Know Thy Customer

One of the golden rules of business is: know thy customer. Many social networks and web dating services focus on buying patterns, demographics and other analytics to learn about their customers. But what about knowing who your customers are on a behavioral level? PersonalityPro, a leading international provider of personality assessment software has a number of clients in the online dating industry. PersonalityPro’s DISC-based tools assess the personalities of over 40,000 people every month for web-dating clients in United Kingdom, Gibraltar, the US, and Canada. DISC assessment is an acronym for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness (originally Submission), and Compliance. These four characteristics found in all people can determine ones behavior and how one will react toward people carrying similar or opposite behavioral traits. DISC-based assessments have been used for over 75 years to evaluate the personalities of over 50 million people.

Once members of a web-dating site have completed the personality assessment PersonalityPro can produce a Consumer Psychographics Report analyzing which types of people make up their database. This report advises on-line dating sites on how to improve their marketing messages to appeal to their member’s primary behavioral traits.

In a recent study, PersonalityPro found the majority of US and UK dating service clients are High Influence. This personality type doesn’t need hard data and evidence in order to persuade them; they are far more likely to value testimonials from other consumers rather than statistics.

Dating and social networking sites typically know a great deal about their members – everything from personal information to how they got to the site, and what their patterns are when they are online, but one thing that missing was who their members really are. PersonalityPro’s Consumer Psychographic report outlines their preferred communication style, motivators, values, and even their fears. This allows web-dating and social networking sites to truly understand their members.

According to PersonalityPro members become subscribers when they feel understood. The best way to make members feel understood is to ensure that your correspondence with them fits their communication style, their personality focus, their motivation, and if possible alleviates their fears. Patrick Marshall, Director of PersonalityPro explains, “We know for instance that with High Steadiness members it’s not a good idea to challenge them to make rash decisions. They need time to consider their options. So a message such as Buy Now! Limited - Time Offer! is not as likely to succeed as a message such as Try a Free Three Day Trial Before Joining”.

If you knew what motivated your customers, wouldn’t you change the way you spoke to them? The web-dating space has become quite crowed. The same is true for social networking. Now more than ever, the golden rule of knowing your customers is vital to success. PersonalityPro’s Consumer Psychographics reports is a good tool for gaining this knowledge and coaching you on how to better communicate with them.