The ultimate guide to spying on your competitors
A big part of my job is analysing our customers’ competitors to find ‘low hanging fruit’ strategies we can capitalise on. In most cases, these strategies are hiding in plain sight. To find them, you simply need the right tools.
In this guide, I’ll go through the process of spying on your competitor’s winning strategies. This works extremely well for established e-commerce and SAAS brands.
I will use Optimum Nutrition (ON), a nutrition supplements brand with a strong online presence, as an example to illustrate the method in the real world.
I will walk you through:
Understanding your competitor’s traffic sources
Spying on your competitor’s ads
Conducting a deep ad strategy analysis.
Let’s dive into it.
Traffic analysis
If you haven’t done it already, I recommend you build a list of two to five of your competitors. Throughout this guide, I will use a single brand, Optimum Nutrition (ON), but you should do the process for all competitors you have listed.
To get a sense of where your competition is getting its traffic from, use the following tools:
Alexa Rank
SimilarWeb (their free Chrome extension will get you a significant amount of data. If your budget allows it, I recommend getting the Pro version)
SimilarWeb traffic breakdown
SimilarWeb is well-known in the traffic analysis sphere. It has reliable data, especially for websites that receive massive amounts of traffic.
Here is an overview of their traffic by different filters:
Breakdown of their traffic sources
Breakdown by country
If you don’t have SimilarWeb’s paid plan, don’t worry, you will get a good overview with Alexa’s free version.
Key takeaways
We can assume that the core of their business is coming from Search. Yet, when we analyse their keyword distribution, we see that this traffic comes in most parts from branded queries. Here’s an example:
135,000 monthly searches for “Optimum nutrition” (Huge shout-out to the team at Keywords Everywhere for the above awesome free Chrome Extension)
And here are some other branded keywords they are ranking for:
Branded queries ON is ranking for in Google
We must consider that their core marketing strategy is outside of Google. Search engines being at the end of the funnel capture a disproportionate part of the merit.
It is also interesting to see that they are getting a good amount of traffic from India. We could identify India as a potential market if we were a supplement brand.
Always double-check things
These tools use ClickStream data (data sold by third-party providers who generally pull this data from Chrome Extensions (you can read more on this controversial subject here). Cross-check all your findings with other tools; especially if the traffic numbers of your competitors are on the lower end.
Using Alexa Rank to uncover opportunities
Alexa Rank is a tool offered by Amazon. It is robust, to say the least. They offer a 30-day trial if you want to attempt a deep dive. If not, you can get by with the free version.
Here is a traffic breakdown by geography. As we can see, their estimate of India’s traffic share is 18.8%, which is higher than SimilarWeb’s 8.92%. Nonetheless, it represents a significant portion of their visitors:
Traffic geography, according to Alexa
One feature I love about Alexa is ‘Site Flow’. This feature allows you to see websites visited right before and right after:
Alexa’s Site Flow Feature
Take note to study their presence on marketplaces, youtube.com and Google. We understand that users go shopping or look for reviews after visiting the website.
Key takeaways
India might be a key market to develop if we are a supplement supplier (at least it seems). To verify this hypothesis, I pulled the search data for Amazon and Google from India for their brand using Ahrefs:
Amazon monthly searches for ‘Optimum Nutrition whey protein’ in India
Google monthly searches for ‘Optimum Nutrition’ in India
Our hypothesis stands. They are growing their brand in India:
ON’s amazon.in listings
Given the number of people going to Google after visiting our website, ranking for review keywords (such as Optimum Nutrition review) is essential to increasing conversion. It should be a core part of an SEO strategy. We can assume that some people leaving the website to go visit Google are mostly looking for reviews or a better price.
We also understand that people who visit amazon.com, bodybuilding.com or iherb.com after they visit ON’s site are either looking for a better price, faster shipping (Amazon Prime) or to view product reviews. This means that as a supplement brand, we must have a solid presence in those three market places. This should increase our long term sales and conversion rate.
