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- 1. Competition analysis- Whatfix Note: This analysis will be based on web based search and heuristics . Will try to analyze the assignment and galvanize insights based on primary research and customer feedback . The motivation of this assignment is to guess optimal and unexplored opportunities in the field of automated and self learning guides . The data used for the same is purely preliminary web search and may not represent actual figures Questions addressed One of the key breakthroughs for a SaaS firm to lead the market is to differentiate itself from the current market competitors and lead the market in-terms of differentiating innovative strategies , features , GTM( Go to Market strategy) , cost optimization , customer or user experience I will try to do this analysis based on 4 fundamental aspects ● Strategic differentiation ○ How our current product is strategically placed i.e. What is our model ? ○ Is it different from other competitors models in terms of revenue generation ? ○ What are the pros and cons of it ○ What is the geographical footprint ? ○ What is the investor footprint and product placement in terms of USP? ● Functional differentiation ○ How is the product placed in terms of features and services offered to the customers ? ○ Is there any differentiating feature ? if there are which are those for each of them and based on heuristics which has the most impact ? ○ What kind of functional service is a strength for the product and should be adopted as soon as possible ? ○ And lastly what type and why should a customer buy from you ? ● Go To Market and pricing differentiation ○ How is the product go to market and pricing strategy ? How is it in comparison to the competitors ? ○ Weakness and strengths of their GTM and pricing ? ○ Description of what opportunities you have to beat them. ● Actual Product Usage Experience ( UI/UX) ○ How are the user experiences of the Products different ?
- 2. ○ What are the pros and cons of each ? ○ Which product is the most user friendly ? ● Suggested Changes in product pitch ,acquisition ,design and features( trying to come with ideative features which can be helpful and scalable) ○ Machine learning based input can help us identify and better predict pain points ○ AI bots can be made based on content and help us evolve from a guide to a virtual bot thats helps the user by giving a Voice + action output ○ Self guiding UI , that activates according to the activity of a User ■ User spends more than a particular time on a page and it understands and opens the guide ○ Evolve as a search and help guide too Module 1 : Strategic differentiation ● How is the product strategically placed ? SaaS firm Business Model and History Whatfix Automated guides and website navigation training market . Major market in India , rising presence in US . Walk Me Machine learning driven walkthrough guides . Major market in the US and adopted worldwide. First to step in the market Iridize Automated learning guides and navigation software . Less popular than Walk me . What is unique is that they offer a free plan ,which is unique in development of trust for the user In terms of Business model , all three of them are pretty similar . Steps for revenue ● Request a demo ● Get in touch with sales rep’s ● Have a pilot of the product on the website ● Start the implementation of the product and get paid on a monthly / quarterly basis ● Is it different from other competitors models in terms of revenue generation ?
- 3. Walkme - "We are a software as a service (SaaS) company. We sell licenses to use the software as a subscription, usually for one year. Our price is a function of the number of users in the organization, its size, and whether the use is external or internal." Whatfix - “ Similar model as Walkme , can be license x user based or also can be monthly/quarterly basis “ Iridize - “ model based on number of end users but as it has a free plan which can act as pilot and trust factor for the company “ All the three companies have a similar model , even though Walk me and whatfix may offer demo’s for a certain duration . Iridize is certainly better in terms of thrust and trust coefficient since they offer a free plan which builds ample trust and value add for moving to premium plan for revenue generation ● What are the pros and cons of it ? In terms of revenue model , since all the products are similar . It boils down to which Which company provides a freemium service to the customer to evaluate the product Let me give you an example Company 1 ● A company 1 provides a car service ● Gives you 2 test rides free and then evaluate it for buying the model ● You buy the model ----> But maybe 2 test rides weren’t enough for you Company 2 ● A company 2 also is a car service ● Gives you a base model to drive and test all you want ● You buy the model ----> Based on satisfaction In terms of Company 1 and company 2 , you would prefer company 2 . That is the only edge “Iridize has over walkme and whatfix” in terms of creating a user story and then converting it to recurring revenue ● What is the geographical footprint ? Taking advantage of Google Trends data
