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Comparison Chart Marketing
Creating a comparison chart that shows your product's advantages over the competition is an effective strategy. It works because many people are short on time or too indifferent to comparison shop. A chart takes advantage of that by adding an easily understood visual element to show off your edge over the competition.The idea is to find 2-3 competing products (or services) and compare your product to theirs. Obviously you want to select the benefits that cast your product in the most favorable light.
Casting your product in the best light can include using negatives. In the accompanying example chart the green checks represent positive benefits. At the bottom, however, are two drawbacks, which our fictitious featured company has a red X to indicate those drawbacks aren't in their product, while they are present with the other three products.
It's very easy to look at that chart and see which company offers the most benefits. People will glance at the descriptions of the benefits, see which company offers the most, and buy. Not everyone, of course, but some. That's what all these tactics are about—generating extra sales.
In the real world, sometimes the featured company will actually name the other companies they are comparing themselves to, but personally I wouldn't do that. Doing so means you'd have to keep a close eye on the competition to ensure your information is up to date. It could also put you at risk of a lawsuit unless you consult an attorney to make sure you're not doing something libelous. Even at that, it might not stop someone from suing you if they think they can force you to back down that way.
You do want to keep a record of which products or companies you are comparing your product to in case the FTC ever wanted to see your proof. Chances are you'd never be asked about it unless they receive complaints, but better safe than sorry. If you use this tactic, I recommend you keep track of the all the details for the companies you use in the comparison chart. Record the website addresses for each piece of data you used, the date, and take a picture or a screen shot showing the information, or save the entire page to your hard drive. You might want to print it out too, in case of a hard drive failure.
You may get a few people who want to know to know who the other companies are, and you can either tell them because you have the data, or you can decline to tell them citing the risk of legal action by naming the companies.
If you can create a chart that casts your product as the clear winner, this can be an excellent tactic. This tactic can be used to show why your product is worth a higher price, or to show what a bargain yours is by comparison. It's really a very flexible tactic that should serve you well if you have legitimate ways your product or service is better than the competition.