Visitors who go to YouTube after visiting our website are likely looking for product reviews. This means that we should rank positive product reviews on this platform. I would recommend reaching out to ‘YouTubers’ and having them use our review keywords in their video title.
Ad creative discovery
I love ad creative discovery. The reason is simple; it allows you to find top-tier Unique Selling Propositions (USPs), without having to think too much. If you’ve run any Facebook ads recently, you’ll know that optimising your creative will out-scale any other optimisation (audience, ad copy, etc.).
Here are a few tools I love to use to find top-tier creative:
Discovering ad creatives using MOAT and Adbeat
If you haven’t heard of MOAT before, prepare to be impressed. Here are display ads used by Optimum Nutrition:
Moat’s ad library
Through a quick analysis of the ‘Dates Active’ tab, we can assume that Optimum Nutrition uses little to no display advertising in their marketing mix:
Hover over the ads and you will see the ‘dates active’ section
MOAT is only a tool and has imperfect information. Therefore, you should cross-check this portion of the research with Adbeat (their free version is more than enough for this purpose).
I recommend you take note of all the unique selling propositions you deem relevant. You will be able to include these in your paid campaign ads (we will cover this point shortly).
Discovering ad creatives using Facebook Ad Library
Facebook Ad Library allows you to discover the ads of any Facebook page. This tool is the Cadillac of ad spying and allows you to:
Swipe your competitor’s strategy
Analyse the creative and copy of your competitors
Have a deep look at where your competitors are directing their traffic
Overview
Results for Optimum Nutrition (USA) in the Facebook Ad Library
Results by country for ON’s Ad Library
We can assess that they are running 200 variations in the US alone and that they are running ads in many locations.
They are running ads in Spain, New Zealand, France, and many other countries.
At this stage, you can go through the different countries and analyse what ads they are running and where. Change your filters to access this information.
For the purpose of this guide, I’ll go through their USA Facebook ads distribution. Feel free to take a deep dive and study their entire advertising strategy.
To get a better understanding, let’s answer three questions about their strategy:
Where are they sending their traffic?
How are they positioning their creative?
What USPs are they putting forward?
Where are they sending their traffic?
After analysing their ads, it becomes clear that they are focusing on driving marketplace growth. They are sending their traffic to Amazon, Walmart, Vitamin Shoppe GMC and Checkout 51 (that’s an interesting one, more on it later).
Facebook ad driving traffic to their The Vitamin Shoppe listing
Facebook ad driving traffic to their Amazon listing
Facebook ad driving traffic to their GMC listing
Facebook ad driving traffic to their Walmart listing
Facebook ad driving traffic to Checkout 51
As I said, this is an intriguing one. They are probably targeting people with an interest in Checkout 51. The audience size is between 500k and 600k in the US alone.
Audience size of the ‘Checkout 51’ audience in Facebook Insights
Couponers are an interesting audience to sell to, and targeting them by their app interest is a good way to leverage an existing behaviour. I would not be surprised if Checkout 51 is sharing their Facebook audiences with them as part of a partnership.
Key takeaways
Marketplace dominance is crucial to the growth ON as a brand. This makes sense given the intent baked in the product (people go directly to Amazon and search for ‘whey protein’, which makes it vital to have solid reviews and sales to rank on the marketplace). As an example, here are the number of monthly searches in the US for “whey protein” on Amazon according to Ahrefs:
Amazon search volume for ‘whey protein’ in the US
Targeting by platform use, such as Checkout 51, is a clever way to leverage a specific type of audience. Reaching out to a company and creating an advertising partnership could be an interesting way to grow our customer base. Here are two examples of potential opportunities based on the Checkout 51 audience:
Similar audiences to checkout 51
How are they positioning their creative?
They centre their strategy around user-generated content (UGC). It makes sense that their advertising strategy follows the same line of thought. Here are a few examples of these ad creatives at work:
User-generated ON content
As you know, user-generated content outperforms studio-quality content. According to the folks at Photoslurp:
“UGC is five times more likely to create a conversion compared with PC.”
Our in-house data can attest to that.