- 4. Note : Data for last 12 months ( Worldwide) The red line indicates Walk Me , blue indicates Whatfix , Yellow is Iridize , orange is Toonimo Worldwide presence of Walk me is staggering as currently it is the market leader with dominance in the US as well as Canadian markets ● What is of interest is that in spite of Iridize being in the Market 3 years before Whatfix , whatfix has a growing web Presence in the US ○ This is supported by the Fact that Iridize has been trying to penetrate the US market which is supported by their product expansion features like ■ They built the product more generic unlike Walk me which was more Employee training and CRM oriented ○ Similar with Toonimo Another plot for interest in Subregion Again Walk Me ‘s interest in the US and the Canadian markets is hot . Google trends data ( India)
- 5. In india , Whatfix is a clear leader in terms of Web presence , but Walkme also has a growing presence Whatfix is popular in states of Karnataka , Tamilnadu whereas Walkme has a clear edge in Maharashtra Iridize is yet to show its presence to indian clients In all in all,Walk me leads the Geographical footprint by a clear margin , followed by Whatfix and Iridize in corresponding regions ( India and the UK) ● What is the investor footprint and product placement in terms of USP? Walk me - Walk me started off as a navigation guide tool for CRM , Internal employee Training and success platform. It has raised around 93 million dollar which acts as a significant warchest for it against Competitors . What makes it stand out is because of the time , it had since its launch And consistent focus on specific type of software , its has been successful in breaking The system, adapting to its needs and evolving . Pros: Advanced and Simplistic UI , Better and dumbed down UX and Mobile support Iridize- Iridize started at the same as Walk me . The amount of money they have raised Is undisclosed . In order to stand apart from Walk me , they devised a philosophy of building products Which are multiple platform adaptable . Much more functionality driven , more detailed And have some interesting features like User generated content , heavy control over Look and feel. Pros: Advanced features, very strong customer support , redefinable UI/UX Whatfix : Whatfix started in 2013. The amount of money raised by them is around 5.5
- 6. Million dollars . The first player in the indian ecosystem . They heavily bank on seamless integration , no code support required and simple UI . They are popular in india and gaining their footprint in the US Pros: Simple functionality , better customer support , browser compatibility Module 2 : Functional differentiation ● How is the product placed in terms of features and services offered to the customers ? A good product is always differentiated in the offerings and experience it offers to its Users Let’s look at the product from the footsteps of a User and a firm which is trying to deploy The same and what are the use cases which can be of importance Post that we will check whether each of the three firms are satisfying the use-cases and Which is better among the same Use Cases ( which can be generically thought off ) 1. Within the company a. Employee guided assist for any internal tool such as Sales force , any other CRM b. Guided training modules for any new tool for employees c. Online Customer care assist for any employee assisting a user d. Employee onboarding e. Software implementation 2. Outside the company ( User facing ) a. Website Navigation b. Conversion Rate optimization c. App navigation d. Funnel channelization Now since we have identified the most heuristic use cases let’s check what can be Beneficial support by the product for all the same 1. Step by step text popups - For the user 2. Training and interactive tutorials - for the user
- 7. 3. Audio navigation across the interface - for the user 4. Visual default flows : Guide for the most obvious funnels on the website or App - for the user 5. Multi- language support - for the user 6. Search support bar - for the user 7. UI/UX of interactive guides - for the user 8. User activity tracking - complete history of user actions and analysis based on that - for the firm 9. Simplistic plug and play installation - for the firm 10. Conditional flows ( based on user interaction ) - for the firm 11. Segmentation , reporting and analytics - for the firm 12. API existence - for extracting and computing data - for the firm 13. 3rd party API integrations - Works on tools - for the firm 14. App support and mobile browser support - for the firm 15. A/B testing platform - for the firm 16. Machine learning based automated development of guides - for the firm Features Walkme Whatfix Iridize Comments Step by step text popups Yes . It’s very simple and seamless Yes. Simple but slightly difficult to comprehend for a non tech user Yes . Slightly complex but highly customizable Walk me paves the way here , since it has a simple and more user friendly UI Training and interactive tutorials No. No simple video tutorials to generate and create a guide or how to use one Yes . Interactive guide tutorials using videos ,graphics Yes. Iridize leads the way here Have rich and simple video content to help user overlay the screen Iridize and Whatfix mark a pioneering change here . Video guides are extremely critical to user experience where they are ahead of Walk me Audio navigation across the web/app interface No . A must feature for Walk me No. A must feature for Whatfix No. A must feature for Iridize Toonimo leads the way here , with their recording guides , it become much more simpler to use and navigate when used alongside graphics Multi-language Yes. Yes. Yes. All three act as
