“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”
– Coco Chanel
Inspired by one of the assets described in the “Product Managers Survival Guide“, I put together a very basic Competitive Analysis Google Sheet. The sheet isn’t extremely detailed or in-depth. At this stage, we just want to get a feel for what is out in the market, how they compare to our product and if they appeal to our target users.
I chose these products because they each have a different solution for the problems encountered while travel planning.
Diaro / Evernote / GeoSpike / Polar Steps – Help me log the details / memories during my experience
Google Maps / Trip Advisor – Find the bar, restaurant, experience
Minube / Trip Advisor – Help me plan before and share my recommendations after
Where is the opportunity then? What is our “unique”?
I hypothesize that one app can custom build and recommend itineraries prior to a trip, nudge you to note memories along the way and share data-based travel details with other explorers. Based on our assumptions, our personas should embrace this vision.
Right now, a traveler is using at least two services when planning our their trip, looking for recommendations or sharing their updates. I wonder how many times a user forgets which application they saved their notes to from that trip they took over five months ago. How often do international travelers bop around town for an evening and regret not taking photos of the establishment name at the top of the menu?
The need is out there. The success of our product would depend on users actively inputting their travel data into our app, rather than across multiple platforms, and delighting them enough to encourage use while traveling.
“OK blah, vision… blah, blah, blah… what does your app actually do?”.
User stories, backlogs and client benefit analysis…. here we come!