So, what is Optimum Nutrition doing right?
At the core, ON is executing influencer marketing like it should be done. They leverage their page following, create a cult around their brand sponsorship program, and promote the content across multiple channels.
Here’s how they are generating UGC at scale:
They are sponsoring a network of athletes, which provides a constant stream of top-tier content regularly. You can look at the content on the #teamon hashtag to gauge the sheer potential of this strategy.
They are collaborating with micro-influencers to generate killer reusable posts and potential future ambassadors. You can look at their tagged section on Instagram to get a feel. Micro-influencers are cost-effective when comparing their cost per engagement to bigger accounts, and ON capitalises on this brilliantly.
They drive authentic collaborations by leveraging their strong following, using the #provencontest hashtag to get ongoing shout-outs and high-quality content for free. Smaller Instagram accounts want to get a shout-out from a sizeable account like ON’s:
ON’s bio prompting people to take part in the #provencontest hashtag
Key takeaways
Creating a cult following around ambassadors is a great way to drive on-brand authentic content. It removes the feeling of the athlete being a “sell-out” and builds trust about ON to the ambassador’s audience.
Collaborating with micro-influencers (AKA real relatable people) to create content allows Optimum Nutrition to build relatable posts and achieve a good cost per engagement on their influencer marketing.
Leveraging their Instagram page’s reach is a great way to create a decentralised free authentic content factory. This benefits ON by having people deliberately posting about their product and by building a catalogue of user-generated content from which they can handpick content to use across different platforms. It also serves them well in finding new micro-influencers to work with.
What USP are they putting forward?
I have put together a list of the copy they use in their ads. This is not the entire list, but it will cover the essentials.
Lyte it up, Stephanie! Amino Energy + Electrolytes Sparkling adds some serious pep to her step
Grab one or all. Protein Ridges will never make you feel guilty about snacking.
What makes AMIN.O ENERGY + ELECTROLYTES the go-to for energy, focus and hydration on the go? You’re looking at it.
Nate’s ready to hit the trails hard. But first, he’s fuelling up with Nature Bites! #PROVEN
After giving it 110%, Nick always reaches for Gold Standard 100% Whey.
World’s Best-Selling Whey #PROVEN
The deliciously whipped cake bites you crave just got even better. Taste the difference today!
Cake Bites are here and they’re better than ever. Get your hands on a new delicious way to have your protein and cake, too!
Didn’t think great tasting and gluten free were possible? Think again!
Leah finally found a non-GMO, gluten free protein treat that satisfies her cravings.
Non-GMO. Gluten free. Plant Protein. What else is there to say? Oh yeah, delicious!
Go the extra yard and leave your limits in the dust.
Energy for every moment. Amino Energy + Electrolytes Sparkling is your anytime, anywhere boost.
Still a work in progress. Always fuelled by Gold Standard 100% Whey.
Don’t get fooled by Melony’s smile. She’s powered by Amino Energy and ready to outperform you.
Energy and muscle recovery support to help you leave it all in the gym-and then get it right back.
Choose a delicious, organic plant-based protein. Choose Gold Standard.
When it comes to anytime energy and muscle support, Athletes everywhere depend on one product.
Frankie proves what ESSENTIAL AMIN.O. ENERGY™ can do for him.
Frankie’s smile says it all. ESSENTIAL AMIN.O. ENERGY™ makes hard work look easy with serious energy and muscle support
What makes ESSENTIAL AMIN.O. ENERGY™ the most trusted anytime energy and muscle recovery product out there? Just ask Greg.
Greg pushes through his workout with ESSENTIAL AMIN.O. ENERGY™. You can too
Anytime Energy Boost #PROVEN
The list goes on, but you get the point.
Breaking down their high-level strategy
Their focus is audience-specific.
All the ads targeted to the “outdoor lifestyle” persona are about energy and refuelling.
All the ads attributed to the “gym addict” persona is about post-recovery, gains and have a “you can do it” ring to them.
