1. Google Alerts
Getting news and updates about your competitions’ activity online is completely free via Google Alerts. What you will need to do is search for your competitors’ names and select which notification(s) you want to receive such as news, blogs, discussions, etc. You can have the notifications sent to you as they happen, and you can even set it up to receive those every day or weekly. If you would like to have Google Alerts notify you anytime your company is mentioned anywhere online you can do that as well.
2. Connect through social media
Connecting with your competition is as simple as just “Liking” and “Following” them on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels. When you connect through social media make sure you track both the brand and its key leaders to get a complete sense of what they are doing and different activity.
3. Enroll
Sign up for e-mail and direct marketing campaigns of your competitors. Become a customer to see what kind of offers they are providing. This is a good way to see if and when they are having sales and to compare prices. It’s okay to be sneaking, sometimes by following your competitors you are able to come up with an even better idea than they did to attract more customers yourselves.
4. Secret Shopper
Go on shopping trips to experience your competitor’s customer relations online and in-store. Buy your competitors’ products to experience what the customers feel like. Make sure to compare the customer relations techniques, as well as the variety of products, merchandise and of course the different prices.
5. Websites
You can sure learn a lot about your competitors by keeping an eye on their website. Keep up with the new functions and different content they add as well as what kind of feedback they might be getting from people.
