The problem
A good discovery workshop starts with what the client's competitors do: services, prices they publish, how they describe themselves, what reviewers praise. If an agency starts 4 new sites a month and the competitor research takes 4 hours each, that's 16 hours a month, and the notes rarely say where each point came from.
What the AI does
Perplexity Pro's Deep Research produces a longer report on a question, with inline citations to each page used. For each new client, the designer asks for a comparison of the named competitors: services, published prices, calls to action, how they describe themselves and review themes, with a link for each point. The designer opens the competitors' sites to check, adds screenshots, and keeps the research in a Perplexity Project the second designer can work in (Projects allow up to 5 contributors on personal plans). The workshop pack then shows the client where every point came from.
A worked example
A three-person web design agency in Norwich starts about 4 small-business sites a month. The lead designer runs the competitor research in Perplexity Pro before each discovery workshop.
Before
4 hours of competitor research for each of 4 new sites: 16 hours a month
After
About 1.5 hours to run the research and check the sites: 6 hours a month
What it's worth
About $532£400€476A$768C$752 a month in time saved, against about $17£13€15A$25C$24 for Perplexity Pro. 2.5 hours saved on each of 4 new sites is 10 hours, at an assumed $53£40€48A$77C$75 an hour.
How to set it up
- Sign up for Perplexity Pro, $17 (about $17£13€15A$25C$24) a month billed annually, for the lead designer.
- Ask the client for their 3 to 5 main competitors and the area they serve.
- Run a Deep Research question comparing those businesses on services, published prices, calls to action and review themes, asking for a link for every point.
- Open each competitor's site to check the points and take screenshots for the workshop pack.
- Keep the research in a Project for the client so the second designer can add to it.
What goes wrong
- Competitor prices and pages change. Check the live sites the week of the workshop and date the pack.
- Perplexity only sees public pages, not logged-in areas or prices behind a quote form. Say so in the pack instead of guessing.
- Pro is a personal plan for one person. If both designers run their own research, budget for two plans.
- Review themes are only as good as the reviews found. Read a few reviews yourself before telling a client what customers think.