Platora: Q&A Competitive Landscape
Researcher:
Victoria Peng
Timeline:
Research and insights compilation: May 8-May 21
Shareout with entire team: May 21 (please schedule the meeting with the team as we get near the date)
Working deck:
Why?
Understanding today’s q&a experiences in other existing platforms will help Platora set its benchmark, find its unique opportunities, and work towards filling the gaps that other platforms provide its value in.
How?
We’ll use the to document the following for each of the competitors, (products listed under competitors sections)
Individual
Overall
*add any other sections of the research deck to accommodate to your needs
Competitors
Optional
Basic Information
Competitive audit
Purpose
Understanding today’s Q&A experiences in other existing platforms will help Platora set its benchmark, find its unique opportunities, and work towards filling the gaps that other platforms provide its value in.
Competitors
Analysis
User goal #1 - Asking a question to a user. If a user has a question for someone, they want to be able to ask a question.
Asking a question to a user
Rank (Best to worst solution)
Company/app
Screenshot(s)
What does this feature do to elevate users' experience?
How does this serve the users?
What are the gaps with how this company is solving this user goal?
Improvements for Platora
1
1
Quora
This prevents the user from writing duplicate questions. The tips serve as a guardrail for the user so they know how long their question should be.
This helps the answerer save time. This will increase their chances of staying on the platform and inviting their friends.
2
2
Reddit
There’s an option to add polls, links, images, aside from text. Also, there are tips on the side of the page
Gives users flexibility when asking a question. Also gives them guardrails when asking a question
Only can ask discussion based questions, so it limits the types of use cases. If i wanted to ask for advice, I’d have to go to another subreddit to specifically ask for advice. More work for the user to ask the question.
3
3
Answers.com
There’s an option to add context to your question, for example if you ask a question like “How much should I feed my dog?” you can add context, like “She’s a 65 pound golden retriever.”
also tells you if you ask a duplicate question and tells you the answer to that question if it’s already been asked.
They also give you tips on what kind of questions to ask!
This gives users the option to be very flexible with asking questions that are more tailored to their personal experience so they can get a more targeted answer.
There is no way to ask a specific person a question. For example, if I were to ask Elon Musk what his favorite TV show is, I wouldn’t be able to do that.
4
4
AskFM
Easily see the person’s profile, their bio, where they live, their interests etc. You can easily ask your question in the box but it doesn’t tell you if there’s a duplicate answer or anything.
Having information on their bio about where they live, their interests, etc helps with asking questions!
It’s kind of boring to scroll through a wall of text and there isn’t a way to organize everything. Also feels weird asking an influencer a question if I don’t know who they are.
5
5
Zhihu
No option to ask the answerer a question. (You can private message him, I guess) There’s only an option to read the question’s he’s already answered, send him a private message, or follow him.
You can see questions that the answerer has already answered, but you can’t directly ask them a question!
There is no way to directly ask someone a question, but you can ask a question through the search bar at the top of the screen.
If the user is curious about someone, they are not able to directly ask a question to the answerer. The closest thing to asking a question to the answerer is sending a private message.
Allow the user to ask a question without directing it towards someone specific, in case it is a more generic question. (i.e. “What is the best way to prioritize mental health?”)
There are no rows in this table
User goal #2 - Answering/Receiving a question
Answering/Receiving a question
Rank (Best to worst solution)
Company/app
Screenshot(s)
What does this feature do to elevate users' experience?
How does this serve the users?
What are the gaps with how this company is solving this user goal?
Improvements for Platora
1
1
Quora
On Quora, I can respond to questions directed to me under the “Questions” filter in the notifications page. I can also see what questions other people shared in spaces I might be interested in.
I can also go to someone’s profile, see what questions they’ve asked, and answer those questions!
Helps the user organize the sea of notifications that they get so they are able to prioritize what to answer first!
If you’re really curious about someone, you can see what kind of questions they’re asking
I’m not interested in any of these spaces so I don’t feel motivated to go and read the question or answer it
When I first start out on Quora, there are no questions directed to me so I don’t feel as motivated to use it. I am not interested in any of the questions they recommended to me so I most likely won’t answer it.
2
2
AskFM
Under your notifications, it shows who asked you the question, when they asked it, and you can respond with text or with a visual graphic! After you answer the question, it is posted to your page.
You can easily view all your notifications in one page. They also differentiate between shoutouts and direct questions!
If you get a lot of questions, this is overwhelming, and there is no way to prioritize questions that your questions ask vs questions that random strangers ask
3
3
Reddit
N/A I had no questions directed towards myself.
N/A
N/A
4
4
Answers.com
I am able to see all the trending questions at a glance, so I know which ones are most popular. I can comment on other people’s answers in case I have something extra to add to their answer.