- 8. support A very robust Multi-lingual support which with their simple and robust UI acts as a great user experience Whatfix also is very seamless here . Easy to latch and acts as a retentive feature Great support by Iridize too. They have a great content enriching guide setup which supports multi language and multichannel robust tools in terms of the multi channel support feature Search Support Bar Yes. Very lucid and simple widget Yes. Very simple and easy to use Yes. Much more strong as it helps us refine searches by multi filters All three platforms , seems to have adapted to a great search experience UI/UX of descriptive guides ( customizable or not) No. The UI being simplistic is a great factor for usage but it’s not supremely customizable No. Again good UI but a complicated UX .Not customizable to user needs Yes. Okay UI , but a great sense of design . Greatly customizable to a user needs Iridize leads the way here . UI/UX can altogether be redefined to suit a customers needs User activity tracking Yes . ( very basic) Can give user generated feedback and onboarding channels Yes ( very basic) Not very detailed Yes .Extremely detailed . They have devised a User generated engine , which lets you understand user behavior deeply Iridize leads the way here . With the development of their user engine , they can vividly describe user interactions , what a user searched etc Simplistic plug and play installation Yes . Its very seamless and one of the USP of Walk me Yes . Very seamless and again one of the USP of Whatfix No. Slight code level dependency , which may be difficult to adapt initially Walk me and what fix are much better here Conditional flows Yes . Walk me help define user flows Yes. What fix also does the same Yes. Iridize also has the same feature All three have the feature which is a key feature in the products Segmentation, reporting and analytics Yes . Basic segmentation and analytics , but key metrics are strongly adhered too Yes. Basic segmentation and analytics support functionally Yes. Strong reporting engine and analytics support Walk me and Whatfix have supporting analytics engines which are not as detailed and segmented as Iridize
- 9. API existence Yes. Walk me has a API which can be integrated with most 3rd parties for data flow and product functionlity No. Not available with Whatfix Yes. Similar to walk me , has a REST api , which is easily integratable Walk me and Iridize have an edge here over Whatfix 3rd Party API integrations Yes. But limited mostly CRM’s Yes . Limited mostly CRM’s and simpler products Yes. extensive with most products ranging from engineering tools to B2C tools Iridize has a clear edge here App and mobile browser support Yes. Walk me again leads here No. Still in the process to roll out the same Yes. They have app support but mobile browser support is still a question Walk me has a clear edge here, with seamless support over native apps A/B Testing framework Yes. A very good A/B testing framework to check which flows are more effective No. No framework as of now Yes. A very good A/B testing framework to check which flows are more effective Walk me and Iridize have a clear edge here Browser compatibility No . Only firefox support Yes. All native and legacy browsers supported Yes. All native and legacy browsers supported Whatfix and Iridize have a great advantage here as they support legacy applications too Machine learning based automated development of guides Yes ( in development) No. Advanced feature which can be a potential opportunity No. Advanced feature which can be a potential opportunity and threat for competitors New and difficult to implement .Need a strong data engineering and development pipeline Bot support No. Chatbots needs to be refined to suit customizable needs No Chatbots needs to be refined to suit customizable needs No New and difficult to implement .Need a strong data engineering and development pipeline. High level of NLP and refining needed
- 10. Live chat and phone support No Not needed would have been differentiator at early stages No Maybe needed, based on imminent incidents if any Yes Makes the experience much better in terms of customer attentiveness Toonimo is the pioneer here with live chat and support feature which may be operationally heavy but effective The above table is not only a comparitive picture but also closely tells which areas are of improvement and which can be further of opportunity for development In the forthcoming sections i will address each of the areas selectively and in detail and do a SWOT analysis for what wil work for Whatfix and what may be suitable for which stage of growth of the company ● Is there any differentiating feature ? if there are which are those for each of them and based on heuristics which has the most impact ? Let's objectively understand the star features for all the three products and see which Make the product better in terms of adoption and experience Walk Me For