In short
Your users already use other apps every day. Studying how those apps handle the same tasks shows you what people expect, what's frustrating, and where you can do better.
Studying competitors' interfaces, flows and design patterns to find gaps and inspiration — informing your own decisions without simply copying what's already out there.
Think of it like this
Opening a chai stall
Before setting up near college, you visit the three nearby stalls. You note price, wait time, seating and who goes where. You don't copy one stall; you spot what all three miss, like quick takeaway at 9 am.
Watch it happen
A design-focused competitive review
1/5Choose 3 to 5 rivals, including one indirect, like a notebook or WhatsApp group for a bill-split app.
The big ideas
What you need to know
Learn expectations
If every rival puts search at the top, users expect it there. Breaking that needs a good reason.
Find gaps
Shared pain points across rivals, often found in app store reviews, are design opportunities.
Inspire, don't copy
Their design solves their users and business. Understand why a pattern works before using it.
Save yourself the pain
Common mistakes
Oops
Only comparing feature lists.
Do this instead
Actually do the tasks. How a feature feels to use matters more than whether it exists.
Oops
Ignoring indirect competitors.
Do this instead
Include the spreadsheet, notebook or phone call people use today. That's often the real rival.
Your mission
Compare three apps on one task
Quick check
Every competitor puts 'Cart' at the top right. What's the main lesson?
Go deeper
- 1Pick 3 competitors of a product you're studying and screenshot their key flows.
- 2Identify one pattern each competitor does well and one weakness across all of them.
- 3Avoid the trap of treating competitor imitation as a design strategy in itself.
More topics at this stop
User Interviews
Surveys & Questionnaires
Usability Testing
Contextual Inquiry
Personas & User Segmentation
Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)
Journey Mapping
Card Sorting & Tree Testing
Research Synthesis (Affinity Mapping)
Continuous Discovery Habits
Stuck on this topic? Ask an Insider
Get 1:1 guidance from people who've walked this exact path — on the InsideEdge app.
