Using Competitor Comparisons in Each Stage of your Marketing Funnel

A competitor comparison makes an excellent addition for your B2B website. Comparing pricing and services between competitors is often a final step for buyers, so providing a clear list of features for your solution vs your competitors helps accelerate your potential customers through your marketing funnel. While traditionally used at the Bottom of Funnel (or BOFU), competitor comparisons can be used effectively at each stage of your buyer's journey. Here are three examples of B2B SaaS companies using competitor comparisons in different stages of their marketing funnels.

Top of Funnel with Shopify

Shopify makes it clear why ecommerce sites should switch from Etsy in just three sentences:

This appealing format allows potential buyers to quickly scan features Shopify offers that Etsy doesn’t: Themes, Easier customer contact, and Integration with other Points of Sale. This overview serves as excellent Top of Funnel (or TOFU) content for Shopify, identifying its purpose and established niche over its competitor, and making it clear to prospects why Shopify is their better choice.

Middle of Funnel with Monday

In another brief comparison, monday.com - that empowers businesses to develop their own work management flows - makes an argument for why buyers should choose its service over Asana, while also presenting an easy option to register for a free account.

This brief product comparison starts and ends with a single table seven features, of which monday.com has four checkmarks and Asana has none. For the other three features, which they both provide, monday.com demonstrates why its version is better. This competitor comparison is a very quick read, making it ideal for busy prospects comparing solutions in the Middle of the Funnel (or MOFU) stage.

The accompanying option to register for an account (without purchasing a plan) makes this comparison strong MOFU content. With their pain point(s) and/or use case selected, potential customers can get valuable experience with monday.com’s platform, accelerating them into the Bottom of the Funnel (or BOFU).

Bottom of the Funnel with HubSpot

In a masterful display of positioning, content marketing expert HubSpot uses an in-depth "competitor" comparison with their "partner" Salesforce.

Per Hubspot's website:

Both platforms provide large sales teams with a robust solution that can scale with growth. However, the differences start to emerge when you look at how both platforms were built, and how that foundation contributes to ease-of-use and adoption. This page will help you understand the differences between HubSpot and Salesforce, so you can choose the right CRM for growing your business.

HubSpot provides a table (similar to monday.com) and explains each feature in detail for both companies, instead of simply stating that HubSpot is better than Salesforce in every capacity. While biased, this cooperative approach makes their explanation more credible, helping potential customers make an informed purchase decision at the BOFU stage. HubSpot's thoroughness and balanced evaluation helps to answer buyer questions before they’re even asked, accelerating potential customers towards a trial and/or sales demo.

Thus, intentionally and prominently featuring competitor comparisons can help accelerate your potential buyers through each stage of the funnel. Keeping in mind your choices for style, brevity, and balanced content, your competitor comparisons play an important role in your buyer's journey towards their purchase decision.