Competitor benchmarking survey questions ask customers to rate your brand and your rivals on the same scales. That gives you a fair, side-by-side view of where you win and where you lose.
Your own feedback data tells you how customers feel about you. It cannot tell you whether a 7 out of 10 is good for your market. Comparative ratings answer that, and they show which gaps actually cost you customers.
In this guide, we’ll share 50 ready-to-use questions, a method for running the survey, and the formulas that turn answers into decisions.
What are competitor benchmarking survey questions?
Competitor benchmarking survey questions are standardized questions that ask the same respondents to evaluate your brand and named competitors on identical attributes and scales. They turn opinions into comparable scores.
Benchmarking means comparing your performance against a reference point, such as a rival or an industry average. In a survey, that reference point is customer perception.
A well-built benchmarking survey measures six things:
- Brand awareness and consideration
- Product quality and feature strength
- Price and value for money
- Customer support and ease of use
- Loyalty, advocacy and switching intent
- Overall brand image
Competitor benchmarking vs competitive analysis vs brand tracking
These terms overlap, and teams often use them as if they meant the same thing. They do not.
Competitor research mostly studies public sources such as websites, pricing pages and reviews. A brand tracking study measures your brand’s health repeatedly over time. A benchmarking survey sits between them and asks real customers to compare brands directly.
| Term | What it measures | Main data source | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor benchmarking survey | Customer ratings of you and rivals on the same scales | Primary survey data | Finding perception gaps |
| Competitive analysis | Rival strategy, pricing and positioning | Desk research and reviews | Understanding what rivals do |
| Brand tracking | Your brand’s awareness and image over time | Repeated surveys | Spotting trends |
| Competitive intelligence | Rival moves, launches and hiring signals | Public and market sources | Early warnings |
How to choose which competitors to benchmark
Pick the brands your customers actually compare you with, not the ones your leadership team worries about most. A benchmark that includes the wrong rivals produces confident but useless numbers.
Use these four groups to build a shortlist:
- Direct competitors: Same product, same buyer, same price band.
- Indirect competitors: A different product that solves the same problem.
- Aspirational leaders: The brand your customers use as the standard.
- Emerging disruptors: Newer entrants that win your churned customers.
Keep the list to three to five brands. Each extra brand adds questions per respondent, and survey fatigue lowers answer quality quickly. Check win and loss notes from your sales team to confirm the list.
Step-by-step guide to running a competitor benchmarking survey
A benchmarking survey works best when you decide what you will do with the results before you write a single question. Follow these six steps.
- Define the decision.
Write down the choice the data will inform, such as a pricing change or a messaging shift. - Select the competitors.
Use the shortlist from the previous section. - Choose the audience.
Survey category buyers, not only your own customers. Include your customers, rivals’ customers and prospects so you can compare groups. - Build one questionnaire.
Use the same questions, scales and answer order for every brand. - Field with quotas.
Aim for at least 100 respondents per brand evaluated. Plan for 300 or more if you want to split results by segment. - Analyze and act.
Score each brand, compare the gaps, and assign an owner to each finding.
Keep the survey under 10 minutes. Let each respondent rate only the brands they know or have used.
Screening and awareness questions to ask first
Screening and awareness questions confirm that respondents belong to your market and know the brands you plan to compare. They protect the rest of the survey from noise.
These five questions come before the 50 below:
- S1. Which of these categories have you bought from in the past 12 months?
- S2. When you think of [category], which brands come to mind first? (open text, unprompted)
- S3. Which of these brands have you heard of? (multiple choice, prompted)
- S4. Which of these brands have you used in the past 6 months?
- S5. Which of these brands would you consider for your next purchase?
Unprompted recall shows which brand owns the category in memory. Prompted recognition shows how far your reach extends once people see the name.
50 competitor benchmarking survey questions
The questions below are grouped into eight areas. Use a 5-point or 7-point scale for rating questions, and keep the scale identical for every brand. Replace [Brand] with each company in your comparison set.
Product quality questions
Product quality questions show whether customers see a real performance gap or only a marketing gap.
- How would you rate the overall quality of [Brand]’s product or service?
- How reliable is [Brand] in delivering what it promises?
- How consistent is the quality of [Brand] from one purchase to the next?
- How well does [Brand] meet your needs compared with other options you have tried?
- How would you rate the durability or long-term performance of [Brand]?
- How often does [Brand] have problems that you must fix or report?
