David Randall PhD 👋
A Passionate User Research Specialist with 15 years of Experience conducting research in academia and business.
Competitor Analysis
Overview
During a summer internship at Amazon Web Services, I led an in-depth research project combining lab studies and a multi-week diary study. The project focused on a comparative analysis between a specific AWS service and a Digital Ocean - a key competitor in the same space.
Due to signing an NDA, not all details of the project can be shown.
Client:
Amazon Web Services
Advised by:
Rob Farrow - Sr. UX Researcher
Time Frame:
June - August 2015
Tools:
Microsoft Office, Opening Meeting, Usability Lab
Competitor Analysis
As part of a broader review commissioned by senior Amazon leadership, I was tasked with investigating the features and user experience of a leading competitor to a specific AWS product.
Objective:
- 🎯 Identify usability issues, pain points, and opportunities for improvement in the AWS service compared to a key competitor.
- 🎯 Discover areas where AWS outperforms the competitor and explore how those strengths can be further leveraged.
Process:
- ⚙️ Collaborated with a third-party vendor to recruit 12 participants with relevant domain knowledge but no prior experience using the target services.
- ⚙️ Conducted 90-minute lab sessions covering onboarding on each platform.
- ⚙️ Designed and administered a multi-week diary study, requiring participants to complete specific tasks and log usage in a structured Word-based diary.
- ⚙️ Collected weekly diary updates and conducted rolling analysis to track insights and emerging patterns.
- ⚙️ Compiled preliminary findings to inform follow-up interviews and conducted final interviews to exploring usage behaviours and diary responses in greater depth.
Challenges:
- 🧩 Recruitment was difficult due to strict participant criteria, requiring support from an external vendor.
- 🧩 Managing the scale of the study — including 12 lab sessions in a week, diary administration, and ongoing analysis — was demanding.
- 🧩 Coordinating diaries, interviews, and participant communications was complex, yet only one participant dropped out mid-study.
Results/Conclusion:
The study generated a rich dataset from lab sessions, diary studies, and follow-up interviews, which I synthesised into a detailed report highlighting both the competitor’s advantages and areas where AWS was ahead. Given the unusually large scope and duration of the project — running over several months — expectations from both my team and senior AWS management were high. With significant effort, I delivered a well-received report that provided actionable insights for product teams and leadership, supporting efforts to strengthen AWS’s position in this competitive space.
