Are Competitor Comparison Charts effective?

[elgordo]

I want to publish a Competitor Comparison chart to some of my sites to show what you get from each product bundle versus the competition. Obviously folks are going to know it is slanted, but it is very informative for the type of product I sell. I also don't want to steer potential customers off of my site(s), on to competitor sites.

Anybody know if Competitor Comparison charts are a good thing to use?

 

[imkazu]

do you mean grabbing the exact image and putting it on your site ?
if you're just using their figures and creating your own table/image, you should be fine

 

[elgordo]

I mean like comparing my product's features to 4 other competitors. To show how much of a better value my product is.

 

[farking]

It could increase the conversion rate, if your product is better. If your product offering is worse, it may just unnecessarily inform potential customers of the other options out there.

 

[moltar]

I know a person who did this, he even listed and linked to competitors. This was effective and sales went up. But his product is truly superior and he has such confidence.

 

[elgordo]

Right. I'd say I'm middle of the pack- but much lower cost-wise, and have some unique features.

Might hold off from distracting visitors for now lol

 

[kimboslice]

If your offering is only marginally better then your competitors, don't mention them by name . Simply put something like Competitor A, Competitor B etc... If your product blows them out of the water you may consider putting actual names.

Now I can tell you when I am a doing research if I run across a comparison chart, I always go check out the competing companies.

In the end, you really need to test different options to see what works best. Just my 2 cents...

 

[elgordo]

Good stuff- thanks for the suggestion.

I may try to hide the competitor names. As I said, I'm middle of the pack and a great value cost-wise; but certainly don't want to send traffic off in the wrong direction.

 

[danny]

If split testing is possible this is a good place to do it. You can not run it, or you can run it being totally honest while listing prices. You'll be providing convenience without a doubt. What you want to find out though is if more of your traffic would choose your middle of the road product at your cost if they did an honest evaluation.

You could also test without the names, but real honest side by side comparisons are great for building trust.