1. Set up your scope and key questions
Before starting, always prepare the exploration — like planning an itinerary before a trip. Start from the question "What are we exploring?" A customer journey benchmark centers on time — the end-to-end itinerary, main steps, and touchpoints. A product portfolio benchmark centers on features, performance indicators, and pricing models.
2. Enter the experience in depth and explore all the channels
Once you've listed the channels and players to explore, step into your "customer's shoes." Visit shops, websites, social media; gather communication material; negotiate prices; ask questions. Do it online too — fill forms, use simulation tools, chat with support, even try to purchase. What matters is going through the whole process as a real customer, with a real situation and objective — repeating the exercise for different customer profiles if relevant. Take pictures and screenshots and list observations in comparison tables.
3. Search for innovation in the sector
Analyse the comparison tables to understand which players address which targets and what elements of their experience stand out. This is the moment to point out innovations and estimate their level of market adoption — helping you decide how pressing it is to invest in specific features, depending on your strategy and positioning.
4. Compare problems to solve to other markets
Once you understand your product or experience's performance, you can identify problems to solve. If your issue is a weak social media presence, explore other markets to see what engaged customers respond to. If your product is a commodity, look at other commodity markets for ideas to create added value. Search for published results from companies you consider to be at par — they provide reassurance about the effectiveness of an approach and useful material for your presentation.
5. Structure your benchmark
A benchmark creates more impact when key observations and learnings are put in perspective with specific business objectives — closely connected to the first step of setting key questions. Why are you making this benchmark? What are the context and expectations? What did you observe? The purpose of the presentation is to share which business objectives could be achieved by optimising your brand assets — what those assets are, how they're ranked today, and how they could improve by adopting best practices observed in the benchmark.
Frequently asked questions
What's the most common mistake companies make when benchmarking?
Missing the point — focusing on surface-level details or a narrow slice of the brand experience instead of the reality of the market, or going too exhaustive and drowning the useful learnings in detail.
Should a benchmark differ depending on what's being explored?
Yes — a customer journey benchmark centers on the end-to-end itinerary and touchpoints, while a product portfolio benchmark centers on features, performance indicators, and pricing.
Why go through the customer experience personally instead of just researching competitors?
Going through the full process as a real customer, in a real situation, surfaces details and friction points that secondary research or quick comparisons typically miss.
How should a benchmark be presented to get real impact?
By connecting key observations back to specific business objectives — what you were trying to learn, what you found, and what it means for the brand assets you're trying to improve.
