Competitor Analysis: Enhancing User Experience in Sports and Recreation
In the dynamic "Sports and Recreation" industry, seamless user journeys for finding, booking, and engaging with sports facilities and events are critical.
This research project focused on conducting a high-level competitor analysis, targeting key players within the market. By examining 12 industry references, we identified 5 standout platforms that offer unique opportunities to optimize search, navigation, booking processes, and valuable content integration.
Team: 1 Lead UX researcher, 2 juniors ux researchers, 1 project manager.
Timeline: 44+/- hour constraint.
Client
Unaffi
Year
2024
Methods
UXR, Competitor Analysis
Role
Situation
UNAFFI sought a comprehensive competitor analysis to benchmark its platform against local South African and international competitors. The goal was to evaluate the existing website’s functionality and information architecture, including user profiles, event and facility exploration, organizer profiles, and registration processes. This was the discovery phase for a website redesign project.
Image: Unaffi old website.
Task
Conduct a comprehensive competitor analysis and align findings to the app's development scope (redesign website).
This includes identifying market trends, SWOT, understanding user expectations, and spotting opportunities for differentiation to ensure the application stands out in innovation and user engagement.
The analysis will inform the development of these key features
Profile pages (create profile, view profile and login/register)
Explore landing pages (List upcoming events, facilities, and featured organizations)
Explore search result pages (Search pages for events, facilities, and organizations)
Events detail pages (event details, event booking or pre-registration)
Facilities detail page (facility hire options)
Organization detail pages (organization details, including gallery, facilities, events, and membership sign-up/
click-throughs to facility hire, event details, and membership registration pages, membership registration and package registration)
Action
Methodology: Competitor analysis | Tools: Figma
My action timeline
Collaborated with the project manager to brief the research team on the competitor analysis objectives.
Provided mentorship to the team during the competitor analysis process.
Facilitated team discussions to determine the approach for dividing the workload.
Adopted a "divide and conquer" strategy: each of the three researchers analyzed four competitors (12 total).
Oversaw the creation of a collaborative Figma working file by junior researchers.
Conducted analysis for four competitors and evaluated the client’s existing website alongside the team.
Identified and gathered user journeys aligned with the redesign scope of work.
Performed a SWOT analysis for the five standout competitors.
Compiled findings and delivered a presentation to the client.
Collaborated with the team to present the findings and insights to the client.
Images: Screenshots of old Unaffi website (above). (Below) IA changes after UX and technical audit of website to sitemap & Screenshot of low-fidelity wireframes.
Image: Snippets of presentation playback.
Result
Here are a few findings regarding the website's usability
The findings revealed usability issues that required updates to the UNAFFI website's sitemap and design. Over 70 insights were identified from analyzing five competitors, with key themes including search, search results, booking, activity details, organizational details, user accounts, and event details.
Here are a few key findings (old unaffi website):
The limited search functionality on the landing page;
CTAs allowing only single-activity searches and no mention of upcoming sports events, highlighted the need for more dynamic entry points;
Additionally, the map's general location display reduced its usefulness.
Recommendations were provided for all findings.
Influencing the sitemap
The findings revealed usability issues that required updates to the sitemap. (old unaffi website).
Limited search functionality on the landing page and missing features like upcoming sports events highlighted the need for more dynamic entry points.
Venue and activity searches lacked input flexibility and related suggestions, while the activity detail page’s missing breadcrumb navigation and unclear hierarchy pointed to structural gaps.
These insights prompted changes to improve navigation, search functionality, and content organization.
Redesigning the website
The UNAFFI sports website boasts a clean and modern aesthetic with several notable strengths. Its vibrant and bold color palette creates a professional and sporty atmosphere, while the effective use of white space ensures the design remains uncluttered and visually appealing.
Consistency in fonts, buttons, and spacing contributes to a cohesive look, enhancing usability. Additionally, the inclusion of high-quality sports imagery adds energy and relevance, creating a connection with the site's purpose and audience.
Together, these elements provide a solid foundation for a professional and user-friendly interface.
The insights from the competitor analysis guided our product and web design teams in their decision-making for the redesign of the Unaffi website.
