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Stage 2 · Lesson 3 of 13

Desk research and competitive analysis

Learning from what already exists before talking to anyone.

  • Beginner
  • 35 min
  • 3 check questions
  • Exercise: 50 min

By the end of this lesson you can

  • Use existing sources to learn about a problem before recruiting participants.
  • Run a structured competitive analysis instead of a screenshot collection.
  • Record findings so they inform design without copying competitors.

The idea

Desk research (also called secondary research) means learning from what already exists: previous studies, support tickets, app store reviews, analytics, industry reports, forum threads and academic papers. It is cheap, fast and often surprisingly rich.

Sources worth checking

  • Inside the organisation: earlier research, support logs, sales call notes, analytics, search terms people type on the site.
  • Outside: reviews of your product and competitors, community forums, government statistics, published research and design case studies.

Competitive analysis

A competitive analysis compares how other products solve the same problem. Include direct competitors (the same kind of product) and indirect ones (other ways people solve the problem, such as a spreadsheet or a phone call). Decide what you are comparing before you start: for example how each product handles sign-up, pricing, and the first useful moment.

The goal is to understand conventions people already know, gaps nobody fills, and patterns that fail. It is not to copy. A competitor's design reflects its own constraints and may not even be working well for it.

Why it matters in real projects

Desk research stops teams repeating work and asking participants questions that are already answered. It sharpens your research questions, so the time you spend with real people goes on what only they can tell you. Competitive analysis helps you respect conventions users already understand and find opportunities to stand out.

A realistic example

A start-up is designing a plant-care app. Before any interviews, the designer reads 300 reviews of the three most popular plant apps. Common complaints cluster around reminders that ignore the season and plant identification that fails in low light.

The competitive analysis compares five apps (and one indirect competitor: a paper watering calendar sold in garden centres) on four points: onboarding length, how reminders are set, what happens when a plant is unwell, and price. It shows every app asks for an account before showing anything useful.

The designer now has sharper interview questions about seasonal care, and a clear opportunity: let people add their first plant before signing up.

Step by step

  1. Define what you want to learn

    Start from your research questions so desk research stays focused.

  2. Check internal sources

    Ask for previous research, support data, analytics and site search logs.

  3. Read reviews and forums

    Collect quotes into a spreadsheet and tag each one with a theme.

  4. Choose competitors and criteria

    Pick 4 to 6 products, including at least one indirect competitor, and 4 to 6 criteria.

  5. Compare in a grid

    Fill a table with observations and screenshots for each criterion.

  6. Summarise implications

    Write what this means for your design: conventions to keep, gaps to explore, mistakes to avoid.

Common mistakes

  • Mistake Collecting screenshots without a question.

    Instead Decide the criteria first and compare products against them.

  • Mistake Copying the market leader.

    Instead Ask why a pattern exists and whether it suits your users and constraints.

  • Mistake Treating reviews as representative.

    Instead Reviews skew towards strong opinions. Use them to find themes, not to measure how common something is.

Check your understanding

Choose an answer, then check it. There is an explanation either way.

Question 1 of 3What is an indirect competitor for an expense-tracking app?
Show answer

A spreadsheet many people use instead. Indirect competitors are other ways people solve the same problem.

Question 2 of 3What should a competitive analysis produce?
Show answer

Implications for your design: conventions, gaps and patterns to avoid. Analysis is only useful when it leads to decisions.

Question 3 of 3Why do desk research before interviews?
Show answer

To focus interviews on what only participants can tell you. Existing evidence sharpens your questions and saves participants' time.

Practice exercise

Exercise · about 50 min

Competitive grid

Compare how four apps handle the first five minutes for a new user in one category, such as language learning or budgeting.

Steps

  1. Choose three direct competitors and one indirect competitor.
  2. Define five criteria, such as time to first value and account requirements.
  3. Fill a grid with observations and screenshots.
  4. Write three implications for a new product in this space.

Deliverable

A comparison grid and a short list of design implications.

Self-assessment

Tick each item when it is true of your exercise. Be honest; this is for you.

4 items

Summary

  • Desk research uses existing material and is cheap, fast and useful.
  • Internal sources such as support logs and search terms are often overlooked.
  • Competitive analysis compares products against chosen criteria.
  • Learn from competitors; do not copy them.

Further reading

Third-party sources, chosen for reliability. They open in a new tab.

Your notes

Marking complete updates your course and roadmap progress.

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