Client Research Assistant is a Claude Projects setup that lets a solo consultant upload competitor sites, industry reports, and client briefs once, then ask questions across all of them in one workspace. Custom instructions format every output the same way, cutting client research from about 5 hours to roughly 30 minutes.
What you will be able to do
- Set up a Claude Project with custom instructions that format competitor analysis, market research, and dashboard outputs consistently.
- Upload competitor websites (saved as PDFs), industry reports, and client briefs so Claude can reference them across sessions without re-explaining context.
- Run three copy-paste prompts to generate a competitor positioning table, a market trends synthesis, and a client-ready HTML dashboard.
- Name research files with a consistent convention so Claude can cite exact sources by filename in its analysis.
- Fix common problems such as blank uploaded PDFs, generic outputs, and unstyled dashboard artifacts.
Before you start
- A Claude Pro subscription ($20 per month) to use more than one Project; the free tier gets only one project.
- Research materials ready to gather: competitor websites, industry reports, and client briefs, in PDF, TXT, CSV, or DOCX format (under 30MB or 8000x8000 pixels for images, 200K token limit per project).
- Optional: the Claude Chrome Extension or the Project's Web Search Tool if you want Claude to pull competitor sites directly instead of manually saving pages as PDF.
Reference
| Component | Setting / Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Project name | "Client Research Assistant" | Created via Projects > New Project on claude.ai |
| Project description | "Multi-document research workspace for client onboarding, competitor analysis, and market research." | Memory aid only, does not affect Claude's responses |
| File types accepted | PDF, TXT, CSV, DOCX and more | Up to 200K tokens per project; files under 30MB or 8000x8000 pixels for images |
| Naming convention | competitor-[company]-[page-type].pdf / report-[topic]-[year].pdf / client-[company]-brief.pdf | Lets Claude cite exact source files in its analysis |
| Prompt 1: Competitor Analysis | Use after uploading 3-5 competitor sites | Outputs positioning summary table, strengths/weaknesses, market gaps, differentiation strategy |
| Prompt 2: Market Research Synthesis | Use after uploading industry reports or trend data | Outputs executive summary, key trends with data, ranked opportunities, recommended actions |
| Prompt 3: Research Dashboard Generation | Use after analysis is complete | Generates a color-coded HTML artifact for client presentations |
Common errors and fixes
| What goes wrong | The fix |
|---|---|
| Claude says it can't find information in uploaded files | Reference the exact filename shown in the Project sidebar, e.g. "According to competitor-acme-homepage.pdf" instead of "the Acme file" |
| Outputs are too generic or vague | Add specific context to the prompt, e.g. "compare pricing models, target audiences, and value propositions" instead of "analyze competitors" |
| Uploaded website PDF appears blank | Use a browser extension like "Print Friendly" to strip navigation and ads before saving as PDF, or copy the page text into a .txt file and upload that instead |
| Dashboard HTML doesn't look professional | Ask Claude for a revision directly, e.g. "make the styling more professional with a blue color scheme and larger headers," and it will regenerate the artifact |
Read the full walkthrough
The complete lesson, with screenshots and any downloads, is published on Substack as part of Claude Systems Masterclass.
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