Comparison gives us insight into what works and what doesn’t work for us.

Think about it: every time you are out shopping, you have to compare what you put in your basket to other products on the shelves, right? This is especially true if it’s a product you have never used before. You likely look at the costs, value, durability, and ingredients, until you find a product that’s best for you. This is the same concept that comparison pages use. 

In this guide, we will show you how to make comparison pages work in your favor. Whether you are a SaaS founder, product marketing manager, SEO expert, or leader in competitive intelligence, we’ll explain all the basics of a comparison page. You’ll understand its purpose, history in advertising, evolution, and impact on companies and consumers. 

We’ll also point out which page characteristics are most effective and the page’s importance in sales and marketing. Let’s dive in!

What Is The Purpose of A Comparison Page?

First things first, what really is a comparison page?

A comparison page compares two products in an approach that makes it easy for people to understand the differences between two products or services. It also allows you and your users to see how your services or goods are superior to those offered by competitors.

Comparison pages are the best way to showcase your product. After all, even when you spend hours convincing your customers of how great your products are, they will still check out your competitors. Everyone has to do their homework. 

The best strategy is to allow customers to come running after your products by expounding on your products’ virtues. And this is where competitive comparison pages come in. While comparing which brands to choose from, your prospects will be overwhelmed. Giving them a comparison page will ease their buying process…and boost your company’s sales (Win-Win). 

Knowing how you compare to competitors in all key business areas is vital to discovering your weak points. It also helps you understand your strengths and can position your product to stand out from the competition and therefore gives you a cutting edge over your competitors. Now, who does not want that? 

Keep in mind that B2B buyers spend almost 70% of their time researching before contacting a company to purchase a product. So here are the reasons why you should take up comparative page advertising:

• Comparison pages increase your brand’s visibility. There’s no denying that competitive advertising can get people’s attention, especially if your brand isn’t famous and you’re comparing it to an established brand. A classic technique for this kind of advertising is to use the market share of a well-known brand to draw attention to yourself.
• Once you are known, you will increase the number of people who buy from your brand. After all, the primary purpose of advertising is to improve sales or conversions, what better way than using comparisons? Comparative commercials can also strengthen previous relations with existing consumers and persuade your competitors’ customers to consider switching.

• Comparing products and services in the marketplace encourages healthy competition.
• Comparison pages help customers make better, more informed decisions.
• The visual nature of comparison pages tends to draw more attention. 
• Criticism pushes brands to produce only the best products which are highly beneficial to consumers.
• Since comparative advertising is informative, they yield positive results for most businesses. In fact, at least 51% of consumersdislike uninformative ads.
• Comparative advertising boosts product development and innovation, leading to reduced prices in the marketplace.

Nope! Comparison pages do not promote your competitors. Your prospects are already familiar with other companies. Therefore you will not be spilling any secrets. But, let’s face it. It’s hard to compare without mentioning the other target’s name. However, that can be as far as you go. Avoid putting up their logos and reserve all that good stuff to yourself.

What Is The Historical Use Of Comparison Pages In Advertising?

When correctly done, comparison pages can persuade consumers to choose your brand instantly over another. On the other hand, if done carelessly, businesses can find themselves repelling customers rather than attracting them. So how did comparison pages in advertising begin? 

Before the 1970s, comparative advertising was considered impossible due to the risks involved, such as misidentification, legal concerns, and even public sympathy for victimized competitors. The Federal Trade Commission began encouraging advertisers to compare themselves to identified competitors in 1972, with the broad public welfare goal of promoting more informational advertising. 

The Federal Trade Commission explained that this advertising might encourage comparison shopping, product development, and innovation and nurture a healthy competitive atmosphere. Since 1960, comparative advertising has expanded.

Comparison Pages Evolution

Comparison advertising has grown in popularity over the years. Various types of comparative advertising have developed, including:

• Comparing a single attribute
• Comparing an attribute that is unique to the target but absent from the competitor 
• Comparing attributes unique to each brand. 

Among the factors contributing to comparative page advertising effectiveness is its credibility, involvement, and convenience of the evaluation process provided by spoon-feeding consumers with suitable information.

Comparative advertising is sometimes packed with negativity, but has evolved since then. Good comparison pages today attack the problem, not the competitor’s product.

How Do Comparison Pages Impact Companies?

Comparative advertising has been successful in companies like The National Australia Bank (NAB). Its campaign was a huge success, earning it a Cannes Lion and a significant boost in consumer interest.

Another company is Apple Inc., a globally renowned company. Apple has successfully used its Mac vs. PC advertising as part of its marketing efforts to spike its market share throughout the years through the campaign.

Such businesses demonstrate the perception that comparison advertising is more effective when used by well-known brands, which is justified by the weight of their credibility and attention that goes with a popular brand. BMW vs. Mercedes and Popeyes vs. Chick-fil-A are the other two famous cases. 