They target the “vegan” and “gluten-free” persona(s) using simple copy that promotes the plant-based and Gluten-Free portion of the product.
They target the “healthy lifestyle, but I love eating” persona with ads such as “Grab one or all. Protein Ridges will never make you feel guilty about snacking”, mitigating the guilt from snacking.
I know that these personas are general and cliche in some sense, but having such a framework allows us to understand their targeting better. They are rebuilding a dying asset.
ON is investing heavily in communicating their new upgraded ‘Cake Bites’ product. A quick look at the negative reviews for the item shows us that this product got severe backlash from the people who purchased it:
Example of an Amazon review of a customer who bought ON’s Cake Bites
Their new messaging is on-point with the negative feedback they received. We can see that their ads address the critics directly:
“We upgraded Cake Bites to be more whipped, more decadent and more delicious than ever before. Taste the difference today”
This is masterful on their part. It shows a good understanding of what went wrong and how they are re-positioning a product after it got backlash. They are directing the traffic from these ads to the marketplaces where their reviews of the product were tanked by negative experiences. Their goal is to rebuild the product’s reputation on those websites.
Here is a summary of their communication angles:
Energise for outdoor lifestyle people (surf, hiking, etc.)
Snacking without the guilt
Gym gains and recovery after giving it your 110% at the gym
Cake Bites have been upgraded and taste awesome
Organic plant-based protein
Gluten-free
Key takeaways
From looking at their ad distribution, we can confirm that UGC outperforms studio-quality content for paid acquisition. They are using little to no studio-quality content in their ad mix.
Creating a tribal feel around an ambassador program is a great way to decentralise and scale content creation. They are generating hundreds of high-quality pictures and videos monthly.
They are investing heavily in pushing their brand outside of the typical “Gym/Fitness” persona, by putting forward relatable lifestyle/outdoor lover content.
They use personal approval from their ambassadors using phrases such as “Greg pushes […]” or “Frankie Proves […]”. This personal endorsement, combined with relevant creative is powerful. Using real people’s names in ad copy is a thing to experiment with.
They approach gym lovers with a “you can do it” feel to their messaging. This goes to show that they have deep knowledge about their audience and the proper positioning.
They create multiple versions of the same ads, probably to have Facebook’s Machine Learning optimise in the proper direction.
Let’s wrap up
Given ON’s growth and its sophisticated growth approach, we can assume that they have done a lot of testing. By studying their marketing back-end, we can get a quick start on our own marketing mix.
So what makes ON so successful in their digital marketing efforts?
I think Optimum Nutrition’s ‘distinguisher’ is in their influencer marketing structure. As I have mentioned previously, they have a content factory that requires little effort to maintain. This content is on-brand and resonates with their personas because these ambassadors are reflections of their personas.
So, what’s next?
This guide is running 2500+ words long, but I would like to layout other areas we could study:
Google AdWords. Use a tool such as SEMrush or Spyfu to see what keywords they are bidding on and what ad copy is working best for them.
SEO. Use a product such as Ahrefs or to see if they are driving any organic traffic to specific inner pages of their website. You could also take a more technical route and see how their website is structured by using a tool such as SEMrush Screaming Frog.
Email Marketing. Signup to their newsletter, add a product to your cart and leave the website. You will see what their cart abandonment strategy from an email perspective. If you are serious about this research, I recommend you buy and product and see what type of email they send you.
Website conversion. You can analyse their product page and checkout process(How do they structure their product page, checkout flow, what payment methods do they accept, etc.)
Marketing tool analysis. Install Ghostery and to see what specific tools they are using on their website. You can also install Facebook’s Wappalyzer Pixel Helper to see what type of behaviours they are tracking on their website. I recommend adding a product to your cart, going through the checkout to see which events are fired at which time in their pixel.
One last piece of advice: document everything
When we run an audit of multiple competitors for one of our clients, we document everything. It’s easy to gather data without having an action path. Make sure that the insight you collect is actionable. To keep our ops organised, we turn these strategies into bite-size playbooks that we can plan and build out efficiently.