- What is the one thing [Brand] does better than any other brand in this category?
Ease of use questions
| No. | Question | Suggested scale |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | How easy is it to get started with [Brand]? | Very difficult to very easy |
| 9 | How easy is it to complete your main task with [Brand]? | Very difficult to very easy |
| 10 | How intuitive is [Brand]’s website, app or packaging? | Not at all to extremely |
| 11 | How much effort does it take to solve a problem with [Brand]? | Very high to very low |
| 12 | How would you compare [Brand]’s ease of use with its closest rival? | Much worse to much better |
Pricing fairness questions
Pricing questions separate “too expensive” from “not worth it”. Those are different problems with different fixes. For wording on perceived worth, see this guide to perceived value.
- Q13. How fair is the price of [Brand] for what you receive?
- Q14. How would you rate the value for money of [Brand]?
- Q15. Compared with other brands, is [Brand] cheaper, about the same, or more expensive?
- Q16. How clear and transparent is [Brand]’s pricing?
- Q17. How often do you run into fees or charges you did not expect with [Brand]?
- Q18. At what price would [Brand] become too expensive for you to consider?
- Q19. What would make you pay more for [Brand]?
Customer support questions
- How satisfied are you with the support you get from [Brand]?
- How quickly does [Brand] respond when you contact it?
- How often does [Brand] resolve your issue on the first contact?
- How knowledgeable and polite are [Brand]’s support staff?
- How easy is it to reach a real person at [Brand]?
- Across every customer touchpoint, where has [Brand] let you down most?
Loyalty intention questions
Loyalty questions reveal how secure each brand’s customer base is. A loyal customer is one who keeps choosing a brand even when alternatives exist.
| No. | Question | Suggested scale |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | How likely are you to buy from [Brand] again? | Very unlikely to very likely |
| 27 | How likely are you to buy more from [Brand] in the next year? | Very unlikely to very likely |
| 28 | How likely are you to switch from [Brand] to a competitor in the next 12 months? | Very unlikely to very likely |
| 29 | Which brand would you switch to, and why? | Single choice plus open text |
| 30 | What would make you stop using [Brand]? | Open text |
| 31 | How long have you used [Brand]? | Time ranges |
Recommendation likelihood questions
- On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [Brand] to a friend or colleague?
- What is the main reason for the score you gave [Brand]?
- Have you recommended [Brand] to anyone in the past 6 months?
- Have you advised anyone against using [Brand]?
- How would you describe [Brand] to a friend in one sentence?
- Which brand in this category would you recommend first?
Perception rating questions
Perception questions capture the image behind the numbers. Use a matrix question so respondents rate every brand on the same attributes. For deeper context on how people form these views, read about customer perception.
- Q38. Rate each brand on trustworthiness.
- Q39. Rate each brand on innovation.
- Q40. Rate each brand on being a good fit for people like you.
- Q41. Rate each brand on reputation among people you know.
- Q42. Which three words best describe [Brand]?
- Q43. Which brand do you feel most positive about overall?
Feature comparison questions
- Which features of [Brand] matter most to you? (ranking)
- How well does [Brand] deliver on each of those features?
- Which feature does a competitor offer that [Brand] lacks?
- Which feature of [Brand] would you miss most if it disappeared?
- How satisfied are you with the range of options [Brand] offers?
- Which brand has the best [feature] in this category?
- What one improvement would make [Brand] your first choice?
Which question types and scales work best
The right question type depends on what you need to compare. Mixing types gives you numbers for the dashboard and language for the strategy deck.
| Question type | Best for | Example use |
|---|---|---|
| Matrix (grid) | Rating several brands on the same attributes | Q38 to Q41 |
| Rating scale | Satisfaction, ease and value scores | Q1, Q8, Q14 |
| 0 to 10 scale | Net Promoter Score (NPS) | Q32 |
| Ranking | Feature importance | Q44 |
| Single choice | Brand preference and switching | Q29, Q43 |
| Open text | Reasons behind the scores | Q30, Q33, Q50 |
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is the share of promoters (scores 9 to 10) minus the share of detractors (scores 0 to 6).
How to keep competitor benchmarking questions unbiased
Bias is the biggest threat to a benchmarking survey, because respondents tend to favor the brand they know best. A few design choices reduce the effect. The guide on how to avoid survey bias covers the wider set of risks.
- Randomize brand order so no brand always appears first.
