When a customer hesitates between you and a neighbouring business, they compare two Google profiles: the ratings, the number of reviews, the photos, and often a few recent reviews. You know your competitors, but do you know what their customers really say about them? Their reviews are public, and they contain valuable information for your own strategy.
Here is how to monitor competitors through their reviews, usefully and respectfully.
Why monitor your competitors’ reviews
Your competitors’ reviews tell you three things.
Their strengths: what their customers appreciate. If every review of a competitor praises its “personalized advice”, it is a standard your customers may expect too.
Their weaknesses: the pain points that keep coming up for them. A competitor regularly criticized for its timeframes or phone reception points you to an argument for standing out, provided you do better.
What the market expects: by reading the reviews of several businesses in your sector, you see shared expectations emerge (contactless payment, online booking, vegetarian options) that you can anticipate.
Whom to monitor?
There is no need to follow twenty businesses. Focus on those your customers actually compare you with:
- nearby businesses that appear next to you on Google Maps;
- those that come up for your main searches (“plumber + your town”);
- one or two benchmark players in your sector, even if a little further away.
Three to ten competitors are enough for useful monitoring.
What to compare
The rating and the number of reviews: a competitor at 4.7 from 300 reviews and you at 4.5 from 40 reviews are not in the same league in internet users’ eyes. The volume gap is often easier to close than the rating gap, through a regular effort to get more reviews.
Freshness: how many recent reviews does each one receive? A competitor receiving ten a month pulls ahead every month.
The response rate: does your competitor reply to its reviews? A business that never replies leaves a gap: your careful replies will make the difference.
Themes: which topics come up for them, positively and negatively, compared with yours?
New developments: reviews often signal changes (a new formula, new opening hours, works) before any official communication.
Turning monitoring into actions
Monitoring is only worthwhile if it leads to decisions. A few examples:
- a competitor is criticized for its quote turnaround: highlight your responsiveness, and live up to it;
- several competitors’ customers ask for Saturday slots: try them out;
- a competitor receives many more reviews than you: install a QR code or an NFC display;
- a competitor has just launched an offer its customers love: ask yourself whether it makes sense for you.
The goal is not to copy, but to understand the market and position yourself on what you do better.
The ethical rules to follow
Monitoring competitors through their reviews is perfectly legitimate: reviews are public. Some practices, however, are forbidden and dangerous:
- never leave fake negative reviews on a competitor’s profile, directly or through a third party: it is a misleading commercial practice, penalized by consumer law (in France, the DGCCRF points this out), and Google actively fights it under its policy on prohibited content;
- do not disparage your competitors in your replies to reviews or in your communication;
- do not contact a competitor’s customers based on their reviews.
Healthy monitoring is limited to observing, understanding and improving your own offer.
A concrete example
A town-centre estate agency follows four competitors. The monitoring shows that their clients regularly complain about a lack of news during the sale. The agency decides to send a weekly update to each seller, and says so in its replies to reviews and on its Google profile. Six months later, “follow-up” and “responsiveness” have become the most frequently mentioned themes in its own positive reviews, and an argument to win listings.
How Replik organizes your monitoring
With Replik’s competitor tracking, you add the businesses that matter to you and Replik:
- follows their rating and number of reviews over time, compared with yours;
- sums up what their customers like or criticize;
- includes these elements in your reports, to place your strengths and weaknesses relative to the market.
Combined with the analysis of your own reviews, this monitoring gives you a complete picture of your local position. Cost details are on the pricing page.
Your monitoring checklist
- Choose three to ten competitors your customers really compare you with.
- Each month, note their rating, number of reviews and pace of new reviews.
- Note whether they reply to their reviews, and how.
- Every quarter, list their strengths and recurring pain points.
- Compare with your own themes: where do you do better, where are you behind?
- Draw one or two concrete actions from it for the following quarter.
Frequently asked questions
How often should you take stock? Once a month is enough to follow changes in ratings and volumes. A more in-depth reading of the themes every quarter lets you adjust your strategy.
Should you monitor competitors in other towns? Rarely. Except for a benchmark player in your sector, focus on the businesses your customers really compare you with.
What if a competitor has many more reviews than me? Do not try to catch up all at once. Set up regular collection: a few extra reviews every week close the gap faster than you might think.
In short
Your competitors’ reviews are a public, free and very concrete source of information. Follow a few well-chosen businesses, compare rating, volume, freshness, replies and themes, and turn what you learn into actions on your own offer, without ever crossing ethical lines. To get started, take stock of your own profile with the free audit.