Walk me the differentiating feature has always been its UI , Walkme’s self-service editor has a better UX layout. Each call to action has a precise instruction, which makes the overall UX better. Pros : In terms of product maturity , UX and customer support . Walk me would be Slightly superior according to customer reviews across multiple websites and forums Cons: Much higher in terms of price . Newer features such a legacy platform support , Browser compatibility and multi format support will be an issue Differentiating element : Mature product , cleaner UI/UX , much ordained to customized platforms which are complex in operation Whatfix: Whatfix has its own advantages in the domain of portability , swiftness in operation and Multilingual and Multi browser support . In terms of price also they are slightly flexible Pros :Whatfix boasts of a good customer support , Multilingual and browser Compatibility .
- 11. Cons: Less clean UI , takes a while to learn, advanced knowledge is needed to build walkthroughs, no mobile support, average analytic reports. Differentiating element : Simple to start product , plug and play feature is super cool , in spite of being in any time zone customer support is amazing Iridize: Iridize developed a robust product which can be modified to fit different product requirements, combined with a powerful API, which can receive additional features and connect to various external products with very little development costs. Pros : Supports complex products ( pop ups , multi browser tabs ) , even works on Legacy applications , deep user level and customer level reporting Cons: Less clean UI in comparison to walkme , takes time to adjust and understand In comparison to the plug and play of walk me and whatfix . Differentiating element : Much more powerful tool in terms of feature support such as Complete customization of UI/UX , deep complex guides with rich content and heacy 3rd 3rd party API integration Since its a guide product , the UX and implementation are the most sellable features which is why Whatfix and Walk me have more customer integrations and more noise in the ecosystem ● What kind of functional service is a strength for the product and should be adopted as soon as possible ? 1. For Whatfix , its functional strength revolves around its multi browser portability and plug Plug and play feature . It should soon incorporates , better user insights on which it can develop video relays Which are most often used and give better customer pain points insights such as Iridize 2. For Walk me its core strength lies in its plug and play feature ( plugin ) and mature UI . It should soon incorporates , better browser and platform portability and also user insight Through which it can generate relevant analytics metrics and build a smart ML based guide platform 3. For iridize , its core strength is its deep integrations with plethora of products and rich
- 12. Guide content . Also its user analytics engine is also helpful for generating pain points and Points of action It should develop a cleaner UI and a plug and play feature for easy and early adoption . Also it should work on systematically improving its UX for becoming easy to understand for non tech users ● And lastly what type and why should a customer buy from you ? Based on the above analysis ● Walk Me : ○ In case of a customized complex CRM tool , which is generally used by not -tech savvy people for manual transactional work ○ Its customer support is deeply built to improve assembly line functional efficiency ○ It can also be a great web navigation platform because of its UI which is very clean and simple ○ Traditionally used for Big corps where customer success and onboarding is a big chunk of their bandwidth ● Whatfix ○ Whatfix seems like a pretty good tool for website navigation and guide ○ Its great customer support and clean UI helps the user to onboard very easily ○ Recommended for traditionally difficult to navigate websites and small onboarding and training orgs ● Iridize ○ Iridize specializes in orgs which have deep complex products and API integrations ○ Where detailed data understanding and behavioral understanding is a must. ○ Where user specific content and guides can be tweaked for different versions of the product ○ Traditionally will support large and medium scale enterprises Module 3 : Actual Product Usage Experience
- 13. ● How are the user experiences of the Products different ? In terms of User experience , I will demonstrate a very simple step by step example Comparing what fix with Iridize describing the experiencer as a user Note : I am sure you must have seen and did user testing on Whatfix as well as Iridize , I am just trying to highlight where what fix does well and where iridize does ok Whatfix Step 1 Click on the + button on the top right of chrome browser. A very simple step indeed after installing the plug in . Step 2
- 14. You give a name to the flow , where the user remains on the same page and hence no tab movement in terms of UX which is good. You name the flow and minimize it Step 3 : You click on “ Add step “ . Which is again on the same page . This is again a much cleaner UX step , the user is not made to move from one screen to another or their is no pop up screen which covers the interface area.