- Use neutral wording with no adjectives that praise or criticize a brand.
- Add a “no experience” option so people do not guess about brands they have never used.
- Hide the sponsor for perception questions, so respondents do not rate you more kindly.
- Screen out insiders such as employees of any brand in the comparison.
- Pilot test with 10 to 20 people to catch confusing wording.
How to measure and compare the results
Raw averages hide the story. Compare brands with a small set of formulas, then rank the gaps by how much they affect revenue.
| Metric | How to calculate it | What a gap tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Relative NPS | Your NPS minus the rival’s NPS | Whether advocacy is stronger or weaker than the rival’s |
| Top-2-box score | Share of respondents choosing the top two scale points | Satisfaction leadership |
| Awareness-to-consideration rate | Share who consider a brand divided by share who know it | How well the brand converts attention |
| Share of preference | Share naming a brand as first choice | Real competitive position |
| Price-value gap | Your value rating minus the rival’s value rating | Whether price or worth drives the issue |
| Switching ratio | People who would move from you to a rival, divided by people who would move the other way | Customer base security |
Always compare against fair context. Average NPS differs widely by sector. Retently’s 2026 benchmark shows financial services near 68, B2B software near 41 and healthcare near 37, so a score of 40 means different things in each. See also these NPS benchmarks by industry.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index is another reference. It publishes satisfaction scores for brands across several US industries and can add an outside check to your own results.
An example of a benchmarking survey in action
The example below is hypothetical, but it shows how the numbers lead to action.
A regional US bank surveys 600 local category buyers. It compares itself with two large national banks and one digital-only bank. Each respondent rates only the brands they have used.
The results show a mixed picture:
- The bank’s NPS is 31. The digital bank scores 38 and a national bank scores 22.
- Top-2-box ease of use is 71% for the bank and 82% for the digital bank.
- Fee fairness is 54% for the bank and 61% for the best rival.
Open-text answers explain the ease-of-use gap. Customers describe slow mobile login. The bank fixes login first, then reviews its fee communication. A follow-up survey six months later measures whether the gap closes.
Common mistakes when running competitor benchmarking surveys
Most failed benchmarks share a handful of avoidable errors. Check your plan against this list before you launch.
- Asking only your own customers, which skews every score toward you.
- Using different scales for different brands.
- Including too many competitors, which tires respondents.
- Writing leading questions that praise your brand.
- Running the survey once and treating it as a permanent truth.
- Ignoring open-text answers, which hold the reasons behind each gap.
- Benchmarking everything instead of the few attributes that drive choice.
- Skipping segment splits, so a gap in one customer group disappears in the average.
How QuestionPro supports competitor benchmarking surveys
Running the same questionnaire across several brands creates a lot of repeated structure. QuestionPro’s research software handles that work in one place.
- Matrix and ranking questions let respondents rate every brand on the same attributes.
- Randomization keeps brand order fair.
- Dashboards filter results by brand, segment and question, so you can read a relative NPS gap quickly.
- Text analysis groups open-ended answers into themes, such as slow login or hidden fees.
- QuestionPro AI can help draft question wording from your research goal, which you then review and edit.
Benchmarks work best when they change a decision
A benchmarking survey is only as valuable as the action it triggers. The goal is not a prettier scorecard. It is a clear answer to a business question, such as where to invest, what to fix and which claim to stop making.
Start small with these three moves:
- Pick three rivals and ask a short set of questions from the list above.
- Fix the single biggest gap first.
- Repeat the survey on a schedule to see whether perception moved.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Include three to five brands. Fewer than three limits comparison value. More than five increases survey length, fatigue and drop-off. Choose rivals your customers genuinely compare, using sales win and loss notes, search overlap and switching data.
For perception and awareness questions, keep the sponsor hidden to avoid favorable ratings. Reveal it only when surveying your own customers about service or follow-up. A blind survey gives a more honest read on market position.
Run it once a year for stable markets and quarterly for fast-moving ones. Repeat it after a major launch, price change or campaign. Use identical questions each time, so changes reflect real movement and not wording differences.
Use an opted-in research panel and screen for category buyers. Do not contact a rival’s customer list, and never mislead respondents about who runs the survey. Follow US consent and privacy rules, and check with your legal team.
Yes. AI text analysis can group thousands of comments into themes, tag sentiment and show which competitor each theme mentions. A researcher should still review the themes and sample raw comments, so context and nuance are not lost.