N/A
N/A
N/A
There are no rows in this table
User goal #3 - Finding a question that’s already been asked
Finding questions already asked
Rank (Best to worst solution)
Company/app
Screenshot(s)
What does this feature do to elevate users' experience?
How does this serve the users?
What are the gaps with how this company is solving this user goal?
Improvements for Platora
1
1
Quora
I can search for topics, specific profiles, or spaces. I can also search up specific questions, like Google!
I can easily get to the question I need and save time.
I don’t know what a space is and how that is different from a topic. Also, I expected to be able to learn more about Tom Holland when I searched his name up
Avoid duplicate questions (wastes time) → one way of doing this is searching questions
2
2
Reddit
Able to stylize my response. The text box is really big so it’s easy to respond.
Gives me flexibility answer (really easy to access)
Since other people have answered, I’m not as incentivised to add my response
3
3
Answers.com
I am able to see all the trending questions at a glance, so I know which ones are most popular. I can comment on other people’s answers in case I have something extra to add to their answer.
Gives the users an option to look through stuff that’s popular, which is typically more relevant.
Personally, none of the trending questions are relevant to me. Also when I clicked on the notifications and I had no questions directed towards myself so I didn’t have motivation to stay on the platform.
4
4
AskFM
There is no way to search for specific questions
n/a
n/a
There are no rows in this table
user goal #4 - reacting to content
Reacting to content
Rank (Best to worst solution)
Company/app
Screenshot(s)
What does this feature do to elevate users' experience?
How does this serve the users?
What are the gaps with how this company is solving this user goal?
Improvements for Platora
1
1
Reddit
you can react to a post by giving a user an award! like the “heartwarming award”
gives the users different options to react! also the pictures are so adorable
i have to pay to give an award, so thats not appealing
Make answering questions a fun experience! (incentive)
2
2
Quora
You can upvote or downvote
Easy to express if you like the question or not
I can’t respond in any other way. Either I like it (upvote) or I dislike it (downvote)
Avoid duplicate questions → one way of doing this is searching questions
3
3
Answers.com
you can choose from a couple emojis
gives them flexibility to react
i don’t think that responding with an emoji is always appropriate, like if it’s a serious answer
Make answering questions a fun experience! (incentive)
4
4
AskFM
you can add a “fire” or “heart” emoji
you can show your appreciation for an answer
you have to pay to react with a fire, so really you can only “like” stuff
not very flexible to only provide users with a heart icon
There are no rows in this table
user goal #5 - being rewarded for answering content
Being rewarded or incentivised to answer
Rank (Best to worst solution)
Company/app
Screenshot(s)
What does this feature do to elevate users' experience?
How does this serve the users?
What are the gaps with how this company is solving this user goal?
Improvements for Platora
1
1
Answers.com
If you have the most emoji reactions, you get the “Top Answer” reward which shows up at the top
There’s a leaderboard too
Makes them feel competent, also I think you’re rewarded coins too, but not sure how to use them
Not sure how I can get “coins” and the questions directed towards myself are hard to answer. (under trending)
After 5 minutes I figured out where the unanswered questions were (should be more discoverable)
Make it EASY for people to answer relevant questions which improves their feed
2
2
Reddit
I spent 10 minutes trying to find a good question to answer.
I found really interesting questions that I was interested in reading the answers to, but I didnt feel as focused on responding
They gave me one upvote on my answer, so I think that’s my “reward”
Motivate users to respond to q’s
3
3
Quora
Gives them a to-do list which explicitly tells them to answer a question
Nudges them to answer a question
Just because I see a to-do list to answer a question doesn’t mean I will do it. It takes a lot of work to go to a space I’m interested in, find an interesting q, and then answer that question
When I finally post an answer, I am not rewarded in any way
4
4
AskFM
There is a leaderboard to track who has been answering the most questions
Gives them an incentive to keep on answering questions
The leaderboard is not constantly changing, each time I log in it’s the same so I’m not sure if it provides enough incentive. Also I don’t have an incentive to answer questions asked by people that aren’t my friends
There are no rows in this table
Top 5 Findings/Insights
Applications to Platora
Feature comparison chart
Comparison chart
Company/app
Asking questions to a user directly
Asking questions to community
Receiving questions from community
Receiving questions from a user
Being awarded for an answer
Reacting to content
1
Platora
✅
❌
❌
✅
❌
❌
2
Ask.fm
✅
✅
✅
✅
❌
✅
3
Answers.com
❌
✅
✅
✅
✅
✅
4
Reddit
❌ (private message only)
✅
✅
✅
✅
✅
5
Quora
✅
✅
✅
✅
❌ not immediately
✅
There are no rows in this table
Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.
This is not the way.
Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (
CtrlP
) instead.