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 ?
 ○ 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 ?

 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

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 b

​ eing 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)

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
 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
 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 Yes . Yes. Yes . Walk me paves

popups It’s very simple Simple but slightly Slightly complex the way here ,
and seamless difficult to but highly since it has a
comprehend for a customizable simple and more
non tech user user friendly UI

Training and No. Yes . Yes. Iridize and Whatfix

interactive No simple video Interactive guide Iridize leads the mark a pioneering
tutorials tutorials to tutorials using way here Have change here .
generate and videos ,graphics rich and simple Video guides are
create a guide or video content to extremely critical
how to use one help user overlay to user experience
the screen where they are
ahead of Walk me

Audio navigation No . No. No. Toonimo leads the

across the A must feature for A must feature for A must feature for way here , with
web/app interface Walk me Whatfix Iridize 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

support A very robust Whatfix also is Great support by robust tools in
Multi-lingual very seamless Iridize too. They terms of the multi
support which with here . Easy to have a great channel support
their simple and latch and acts as content enriching feature
robust UI acts as a retentive feature guide setup which
a great user supports multi
experience language and
multichannel

Search Support Yes. Yes. Yes. All three platforms

Bar Very lucid and Very simple and Much more strong , seems to have
simple widget easy to use as it helps us adapted to a great
refine searches by search experience
multi filters

UI/UX of No. No. Yes. Iridize leads the

descriptive guides The UI being Again good UI but Okay UI , but a way here . UI/UX
( customizable or simplistic is a a complicated UX great sense of can altogether be
not) great factor for .Not customizable design . Greatly redefined to suit a
usage but it’s not to user needs customizable to a customers needs
supremely user needs
customizable

User activity Yes . ( very basic) Yes ( very basic) Yes Iridize leads the
tracking Can give user Not very detailed .Extremely way here . With
generated detailed . They the development
feedback and have devised a of their user
onboarding User generated engine , they can
channels engine , which lets vividly describe
you understand user interactions ,
user behavior what a user
deeply searched etc

Simplistic plug Yes . Yes . No. Walk me and what

and play Its very seamless Very seamless Slight code level fix are much
installation and one of the and again one of dependency , better here
USP of Walk me the USP of which may be
Whatfix difficult to adapt
initially

Conditional flows Yes . Yes. Yes. All three have the

Walk me help What fix also does Iridize also has feature which is a
define user flows the same the same feature key feature in the
products

Segmentation, Yes . Yes. Yes. Walk me and

reporting and Basic Basic Strong reporting Whatfix have
analytics segmentation and segmentation and engine and supporting
analytics , but key analytics support analytics support analytics engines
metrics are functionally which are not as
strongly adhered detailed and
too segmented as
Iridize
API existence Yes. No. Yes. Walk me and
Walk me has a Not available with Similar to walk me Iridize have an
API which can be Whatfix , has a REST api edge here over
integrated with , which is easily Whatfix
most 3rd parties integratable
for data flow and
product
functionlity

3rd Party API Yes. But limited Yes . Limited Yes. extensive Iridize has a clear
integrations mostly CRM’s mostly CRM’s and with most edge here
simpler products products ranging
from engineering
tools to B2C tools

App and mobile Yes. Walk me No. Still in the Yes. Walk me has a
browser support again leads here process to roll out They have app clear edge here,
the same support but mobile with seamless
browser support is support over
still a question native apps

A/B Testing Yes. No. Yes. Walk me and

framework A very good A/B No framework as A very good A/B Iridize have a
testing framework of now testing framework clear edge here
to check which to check which
flows are more flows are more
effective effective

Browser No . Yes. Yes. Whatfix and Iridize

compatibility Only firefox All native and All native and have a great
support legacy browsers legacy browsers advantage here
supported supported as they support
legacy
applications too

Machine learning Yes ( in No. No. New and difficult

based automated development) Advanced feature Advanced feature to implement
development of which can be a which can be a .Need a strong
guides potential potential data engineering
opportunity opportunity and and development
threat for pipeline
competitors

Bot support No. No No New and difficult

to implement
Chatbots needs to Chatbots needs to .Need a strong
be refined to suit be refined to suit data engineering
customizable customizable and development
needs needs pipeline.
High level of NLP
and refining
needed
 Live chat and No No Yes Toonimo is the
phone support Not needed would pioneer here with
have been Maybe needed, Makes the live chat and
differentiator at based on experience much support feature
early stages imminent better in terms of which may be
incidents if any customer operationally
attentiveness 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 .
 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
 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

 ● 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
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.
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
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
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
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
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 !
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
 ○ 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 Normal way of GTM . Offer a trial freemium
segregation , since At large conference , no version . Earn trust of
based on predictive lead prediction client and then to paid
scoring . Being market structure Like WALK version
leaders can afford to ME . the GTM has to
push client to speak in bank on a lower price
favor of them and strategy till customers
hence better trust is earned

Pricing Very robust strategy , Lower prices charger Since product is

charge by usage , as compared to Walk complicated , a trial
which speaks volumes me , as better product ensures faith and again
about their trust in their earns client . Clients pricing based on usage,
product and hence are upscaled to which again is good as
better equipped for premium version client feel equipped
them with the usage of
product
 ● 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
 ○ 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