Competitor intelligence report: a monthly template

Short answer

A monthly competitor insight report for the marketing team should have six sections: the month's three key findings, what changed for each competitor, who wins on comparison topics, campaigns observed, new names, and recommended actions. It ends with a method and coverage note. The report's purpose is not to collect everything about competitors but to help the marketing team decide what to do differently next month. Every finding needs a link and an author count behind it.

How it differs from the weekly reputation report

The weekly reputation report is for the CEO and looks at your own brand's risks: what is on fire, who owns it, what decision is needed. The monthly competitor report is for marketing and looks at the market: how competitors are perceived, which criteria buyers use to compare, whose message is landing. The first is for quick reaction, the second for planning. Merging them into one document weakens both. The weekly template is in the weekly reputation report for the CEO.

Six sections

1. 11. Three key findingsThe month's three most important observations, one sentence each: "Competitor A's delivery complaints doubled", "in comparisons, buyers ask most about warranty length".
2. 22. Change by competitorOne row per main competitor: what changed in praise and complaint topics compared with last month.
3. 33. Comparison topicsWhich criterion comes up most in posts comparing you with a competitor, and in whose favour the discussion ends.
4. 44. CampaignsCompetitor campaigns observed during the month, the talk they created, and any spill-over demand.
5. 55. New namesNew players moved from the discovery list to a card during the month.
6. 66. RecommendationsTwo or three concrete actions for marketing, each with an owner and a date.

The change-by-competitor table

This section takes the most time but is read the most. Competitors in the rows; in the columns: most praised topic, most complained-about topic, change against last month, whether there was a campaign, and a one-sentence comment. Figures are given as numbers of different authors, not posts. If the change is small, write "no significant change" — an empty cell misleads the reader.

Comparison topics

Comparison posts are marketing's most useful raw material, because buyers name their selection criteria themselves. Each month, list the three to five criteria used most — price, delivery time, warranty, service quality, ease of use — and note in whose favour discussions on each criterion end. If you keep losing on one criterion, it is either a real weakness or an explanation problem; telling them apart is the job of the recommendations section.

The recommendations section

• Be concrete: "move the warranty length to the top of the product page", not "promote our service".
• Give each an owner and a date.
• Two or three recommendations are enough — a report with ten gets none done.
• Briefly record the outcome of last month's recommendations: done or not, and what changed.

The method and coverage note

At the end of the report, a short note: which sources were watched, which dates, which competitors, what changed in the source list, and where the search was incomplete. When the source list changes, numbers rise or fall artificially — without this note, the reader draws the wrong conclusion. State plainly that the report is based on public sources only.

What to leave out

• Unproven guesses about a competitor's sales, customer numbers or budget.
• Information about a competitor's employees.
• Individual customer posts with names, profiles and screenshots — keep quotes anonymous.
• A list of all raw results — that belongs in an attachment.

Sharing rules

The competitor report is an internal document. If you share it with an agency, the contract should include a confidentiality clause; it is not shared with competitors or at sector association meetings — especially the parts on pricing and campaign plans. Before using any finding in advertising that names a competitor, run a legal check.

The monthly meeting

Sending the report is not the end. Hold a 30-minute meeting once a month: the author presents the three key findings, the team discusses the recommendations and decides which will be carried out. Decisions made there go into the next report's "last month's recommendations" section. That turns the report from an archive document into a working tool.

Illustrative example

This is an illustrative example. An online electronics shop's monthly report has three findings: competitor A's delivery complaints have doubled; in comparison posts, "warranty length" is asked about most, and the shop keeps losing on it; a new marketplace has entered the category. An internal check shows the shop's warranty is actually longer, but it is not visible on the website. Recommendation: move the warranty length to the top of the product card — owner, the e-commerce manager, within two weeks.

Limitations

A monthly competitor report gives a picture of public discussion, not market share or a competitor's real results. In small markets monthly numbers are low and can move randomly — do not draw big conclusions from small changes. Automatic tone and topic labels are a first sort; key findings should be checked by reading the text itself.

Common mistakes

• Turning the report into a collection of everything about competitors.
• Merging it with the weekly reputation report.
• Sending it "for information" without recommendations.
• Not noting changes to the source list.
• Writing unproven figures about competitors.

Preparing it with Vexvon Monitoring

In Vexvon Monitoring one search can cover several companies — your own brand and competitors — each with its own keywords and profile. The Excel export creates a separate sheet per company and a separate coverage sheet; each result has a type, tone, topic tags and any competitors named. That lets you gather the raw material for the six sections in a few hours; a person writes the findings and recommendations. More on the Vexvon Monitoring page.

Next step

At the start of next month, prepare the first report on the six-section template and book a 30-minute meeting. The competitor sheet itself is in what customers say about competitors, campaign tracking in competitor campaign monitoring, and new names in finding new competitors. Other topics are in the competitor and market monitoring section.