that appeals to creators across different fields like coaching, writing, podcasting, music, and YouTube creation.

Creator tools: Offer robust marketing and automation tools tailored for creators. These could include customizable landing pages, email marketing tools, and audience segmentation features.

Monetization features: Highlight options for monetizing content, such as through digital product sales, paid newsletters, and memberships.

Community building: Focus on features that help creators build and engage with their audience, like advanced email marketing and automation capabilities.

Creator success stories: Share success stories or testimonials from various creators to demonstrate the potential of your platform for their creative and financial growth.

Weaknesses

What are my competitors’ weaknesses? I chose one of those companies, which I’ll call “Example” for this post, as a test. Here’s that prompt:

Research Example’s reviews and identify gaps Substack could address. What are the common complaints of Example’s customers?

ChatGPT searched Bing for several minutes before responding:

Pricing Structure: Some users find Example’s subscription plans to be expensive, especially as their subscriber count grows. A more cost-effective pricing structure or clearer value for the cost could be an attractive alternative for users.

Complexity for Beginners: While Example has evolved to offer a wide range of features, this has led to increased complexity. Users who preferred the platform’s original simplicity might be looking for a more straightforward, user-friendly option.

Deliverability Issues: There are mentions of challenges with email deliverability. Ensuring high deliverability rates and providing transparent metrics could be a key selling point.

Limited Free Plan Features: The recent reduction in features available in the free plan has been a point of contention. Offering a more generous free plan could attract users who feel constrained by these limitations.

All-in-One Marketing Features: Some users feel that while Example offers an all-in-one marketing platform, the features are not as robust as they would like. Enhancing specific functionalities or offering more integrated solutions might appeal to these users.

Customer Support: Improving customer support and providing more personalized assistance could address concerns from users who have had less than satisfactory experiences with Example’s support.