- 15. Again cleanliness maintained ! Step 4 : Guide the step and click add step . As simple as that . No questions asked Step 5 : Expand and publish . So simple
- 16. The best part here is you as a user are never made to leave the interface window on which you are making the flow . Also its very simple to add steps Your step adding window is never covering you interface arena . Also because the plugin is relatively simple, its very quick in action and reaction Iridize Step 1 As a user clicks on the grey button besides the Whatfix plugin , he is straightaway moved to a different window to define his project . This may or maynot be useful ● Useful in the case when you have to provide an alternate link or interface on which you make a guide ● Not useful because if you are on the same window , its a redundant task to name a new task flow and then give the link of the same window to start the flow Step 2
- 17. The launch time for the iridize app is much higher , which remarks on the complexity of the app and hence a bad UX for the user Step 3
- 18. Unlike Whatfix , the iridize app covers a considerable portion of the flow window , which is again a bad UX . Step 4 So in order to add a step to the flow . There are 2 aspects of it You click on a selection , you have to click on the select hover which just appears below it to add it to a step If the user by mistake clicks on the actual button , it will do the action of the click. Now this is bad UX again ● Since by default the natural tendency of a user is to just click and assume that it’s a flow selection not a default one ( will explain it more on call) ● Whatfix has ensured that doesn't happen in the selection timeline which is better UX The positive side of Iridize here is that on selection of a click it will auto suggest you on the basis of the selection whether it's a scroll or a click .This is super helpful as i can easily filter on which elements were clicked most and what was the most helpful in terms of analytics Thus better analytics of a user level Step 5
- 19. Click on preview and TaDa you see the Iridize preview . Iridize is a slightly complicated app and needs getting used too , but has some really interesting features and analytics ● What are the pros and cons of each ? Whatfix - Much cleaner UI , simpler UX - user adjusts very easily to it . Less options in terms of filters and labeling flows , not auto-capture option All in all a very easy to Plug and play as all the user reviews pointed . Any org if has to start and work quickly without worrying about detailed analysis can quickly pick this tool and work on the same Iridize - Very complicated UI , Difficult UX , in depth features like auto suggest inflows , auto capture . Useful for detailed analysis but very bad and bland UX in comparison to Whatfix ● Which product is the most user friendly ? WHATFIX anyday !