Again, it would be best to carry out comparative advertising with detailed attention. This follows the uniqueness of the concept, which influences the efficacy of campaigns in companies. 

How Do Comparison Pages Impact Consumers?

Consumers generally prefer to use comparison pages over browsing the websites of different companies because CPs list costs in one location. As a result, price comparison pages are universally perceived to serve the interests of consumers.

Before the internet, consumers had to pay an arm and a leg to compare rates from different companies. Now, the significance of price comparison pages is as plain as day. Even though firms and service providers have their websites, consumers can find pricing in a few clicks from comparison pages. However, some websites still offer price options on their pages. 

Which Characteristics of Comparison Pages Are Most Effective?

Here are some tips that you can use to ensure your marketing is a success. 

1. Use of SEO 

For starters, a competitive comparison page is incomplete without SEO. For those unfamiliar with it, SEO is a digital marketing strategy that helps your website to become more visible in search engines such as Google or Bing.

Consider your landing page’s keywords carefully and ask yourself, What would someone be looking for if they wanted to compare us to Nivea, for instance. Google search predictions can assist you in developing the ideal language for your landing page to rank higher on search pages than your competitors.

You may not think much of the title initially, but it will effectively attract new clients to your website and increase its visibility. This is one of the most significant steps in the right direction, especially when attracting visitors and then closing deals.

2. A Well-Dressed up Page

Your page needs to look attractive. Its outer beauty is as necessary as its inner beauty. So, make it come alive with charts, screenshots, pictures, and other graphics. Infographics have also become increasingly popular because they convey much in a document, making the data easily digestible and appealing. 

Visuals showcase your professionalism while promoting your brand’s personality. After all, pictures are worth a thousand words. You can further spice it up with some videos. Through this, you will establish confidence and engagement in your brand.

3. A Great Format

The formatting on your comparison page should be clear and straightforward. Refrain from putting unnecessary details in your comparison table to avoid confusing your customers. Put skimmable content that is also easy to read. For starters, you can include the following:

• Bullet points to split features.
• A brief and precise description.
• Put related elements first, followed by unique and exclusive parts of the products.
• Know what is most important to your consumers. Determine what they need and why they will benefit from the purchase. Remember that the decision-making factors differ from audience to audience.
• Put product evaluations, ratings, and guarantees.
• Highlight how an item outperforms its competitor when comparing two similar products from different brands.

Ensure the comparison page is scannable, so users can see which products are similar and how they are different. Sticking to typical layouts and designs, including row labels on the left, column labels above, and different options within the columns, can help you accomplish this. Align the text consistently within each column.

You should limit your text to each item’s essential points and characteristics by using phrases or single words whenever possible.

It is also advisable to color-code the table to make it scannable. You can select different colors for the columns’ backgrounds and the cell inscriptions. Moreover, maintain a consistent contrast level so that text reading is not affected.

Are Comparison Pages Necessary?

Marketing is the engine behind many businesses. Here’s why comparison pages are vital in a marketing road map:

1. When you include an excellent comparison page plan that targets specific client populations in your marketing road map, it will ease your follow-up to the promises you’ve made in your content.
2. Comparison pages are where customers will mainly flock in to make purchases. Here you can deliver a promise, such as a discount, special offer, demo, or voucher, in exchange for something from the users, mostly their email addresses. Therefore, with a crystal clear marketing road map, you’ll easily convert a visitor into a buyer.
3. Companies using comparison pages in their marketing strategy have a higher conversion rate. These pages raise the profitability of a marketing campaign by directly increasing sales especially if you have complete control of the links in your advertisement.
4. Comparison pages in Google Ads for Search Engine Marketing (SEM) make it easier to target keywords. Ideally, you’ll have a comparison page for each ad group that doesn’t contain many keywords, to begin with. Keep in mind that Google Advertising is optimized when the ads, keywords, and comparison page sites sync. The ad ranks and scores will improve in exchange, resulting in a lower ad cost eventually.
5. To drive organic traffic through SEO. Overall, SEO could reduce the cost of planned marketing activities. Comparison pages and their content could be evaluated with bought traffic first, and then when campaign data is available, you can merge it into the entire website.
6. Email Marketing Campaigns. Comparison pages and email marketing campaigns go hand in hand. Unique email campaigns with unique comparison sites improve campaign performance. You could, for instance, develop a separate comparison page for each of the email lists you have. This will keep subscribers more involved because the content is relevant to the page, and they are more likely to click and visit it.

Comparisons are helpful for clients, especially when done well. You may use your product comparison sites to show the quality of your product and you can use customer feedback positively to increase your efforts in areas your product needs some touch.

Want to show clients that you’re the best option? Get started with us today and create some comparison pages!