A competitor battlecard in Playwise HQ is a structured, centralised profile that captures everything your sales team needs to know about a specific competitor. From market positioning and product comparisons to objection handling and win/loss patterns, battlecards give your team the competitive intelligence they need to close deals with confidence.
Creating a battlecard manually allows you to build a detailed competitor profile from scratch, drawing on your own research and first-hand knowledge rather than relying on AI-generated content. This is ideal when you have deep institutional knowledge about a competitor or want full control over the information that goes into the card.
Key benefits
- Instant competitive intelligence — Give every sales rep on-demand access to structured competitor insights right when they need them most.
- Standardised competitor messaging — Ensure your entire team talks about competitors consistently, with approved positioning and talking points.
- Ready-made objection responses — Equip reps with proven responses to the objections they hear most often in competitive deals.
- Win/loss pattern tracking — Capture and share recurring reasons why you win or lose against a competitor so the whole team can learn and adapt.
- Centralised product comparisons — Document competitor products alongside their strengths and weaknesses to support head-to-head conversations.
Only users with an Admin or Editor role in Playwise HQ can create competitor battlecards. If your account has the Viewer role, you will not see the option to add a competitor and will be redirected to the Dashboard if you try to access the creation page directly.
If you believe you should have access, contact your account administrator and ask them to update your role to Editor or Admin.
Your Playwise HQ subscription plan determines the maximum number of competitor battlecards your account can create, as well as the maximum number of products you can add to each battlecard. If you reach a limit, Playwise HQ will display a notification prompting you to upgrade your plan. You can check your current plan details in Settings > Subscription Management.
Your Playwise HQ administrator can customise which sections and fields appear in the battlecard creation form, and whether each field is optional or required. This means the form you see may differ slightly from the steps described in this guide — some fields or entire steps may be hidden if your administrator has turned them off.
The Competitor Name field is always visible and always required, regardless of configuration. If you notice a section is missing that you expected to see, contact your administrator to review the battlecard configuration in Settings > Account Configuration > Battlecard Config.
Follow these steps to manually create a new competitor battlecard in your Playwise HQ account.
- Log in to your Playwise HQ account and go to your Dashboard.
- In the top navigation bar, click the “Add Competitor” button.
- A dropdown menu will appear with two options. Click “Create Manually”.
This will open the Add New Competitor page, which presents a multi-step form for building your battlecard.
The first step captures the core details about the competitor.
- Competitor Name (required) — Enter the competitor’s official company or brand name. This field has a maximum of 100 characters. For example: “TechGiant Inc.”
- Description (optional, if configured) — Use the rich text editor to provide a brief overview of the competitor, their business, and why they are relevant. Maximum 5,000 characters.
- Website URL (optional, if configured) — Enter the competitor’s website address. You can type just the domain (e.g.,
example.com) and Playwise HQ will automatically add https:// when you click away from the field.
Once you have filled in the required fields, click the “Next” button in the bottom-right corner to proceed.
This step helps you characterise where the competitor sits in the market. It contains up to six dropdown fields (depending on your admin’s configuration):
- Competitive Threat Level — How significant a threat this competitor poses to your business. Options include Dominant Competitor, Major Competitor, Moderate Competitor, Emerging Challenger, Niche Competitor, Low-Threat Competitor, Non-Competitor, and Not Applicable.
- Market Penetration — The competitor’s reach in your shared market. Options include High, Moderate, Low, and Niche Market Penetration, No Current Market Penetration, and Not Applicable.
- Pricing Strategy — How the competitor prices their products or services. Options include Enterprise Subscription, SaaS Subscription, Perpetual Licensing, Consumption Based, Open Source, Freemium, Free, Ad Supported, and Not Applicable.
- Growth Trajectory — The competitor’s current growth pattern. Options include High Growth, Moderate Growth, Low Growth, Accelerating Growth, Slowing Growth, Plateauing Growth, Declining, Stagnant, and Not Applicable.
- Market Positioning — How the competitor positions themselves. Options include Market Leader, Close Follower, Premium Alternative, Market Challenger, Disruptor, Innovator, Niche Specialist, Ecosystem Player, and Not Applicable.
- Sales Strategy — The competitor’s go-to-market approach. Options include Direct Enterprise Sales, Direct Mid-Market Sales, Direct SMB Sales, Channel Partnerships / Resellers, Marketing Led Self-Service, Freemium Upsell, Hybrid Approach, and Not Applicable.
Select the most accurate option from each dropdown. If you are unsure or a field does not apply, select “Not Applicable”. Click “Next” to continue.