- 20. Note : I could not do a user test of Walk me because , it did not allow me to get in touch with the trial version. I would have loved to do that Module 4 : Go To Market and pricing differentiation ● How is the product go to market and pricing strategy ? How is it in comparison to the competitors ? Walk me ● Walk me uses a predictive scoring model to validate all its leads .As discussed by its sales head , they use a inferential score to predict the conversion of the lead ● The score helps them weed out the irrelevant leads and check the channel which is most effective for bringing the lead in. The channels are ○ Facebook ○ Tech conferences ○ E-Commerce conferences ○ Tech stack workshops ● Its GTM differs from other competitors is by virtue of its demo on a client CRM and Testimonials . ● A lot of conferences feature a client speaking in praise of Walk me Pricing strategy ● The pricing strategy is very simple. Since they are the market leaders , they either sell licences which are ○ Number of users based ( clearly they are in awe of the product so as number of users increase so does the license cost) ○ Step based , for 100 users maybe 100 dollars and similar Iridize : ● Iridize uses facebook as major channel for its GTM . ○ Youtube channel ○ Google ads ○ Tech conferences like CES ● Offers customized support and better features ○ They sell to client which have complicated deep products where UI / UX is not a challenge Pricing strategy ● Their strategy is based on a freemium model
- 21. ○ First win the trust by offering a free version with limited functionalities ○ The move to advanced version , where the user is charged by number of consumers of the Software Whatfix : ● What i traditionally understand.The GTM has to be the same as Walk me and Iridize but with a twist that whatfix might allow the full version of the software for free first to all the interested clients ● They do the same at ○ Facebook ○ Youtube ○ Tech conferences ○ E commerce conferences Pricing strategy ● The strategy is pretty simple ○ Charge lower than the market leader with relatively simple UI and awesome UX . ○ Give better features and once you own a client's trust can charge him more for a more premium version Note : This is my understanding of the strategy , may or maynot be true . Based on preliminary findings ● Strengths and weaknesses of GTM and pricing strategies ? Strategies Walk me Whatfix Iridize GTM Much better way of segregation , since based on predictive scoring . Being market leaders can afford to push client to speak in favor of them and hence better Normal way of GTM . At large conference , no lead prediction structure Like WALK ME . the GTM has to bank on a lower price strategy till customers trust is earned Offer a trial freemium version . Earn trust of client and then to paid version Pricing Very robust strategy , charge by usage , which speaks volumes about their trust in their product and hence better equipped for them Lower prices charger as compared to Walk me , as better product earns client . Clients are upscaled to premium version Since product is complicated , a trial ensures faith and again pricing based on usage, which again is good as client feel equipped with the usage of product
- 22. ● Description of opportunities where Whatfix can beat both of them ? As whatfix evolves , becoming more robust in product features .Its GTM should Revolve around metrics such as ● How new feature did conversion rate optimization by x bps ● Or how our new predictive score brought customer success up by 70% Since Both Walk me market products rather than features , their GTM is very High level . This makes their client first use the product and then develop a perception Around it . Whatfix can take this opportunity to make a GTM around features , build a Perception of having outperforming features and then woo clients by the same Such that they move from a old product to something which sounds interesting to them Module 5: Suggested Changes in product pitch ,acquisition ,design and features( trying to come with ideative features which can be helpful and scalable) Future ideas - which i think can help in growth ● Machine learning based input can help us identify and better predict pain points ○ Data capture at every step with better classification can help us find and rank better user flows on a website or tool ○ ML modelling can also Whatfix what step a user is about to pick and suggest recommendation based on data that this is what next you would have to do ○ Also ML can help the user generate effective content while creation . This will make the user guides more effective and friendly ● AI bots can be made based on content and help us evolve from a guide to a virtual bot thats helps the user by giving a Voice + action output ○ The content can also be moved from being a text specific guides or any content oriented guide to an AI Bot ○ The Bot will deduce and spring actions based on user time span on the interface ○ This will be like voice and action assisted feedback as done by Toonimo but more automated and user friendly ● Self guiding UI , that activates according to the activity of a User ○ User spends more than a particular time on a page and it understands and opens the guide
- 23. ○ Also like Iridize can suggest what element of the page should be classified as what . This will help in better analytics and modularizing the traffic channels , understanding what action points are the most poignant ● Evolve as an intelligent search guide too ○ Over time with the help of ML and AI , we can incorporate code which will spring better search suggestion based on user requirement ■ Like on Amazon if a user wants to search a particular shoe ,he can type in the Whatfix search box ■ The search box searches the results based on database of similar searches done by user in its search box and then throws the most optimal keyword or navigation to reach the shoe category There can also be better suggestions to work on , but with the limitation of access ,in terms of tools and requirements . I am noting the most obvious ones which are there