Update existing FOLA 'Competitive Audit' Research

[GigiUxR]

Overview: We do not have a perspective on positioning FOLA in the current "market". To do this, we need to renew our understanding of our "competitors'" strengths and weaknesses in comparison to FOLA's and possibly identify a gap in the community we may fill. (Please note the term "competitors" is not accurate, and rather the organizations we are reviewing are to be considered as collaborators and counterparts in serving the food insecure populations in LA county.

Action Items:

• [ ] Obtain a list of possible features and functions from @GigiUxR
• [ ] Schedule a discussion with relevant stakeholders

• [ ] Define the scope of our "market" to help identify competitors
• [ ] Identify variables of interest (functions, features, etc.)

• [ ] Finalize a research plan on shared drive
• [ ] Complete the competitive analysis sheet
• [ ] Schedule and Present the Competitive Analysis

Related issues:

#118 , #119, #120, #121, #122, #124, #128, #129, #130, #131, #132, #145, #147,

[staceyrebekahscott]

@GigiUxR Adding this to the Prioritized Backlog column.

[fancyham]

Hi, adding this useful page with some what and whys for competitive analysis:

https://medium.com/user-research/competitive-analysis-b02daf26a96e

Copy/pasting here for easy reference:

A competitive analysis is a way to collect and compare data about products (and companies) in the marketplace. This method is often used to highlight strengths and weaknesses of products in order to make more informed decisions about your product strategy. A typical competitive analysis might include information, such as:

1. An overview of the product landscape (products, companies, prices, market share, etc.)
2. User demographics
3. Lists of product features
4. Social media presence (followers, posts, etc.)
5. Evaluation of visual design language
6. Voice, language, and content

Use To:

• Understand the general landscape in which your product will compete
• Compare your product’s unique qualities against the competition
• Identify possible user types
• Compare visual and language styles

Dont Forget:

• A competitive analysis tells you what exists, not why it exists. For example, you might have a long feature list, but you won’t know which features users value and use the most.
• Be thorough in your list and include direct AND indirect competitors.
• Don’t let it go stale. It should be a living document that updates as the market changes to include new competitors.
• Supplement your analysis with primary research. For example, conduct research with target users who currently use other products to determine what products they use and why.

Go to article for additional links with instructions…https://medium.com/user-research/competitive-analysis-b02daf26a96e

[fancyham]

Adding a site that I came across that had some interesting features:

Note the filtering https://phillyfoodfinder.org

also a 'what do I qualify for' page (it could be better but it's a nice start) https://phillyfoodfinder.org/guide/programs/

Might not need a full audit but I think it's worth noting interesting features that seem helpful, especially if there's a pattern across multiple sites, then we might glean why it's in so many places.

[fancyham]

Something to add to the matrix: How easy is it to add a listing How easy is it to suggest a correction to a listing

[GigiUxR]

Can you add in these variables?

1."Impact metrics" (What do they talk about when they mention their impact? meals served? partnerships created? events held? dollars saved?)

2."Target audience(s)" (E.g., They may have sections/pages for different audiences like donors. And/or they may mention senior and children as the people they are helping..)

3.Website visitors count Do they mention anywhere how many people are using their site? if so, how about new users?

[fancyham]

Can I suggest color coding - check out Google sheet’s data > conditional formatting > set it to colorize ‘yes’ and ‘no’ hits, perhaps bold for yes, also

[fancyham]

Added some comments to the spreadsheet — please do make adjustments as it makes sense. The overall goal is to better understand and communicate to others what other sites are doing, so feel free to make adjustments. Also feel free to ask others for inputs for things they’d want to know — product managers, designers, tech, etc (you can use the slack channels to ask there) — or even recruit them to help fill it out or the parts they’re interested in. For example, tech folks might want to know that they could evaluate easily, but would be very difficult for you to figure out.

Good job with what you’ve done so far!

[entrotech]

@GigiUxR asked for suggestions of additional sites that are either

• In the LA Area, or
• Very nice implementations of food finder sites that have features we could consider emulating.

Here are some to get you started:

In LA: https://211la.org/food-resources https://www.lafoodbank.org/find-food/pantry-locator/ https://www.foodpantries.org/ci/ca-los_angeles https://oclawin.org/find-help/win-app-online/ https://www.lapl.org/homeless-resources-food https://www.1degree.org/ https://geohub.lacity.org/datasets/lacounty::food-assistance/explore https://controllerdata.lacity.org/dataset/Food-Resources-in-California/v2mg-qsxf

Outside LA: https://getfood.refb.org/ https://foodfinder.oregonfoodbank.org/locations https://www.shfb.org/get-food/ https://211oc.org/content/Food.html Ventura County: https://foodshare.com/emergency-food-box/ (Can download a mobile app or PDF listing of pantries)

This lists all the Food BANKS in the Feeding America Network https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank - many of the food banks have their own food finder page in their web site, so this is useful to find many examples of food finder implementations - the only on in LA County is the LA Regional Food Bank.

[GigiUxR]

Can you add in the variables

1. “Impact metrics” (What do they talk about when they mention their impact? meals served? partnerships created? events held? Dollars saved?)

2. “Target audience(s)” (E.g., They may have sections/pages for different audiences like donors. And/or they may mention senior and children as the people they are helping..)

3. Website visitors count Do they mention anywhere how many people are using their site? if so, how about new users?

4. Partners / affiliations mentioned

[ShruthiVen28]

This is looking great! @GigiUxR @bhumi-p Potential variables to add that would be of interest to the Content team:

• Instead of just a yes/no for social media account, the kinds of accounts they have will be useful for our content strategy: LinkedIn/FB/Instagram/Twitter
• If they have separate static pages for different users (food seekers/donors/partners)
• Under “PR Success stories” do they feature -Voices of the food organizers?
  • Voices of the food seekers?

Thank you!