This step lets you capture the competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, the industries they operate in, and their notable customers. Each field is a dynamic list — you start with one entry and can add more as needed.
- Competitor Strengths — Add one strength per row. Click “Add Strength” to add another entry. Each strength can be up to 500 characters.
- Competitor Weaknesses — Add one weakness per row. Click “Add Weakness” to add another entry. Each weakness can be up to 500 characters.
- Competitor Key Industries — List the industries the competitor primarily serves. Click “Add Industry” to add more. Each entry can be up to 100 characters.
- Competitor Key Customers — List notable customers or customer segments. Click “Add Customer” to add more. Each entry can be up to 100 characters.
To remove an entry, click the trash icon next to it. You must always have at least one row per field.
Click “Next” when you are finished.
This step captures recurring patterns in your competitive wins and losses against this competitor. It is split into two sections:
Win Themes
Document the key reasons why your team typically wins against this competitor.
- Win Reason — Enter a concise label for why you win (e.g., “Superior integration capabilities”). Maximum 1,000 characters.
- Details & Talking Points — Use the rich text editor to expand on the win reason with supporting evidence and talking points your sales team can use. Maximum 5,000 characters.
Click “Add Win Theme” to add additional win themes. Click the trash icon on a card to remove it.
Loss Themes
Document the key reasons why your team typically loses against this competitor.
- Loss Reason — Enter a concise label for why you lose (e.g., “Lower pricing for small businesses”). Maximum 1,000 characters.
- Mitigation Strategy — Use the rich text editor to describe how your team should address this weakness when it comes up in a deal. Maximum 5,000 characters.
Click “Add Loss Theme” to add additional loss themes. Click the trash icon on a card to remove it.
Click “Next” to proceed.
This step lets you document common objections that prospects raise about your product or service relative to this competitor, along with recommended responses.
Each objection is captured as a card with the following fields:
- Objection or Concern — Enter the objection a prospect might raise (e.g., “This competitor is too expensive”). Maximum 1,000 characters.
- Response Strategy — Use the rich text editor to write a detailed, structured response your sales team should use. Maximum 5,000 characters.
- Relevant Buyer Persona (optional) — Tag this objection to one or more buyer personas so reps can filter objections by audience. Select from the multi-select dropdown.
To add another objection, click the “Add Objection” button. To remove an objection, click the trash icon on its card. You must always have at least one objection entry.
Click “Next” to move to the final step.
The final form step lets you document the competitor’s product portfolio.
A product form is displayed with the following fields:
- Product Name (required) — The name of the competitor’s product. Maximum 100 characters.
- Description (optional, if configured) — Use the rich text editor to describe the product and its key capabilities. Maximum 5,000 characters.
- Strengths (optional, if configured) — Add the product’s strengths one per row. Click “Add Strength” to add more. Maximum 500 characters per entry.
- Weaknesses (optional, if configured) — Add the product’s weaknesses one per row. Click “Add Weakness” to add more. Maximum 500 characters per entry.
Adding Multiple Products:
- To save the current product and add another, click the “Add Another Product” button. The product will be saved and displayed as a card above the form, and the form will reset so you can enter the next product.
- To clear the current product form without saving, click the “Clear Product” button (this only appears if you have entered data in the form).
- You do not need to click “Add Another Product” for your last product. When you submit the battlecard in the next step, any valid product data in the form will be included automatically.
Editing or Removing Saved Products:
Products you have already added appear as cards above the form. Click the pencil icon on a card to edit that product, or click the trash icon to remove it.
Once you have completed all the steps and you are satisfied with the information entered:
- Click the “Submit Competitor” button in the bottom-right corner.
- The button will display “Saving Competitor…” with a loading spinner while your battlecard is being created.
- On success, a confirmation notification will appear: “Competitor battlecard created successfully”.
- You will be automatically redirected to your Dashboard, where the new competitor battlecard will appear.
If the submission fails due to a network error or other issue, an error notification will describe the problem. Correct any issues and try again.
As you work through the form, keep these navigation tips in mind:
- Moving forward: Click the “Next” button to advance to the next step. You cannot move forward if the current step has validation errors — resolve any highlighted errors first.
- Moving backward: Click the “Previous” button to return to the previous step without losing your data.
- Jumping to a step: You can click on any completed step label in the progress bar at the top of the form to jump back to it.
- Progress indicator: The progress bar fills as you complete each step, giving you a visual indication of how far along you are.
- No auto-save: Playwise HQ does not auto-save your progress. If you close or refresh the page before clicking “Submit Competitor”, your work will be lost. Complete and submit your battlecard in a single session.
