Audience research
Part of Researching social commerce buyers by interviewing the transaction, not the ideal self
Auditing a competitor's social shopping journey from discovery to post-purchase promise
Audit competitors' public social shopping journeys in England with a reproducible checklist for discovery, proof, checkout and post-purchase evidence.
Competitor research should compare public buying journeys, not follower totals. A useful record shows how a comparable product moves from discovery to proof, seller identification, checkout and support. It cannot reveal private sales, margins, targeting or commercial terms.
Use the checklist for a fixed product and date. Browse only public material, respect platform terms, and do not place test orders or pose as a customer unless the approved research protocol covers those actions.
Create the evidence sheet before opening any account. Use fixed fields for product comparability, route, disclosure, proof, seller information, total price visibility, fulfilment promise and support. Keep screenshots or quotations only where permitted and necessary.
Worked example of a filled row (illustrative, not a real finding):
Example entry
- Product and date
- Apple AirPods (2nd generation), 3 June 2024
- Route
- TikTok Shop UK product page, saved link
- Disclosure
- Paid partnership label copied
- Proof
- Claims and evidence listed
- Seller
- Trader name shown
- Total price visibility
- Item price and delivery shown before payment
- Fulfilment promise
- Dispatch and returns terms copied
- Support
- Platform help centre named
What to take away
- Compare public buying journeys for a fixed product and date, not follower totals or private sales data.
- Use a fixed evidence sheet to record route, disclosure, proof, seller information, price visibility, fulfilment and support.
- Mark missing observations as not found in the inspected route, never as not offered.
- Platform documentation defines possible routes, not competitor performance or eligibility.
- Treat visible competitor practices as hypotheses to test, not as evidence that copying will work.
Define comparable journeys
- Select businesses selling a substitute product to consumers, not simply accounts using the same hashtag.
- Record whether the item and route were available to a buyer in England on the observation date. For example, check whether the product page uses TikTok Shop UK checkout or sends the buyer to a merchant website.
- Separate platform checkout from a link to the merchant's website.
- Note device, signed-in state and whether the post was reached organically, through search or from a saved link.
Platform documentation supplies the route definition, not competitor performance. TikTok Shop's UK seller registration guide describes current applicant types and checks. Shopify's Instagram Shopping documentation describes its integration's product tagging and redirection to an online store. Neither page proves that a competitor is eligible, successful or using every described feature.
Is This a Comparable Journey?
Does it sell a substitute product to consumers?
Record item and route availability in England
Exclude from audit sample
Capture discovery and commercial context
- Save the public URL, account name, date and content format where terms permit.
- Transcribe the product claim and evidence shown near it.
- Record visible advertising, affiliate or gifted-content labelling.
- Distinguish a merchant post, paid creator promotion, customer review and reposted user content.
- Note whether price, scarcity or popularity messages change during the route.
The ASA's social-media recognition guidance explains that marketing communications must be identifiable and discusses label wording and placement. Use it to structure observations, not to declare another business non-compliant. That judgement requires the facts and appropriate expertise.
Follow proof and checkout
- Identify where product specifications, seller identity, delivery and returns first appear.
- Count hand-offs between post, shop, browser and payment route.
- Note whether reviews disclose how they were collected or incentivised.
- Record optional charges and the point at which the total becomes visible.
- Stop before payment unless a real purchase is authorised.
The CMA's online choice architecture collection describes concerns including pressure selling, hidden charges and subscription traps. It provides categories for a neutral evidence sheet. It does not establish the legality of a captured screen.
Inspect the post-purchase promise
- Compare stated dispatch, delivery, cancellation and returns information.
- Record the support channels and who appears responsible for the contract.
- Check whether platform and merchant pages give consistent instructions.
- Revisit the public route after seven days and mark changes rather than overwriting evidence.
The GOV.UK distance-selling guide outlines information and fulfilment duties for covered UK sales, with exceptions. Have a qualified reviewer assess the actual product and transaction model.
Convert observations into a test
Summarise each competitor by journey choice, not a league table. If several routes answer a sizing question before the product link while yours does not, test a clear demonstration on one product group. Measure continued visits, completed orders, cancellations, returns and support contacts. A visible competitor practice is a hypothesis generator, never evidence that copying it will work.
Before scaling the audit, use two reviewers on at least 10 routes or 10 per cent of the planned sample, whichever is greater. If they disagree over whether a disclosure was visible or a charge was compulsory, improve the field definition and keep both initial decisions.
Recheck a selected route on another day. Stock, adverts and personalised ordering can change. Report the denominator for every summary, including journeys that broke or could not be observed from England.
Before you act
- Select a substitute product and record the observation date.
- Create the evidence sheet before opening any account.
- Browse only public material and respect platform terms.
- Do not place test orders or pose as a customer without approval.
- Record device, signed-in state and how the post was reached.
- Stop before payment unless a real purchase is authorised.
Common questions
What should a competitor audit record about the buying journey?
A useful record shows how a comparable product moves from discovery to proof, seller identification, checkout and support. It cannot reveal private sales, margins, targeting or commercial terms. Use fixed fields for product comparability, route, disclosure, proof, seller information, total price visibility, fulfilment promise and support.
How should missing information be handled in the evidence sheet?
Record a missing observation as unseen in that public route. Do not infer that the competitor does not provide it. Keep screenshots or quotations only where permitted and necessary, and retain both initial decisions if reviewers disagree.
What can platform documentation prove about a competitor?
Platform documentation defines possible routes. It does not show what a given competitor does or whether that competitor is eligible. Record only what the public journey shows.
