eHarmony CEO discusses Plans to increase Membership

Online dating may be on the rise, but so are sites which compete with eHarmony's stronghold on the market. CEO Greg Waldorf recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal about their plans for the future, including a thirty-million dollar ad campaign aimed at trying to increase growth in subscriptions.

In the article, Waldorf points out that the recession has actually increased consumer interest in eHarmony. In a study the company did in September and October of 2009, researchers found that when the Dow dropped 100 points, the site saw a 2% increase in the number of pages viewed on each site compared to days when the Dow rose.

However, subscriber growth has been slowing. Waldorf maintains that singles are still looking for long-term relationships, but they are likely exhausting other methods first, like trying to meet other singles on their own rather than through a dating website.

There could be other reasons for the slow-down in growth. The company has endured some negative publicity by refusing to allow same-sex matches on eHarmony's website. They've settled two lawsuits related to this issue, most recently a class-action lawsuit in California. As a result of the backlash, eHarmony started a new dating site called CompatiblePartners.com, specifically geared towards gay matches.

When asked about the controversy Waldorf states, "I feel confident that a separate site is the best way to market the service. It lets us target that demographic specifically, in the same way that other community of interest sites, around ethnicity or religion, like JDate.com [which targets Jewish singles], operate."

When asked about their expansion into overseas markets, Waldorf acknowledges the challenges. Cultural differences when it comes to what people look for in a good match vary, so the matching technology has had to adjust. Also, brand recognition has been an issue, so they are looking more into partnerships and acquisitions. Local dating websites are more familiar with language and cultural differences as well as government regulations specific to their territories, which would benefit eHarmony's investment.

WSJ reporter Joe Light also brought up the issue of social media sites and their potential impact on eHarmony subscriptions. Waldorf acknowledges the power of sites likes Facebook in shaping the dating culture as a whole, but believes social media provides a more passive avenue for finding relationships.

He states, "we're a lot different than picking somebody out of a bunch of friends or just browsing. Our users also have extremely high demands for privacy. I don't feel we've lost subscribers because of Facebook."

For more on the story read the WSJ and to find out about the dating sites mentioned here, you can read our eHarmony review and Compatible Partners review.