Change Severity Levels — What They Mean
Every change KompWatch detects is rated Low, Medium, High, or Critical severity by AI. This rating helps you quickly focus on the changes that matter most.
The Four Levels
| Severity | What it signals | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | A seismic competitive event — warrants an immediate response | Company pivot, acquisition, shutdown announcement, drastic across-the-board price cut |
| High | A significant, strategic move — likely requires a response | New pricing tier, major feature launch, product rebrand, pricing reduction |
| Medium | A meaningful update worth tracking but not immediately urgent | New blog post announcing a partnership, updated feature descriptions, added testimonials, trial length change |
| Low | Minor or cosmetic change — useful for completeness, low action priority | Copy tweaks, updated stock photos, footer link changes, minor layout adjustments |
How Severity Is Determined
Severity is assigned by Claude AI after comparing the before/after diff of a competitor page. The AI looks at:
- Business impact — Does this change affect pricing, feature parity, or competitive positioning?
- Scope — Is this a page-wide change or a small isolated edit?
- Signal strength — Is this a deliberate announcement or background noise?
Severity is AI-estimated and may occasionally be miscalibrated. If a change is rated lower than expected, you can view the full diff from your dashboard to make your own assessment.
Using Severity to Filter Noise
On the dashboard, changes are displayed with colour-coded severity badges. If you're seeing too much noise:
- Focus on High changes first — these are the ones that may require a competitive response
- Use Medium as your regular weekly review queue
- Low changes are safe to skim or ignore
Setting a Severity Threshold
You can set a minimum severity threshold in Settings → Notifications to filter your digest. For example:
- Low — receive all changes (default)
- Medium — skip minor cosmetic edits
- High — pricing changes and major launches only
- Critical — pivots, acquisitions, and shutdown signals only
Changes below your threshold are still tracked and visible on your dashboard — they just won't appear in your digest email. You can lower the threshold at any time to see everything again.
Questions? Email support@kompwatch.com and we'll respond within 24 hours.