13 Jun Engage The Right DISC Personality To Boost Your SaaS Reviews
Online reviews are a critical factor in the SaaS marketplace. A Zendesk study showed 90% of software purchase decisions are influenced by reviews. Another study showed reviews can lift your conversion rates by about 15%.
However, only a small fraction of your users actually take the time to write reviews.
This small sample size also means targeting the right mix of reviewer personalities can be a source of untapped competitive advantage for SaaS marketers.
Want to defend your SaaS reviews, change your category ranking and increase your inbound leads with a few hours of work?
Then keeping reading.
STUDY OVERVIEW
The APPEALIE team conducted an analysis of over 1,400 SaaS product reviews associated with an identifiable LinkedIn user profile. Using Crystal’s DISC type personality analysis software, those reviews scores were then compared against each reviewer’s DISC type.
The results were striking:
- The Dominant personality type wrote by far the most negative SaaS reviews (a full 0.16 review points below the I-S-C categories)
- D’s also wrote the highest portion of extremely negative reviews (less than 2.0)
- Avoiding D’s can improve your review score by as much as 0.44 review points and change your category ranking
- The Influential type were both the most positive and most likely to write reviews
TACTICAL TAKEAWAY: Use Crystal to analyze your users’ DISC types; optimize your review outreach to avoid D’s and prioritize I’s.
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF DISC:
Image: CrystalKnows.com
Originally conceived with Dr. William Marston’s 1928 book Emotions of Normal People, DISC is a framework to conduct behavioral assessments and categorize individuals into 4 personality types.
Said another way, DISC tests “measure how a person naturally prefers to do things and interact with others.”
The four DISC types can be summarized as:
- Dominant: Driven, ambitious, strong-willed
- Influencing: Enthusiastic, warm, persuasive
- Steady: Loyal, relaxed, patient, passive
- Calculating: Detail oriented, conventional, exacting
While we provide additional resources below to learn more about DISC, let’s move onto the actionable data points for SaaS marketers.
STUDY DATA:
The Dominant personality type wrote by far the most negative SaaS reviews (a full 0.16 review points below the average of the I-S-C categories).
Due to their more volatile nature and unfiltered communication style, D-types were also most likely to write extremely negative reviews (2.0 stars and below) that can seriously damage your overall product rating.
Here are some examples of D’s “going off” in their software reviews:
“Customer service is useless and can take a long time to get someone on the phone. Email support takes 24 – 48 hours to respond even the smallest question. Did I mention you should stay away from VENDOR? Remember you get what you pay for.” – 0 Stars
“They normally will take your money rather than fix the issues.” – 0 Stars
“We’re still in the implementation process and thus far, the customer experience has been terrible. They have been rude, inflexible, and difficult to work with.” – 0 Stars
“Support is horrible. It can take a week to get anything done. You have to email back and forth and the rep doesn’t spend any effort on figuring it out.” – 1 Star
“I disliked almost everything. It was very clunky and difficult or inconvenient to use. This system did not meet my needs at all.” – 1 Star
Finally, this “angry customer haiku” illustrates D’s blunt communication style:
“unprofessional support team …seems they are not hungry anymore
to be polite is not enough
only action counts” – 0 Star
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CONTENT
As a result, the proportion of D types in your reviewer base can materially change your overall product rating and category ranks
We examined the impact of removing D’s from the review mix of four products:
The lift from avoiding D’s is meaningful – a potential increase of between 0.10 and 0.44 review points.
This is especially meaningful if your current review score is at a threshold level (i.e. slightly below 4.0) that a software buyer considers a floor for consideration.
That increase would also translate to an improved category ranking (i.e. #7 to #2), potentially altering both your brand positioning and lead flow.
For the SaaS data nerds, here is a histogram showing the distribution of overall product ratings in our sample size:
A move of 0.10 rating stars to the right matters.
One other mildly interesting data point: the median review with an identifiable LinkedIn profile was 0.3 points higher than anonymous reviews. This makes sense – many professionals don’t want to be identifiable as that “user who publicly trashed our product.”
The Influential personality types were the most likely to write SaaS reviews (35% of total).
To maximize your review outreach conversion rates, we recommend targeting I’s first.
When you email I’s asking for their review, Crystal suggests using a friendly, expressive, and enthusiastic tone:
“Use informal greetings and expressive, friendly language when writing to an I-personality. Try to make a connection with I’s, even via email. Using punctuation to emphasize your enthusiasm and even an emoji or two will encourage a response more quickly.”
Yet another reason to prioritize your I-type outreach: they are also most likely to be your biggest champions that write glowing (4.5+ star) reviews.
ACTIONABLE CONCLUSION: Use Crystal to analyze your users’ DISC types; optimize your review outreach to avoid D’s and prioritize I’s.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CONTENT
RELATED RESOURCES:
More About DISC Types From Crystal:
Communicating with D’s – Get right to the point
“Begin your email with a short subject line, no longer than five words, that states the purpose of the email. Skip the greeting and salutation and get right to the point of your outreach. Close the email with a one word ending such as “Best” or “Regards” and your name. D’s are likely to respond quickly and with one sentence. Don’t be surprised to receive a one word answer.”
Communicating with I’s – Be friendly, expressive, and enthusiastic
“Use informal greetings and expressive, friendly language when writing to an I-personality. Try to make a connection with I’s, even via email. Using punctuation to emphasize your enthusiasm and even an emoji or two will encourage a response more quickly.”
Communicating with S’s – Provide clear context and direct call-to-action
“Use formal language when emailing an S-personality, especially if you are a new or business acquaintance. Start with a formal greeting and give some context around who you are before getting to the point of your email. If possible, point out common connections and try your best to avoid slang or abbreviations. Always include a call-to-action when writing to S’s so they know what you’d like them to do next.”
Communicating with C’s – Information packed with bullet points
“Start by stating the purpose of the email in the subject line. Length isn’t anything to be concerned with when writing to C’s. Provide as much information as you can and if you can include a bulleted list to emphasize importance, all the better. Make sure you use literal, technically descriptive language and write to them in a steady, somewhat casual tone. Do not use emojis or emphasize your thoughts with lots of punctuation. Doing so will cause a C-personality to take you less seriously.”
Given the meaningful differences between each personality type, we recommend using a customized outreach template for each.
APPEALIE Contributors: Matt Harney, Paola Schaw, Catherine Gonzalez