Glossary

Competitive analysis (testing)

Competitive analysis (testing) is the practice of evaluating your localized product or content against competitors during the testing phase. It benchmarks linguistic quality, usability and functional performance to identify gaps and opportunities before launch.

Description

This analysis compares localized builds, flows and messages side by side with competitor products. Testers assess language clarity, UI fit, error handling, accessibility and conversion paths – for example checkout, onboarding or support journeys in key markets.

Insights focus on what "good" looks like in the market – terminology choices, tone, layout resilience and speed – then feed into bug triage, copy refinements and UI fixes. It helps teams prioritize improvements that matter to local users and reduce post-release rework.

RWS perspective

RWS integrates competitive analysis into localization testing through structured heuristics, device matrices and in-market linguists. Findings are mapped to severity and business impact – so teams can act quickly and launch with confidence.