How to Write Comparison Content that Maximizes Your Traffic and Conversions

The buyer's journey usually has some sort of “let’s compare among the top solutions” step, which typically happens toward the end of the journey, right before the final decision is made.

For example, after realizing you need a live chat software and after doing some initial landscape research, you might realize that there are 2-3 players worth considering. You’ll then search for content like “Live Chat vs Intercom” or “Intercom alternatives”.

This is a great time for you to come in and show searchers why HubSpot is the best solution, or at least a viable alternative to what they were initially searching for.

• What is a comparison page?
• What competitors should I write about?
• Best Practices
• Comparison Page Template
• Inspiration & Further Reading

What is a comparison page?

When a prospect is shopping among different solutions, they will generally want to compare several competitors side by side.

Searches in this stage look like this:

• “MailChimp alternatives”
• “MailChimp vs HubSpot”
• “HubSpot pros and cons”
• “HubSpot review”
  
  

Comparison content can come in a few different formats, including:

• “Best” cluster page: The objective advantages of using a certain product as well as the criteria to consider in the decision-making process.
• “Alternative to”: One or more alternatives to a well-known product.
• Pros & Cons: A full and complete review of a product’s pros and cons to help the reader make an informed decision.
• Review: An in-depth analysis of a product’s functionalities and user experience, as well as product screenshots and sometimes video or gif demos.
  
  

On hubspot.com, we build a lot of these pages that feature comparisons among our top five competitors. Here are some examples for our meeting scheduling tool:

• The 5 Best Meeting Schedulers
• Calendly Alternative

What competitors should I write about?

First, look up the monthly search volume for comparison terms (e.g., “[competitor] alternatives”, “[competitor] vs HubSpot”, etc.) to make sure you’re writing about products people are actually researching and considering. This is how you will bring the most value to your audience and gain new visitors to your site.

If you’re feeling stuck on which products or competitors to write about, here is a list of the main features HubSpot has to offer and some of the top corresponding competitors:

Best Practices

• Be informative. The main goal of these pages is to provide value to the reader. Your content should be interesting, helpful, and at least somewhat objective so that it truly helps someone who is debating between multiple options.
• Include data. To the previous point, including data and feature specs from review sites like G2, Capterra, Get App, and product pages will help keep your content objective.
• Don’t neglect qualitative data. Numbers are great, but it helps to appeal to the emotional side of your readers with qualitative data and anecdotes. Pulling from your own experience with the product or getting quotes from real users is a great way to add a human touch to your piece.
• Add visuals. If you haven’t tried HubSpot for yourself, give our premium features a try with these free trial offers. Include product screenshots to give your readers a better idea of what the product looks like. If you have trouble finding a good HubSpot product screenshot, feel free to reach out to us at affiliates@hubspot.com.

Comparison Page Template

If you’re unsure of the best way to get started, use the following template as a guide to writing your own comparison page:

Title

Here are some title formats you can use:

• [Competitor] vs HubSpot: a Side-by-Side Comparison ([current year])
• The X Best [Competitor] Alternatives in [current year] (Compared)
• [Competitor] Competitors – 7 Popular Alternatives to [Competitor]

FTC Disclosure

As an affiliate, all of your placements must meet FTC compliance, which means you need to disclose for every post with an affiliate link that you receive commission on any sales. Here are some examples of the disclosure language you can use:

• “We receive commission on purchases made through links on this page/in this email”
• “If you upgrade and make a purchase through this link, we will receive a commission”
• “We are a HubSpot affiliate and receive a commission when you purchase”
• “Heads up: we make money if you purchase with this link”

These are only our suggestions based on our understanding of the FTC. The examples above should not be used as legal advice in any form. Check out the FTC's guide on how to make effective disclosures and reach out to them directly if you have questions.

Pricing Information

Price is one of the most important comparison criteria. It’s what a lot of people primarily base their final decision on and should always be included in your comparison content.

See some examples below:

Source: HubSpot

Source: LiveChat

Feature Comparison Table

It’s often helpful to have a side-by-side comparison table that shows all the relevant specs to consider, or whether the product has them at all. This kind of table makes it easy to skim through otherwise dense content.

Source: Marketing Automation Insider

Pros and Cons Table

Similarly to the feature comparison table, a pros and cons table helps your reader quickly determine what’s good and what’s bad about the products they’re considering.

Source: Marketing Automation Insider

Product / UI Screenshots and Walkthroughs

People doing comparison shopping don’t always have the time or willingness to sign up for a free trial and try out the product for themselves. A lot of companies also do a poor job of presenting the interface of their products. Having product and UI screenshots in your content will help the reader see what they would be working with and whether a product seems easy and enjoyable to use.

And if you can do a video walkthrough, even better!

Source: LiveChat

Integrations Data

We all use a lot of different tools to help us achieve all sorts of things. This makes knowing which tools a product does and doesn’t integrate with an important part of the decision-making process.

Source: Marketing Automation Insider

Aggregated Review Site Data

Having an aggregate view of the ratings awarded to each product helps your readers get a picture of what others consider to be good or bad.

Testimonials / Reviews / Quotes

As mentioned earlier, testimonials and quotes are a great way to add a more human touch to your content and appeal to the emotional side of your readers. Tables and numbers are great and all, but sometimes you just really need to hear from someone’s personal experience.

Source: Nectafy

Inspiration & Further Reading

Here are some great comparison pages to inspire your own:

• HubSpot vs. Marketo: a Head-to-Head Comparison
• HubSpot vs. Mailchimp — Comparison Chart
• Zendesk Alternative — See why Freshdesk is the best in the market!

For further reading, check out this blog post on how to create great competitive comparison pages.