Features

We got word of some new features at Perfectmatch.com.

The first one is called "Like It" and it allows members to tell other members if they liked one or more of their photos, personal statements, and the "In My Words" content section. What makes "Like it" personal is the ability to tell the member why you liked the photo or other statements. For example with photos you can select from 6 preselected answers which include telling them you liked the energy of the photo, too their eyes or smile. Once you tell someone you have liked a part of their profile an email message will be sent to them, informing them of this connection.

Another new feature is a quick compare tool. When you click on "Compare Us" when looking at a profile you will be presented with a 2 column layout showing on the left the person you are interested in and on the right your own profile details. This includes a photo, the Duet Analysis showing the Similarity Factors as well as the main parts of the profile that can often be deal breakers in a relationship. Some examples include smoking, drinking and food preferences.

Perfectmatch.com also launched a revamped dating guide called "Life, Love and Dr. Schwartz" which offers a column from their relationship expert, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, as well as content from members including dating disaster stories and their favorite date night recipes. This is also where you go to find the latest Polls and Quizzes on love and relationships. Online safety tips and advice is also available from here as well.

To find out more information about this dating site, read our review of PerfectMatch.com.

We noticed that eHarmony has shut down eHarmony Marriage. eHarmony Marriage was launched on February 6, 2006 as a service to help couples fix a struggling marriage. As of November 2009, eHarmony had removed all links to eHarmony Marriage on their dating site and as of last week, the domain "marriage.eHarmony.com" now gets redirected to eHarmony Advice.

eHarmony Marriage was an interesting concept that I guess didn't take off. At one point back in December of 2008 we notice that eHarmony Marriage only had about 1,000 visitors a month (see Story). This number is not large, especially when you consider eHarmony the dating site receives millions of visitors a month.

The main way I found eHarmony promoted the marriage service was through the dating site itself. If a user picked "separated" or "married" as their current relationship status when filling out a profile, they would then be asked by the website if they would like to learn more about eHarmony Marriage (see Story). With the closure, I guess if a marriage has reach the point of someone searching dating sites for singles, it is beyond the point of them wanting to fix the marriage.

eHarmony is not out of the marriage business all together. In 2008 they bought the popular websites Weddingbee (see Story) and Project Wedding (see Story).

For more information on this dating site, read our eHarmony review.

The winner of our Editor's Top Pick - Christian Award for 2009, ChristianCafe.com, has recently updated their dating service. Due to members requests this dating site has added additional options to the 'Children at home?' question on their dating profile. In addition to 'Yes' and 'No', members can now select 'Sometimes' and 'Weekends'.

ChristanCafe.com also have added a new question to their profile which asks members if they are willing to relocate. Answers to this question includes 'Yes', 'No' and ' Possibly'. Existing member's answers will default to 'Possibly'. Of course, existing members can always update the answer by editing their profile. This new field is also searchable when you are looking for matches.

The last new update is the 'Who's Viewed Me' list is now editable. This means if you don't want others to know you've viewed their profile, you can now remove entries from their 'Who's Viewed Me' lists. This is done on the Profile Settings page which is accessible from the Profile menu.

To find out more about this dating site, read our [staticpage: review of ChristianCafe.com]

MillionaireMatch.com has added a few updates to their dating service. Searching has seen the most changes with some of them being, the ability to search for new members and, searching for members whose birthday is coming up. You can also now specify a lot more information about your ideal match. This makes the "My Match" search much more useful. Along with "My Match" members can now also specify a few questions that members can answer when first contacting you. This not only gives you the information you want (without asking directly) it also acts as an ice breaker and helps get the conversation started.

When replying to emails now, Gold Members can now select from 8 prewritten replies. This makes it easy if you have a quick question to ask the member or if you want to let the person know that you currently are not interested.

Customer email support at Millionaire Match is good with most members only waiting an hour or so for a response. The dating sites Help and FAQ section is only okay. This section could still contain a lot more useful information. What MillionaireMatch.com did add (for Gold Members only) was live chat customer support. This means no more wait times for messages since you now can ask someone directly.

For more information on this dating site, read our updated review of MillionaireMatch.com.

"My Match" is a suite of tools in which Match.com recently launched to help complement their existing search capabilities. This personalized matching channel is accessible from the tool menu at the top of most Match.com pages (may be called "Matches").

Here is the list of Matching Tools:

• Daily 5 - Daily introductions to people based on how likely you are to strike up a conversation together.
• Mutual Match - Daily introductions to a handful of people based on your stated preferences and their stated preferences.
• Singled Out - Introductions we only make when we believe there is an especially high likelihood that you will hit it off with the person.
• Like At First Sight - Introductions to people who we think you'll find immediately appealing based on your responses to a fun online quiz regarding first impressions.

We have seen the other features before this but, "Like At First Sight" is new and currently in Beta. "Like at First Sight" matches are based on a quiz you take. The quiz consists of 15 questions where you have to pick the best choice from 15 different answers (most questions). The difference here is all questions are answered by picking from images. For example the first question asks "Of these celebrities, I think she is most attractive:", from here you are presented with 15 different pictures of actors or actresses (depending on the gender you are interested in). The only questions which followed a different format was the one where you had to pick the voice which was most attractive to you. Other questions from the quiz include:

• The SHAPE of this face most resembles my dream woman:
• I find this hairstyle most attractive.
• Which of these figures always turns your head?

The" Like At First Sight" quiz definitely is designed to figure out what your ideal man or woman looks like. Once you complete the quiz you are then presented with a number of matches. I am curious to know how Match.com figures out some of the matches since questions about hair styles and the shape of your face are not included in ones profile. I wonder if Match.com has software to analyze profile pictures to produce these answers.

For more on the story, read the press release and to get further details on this dating service, read our review of Match.com.

 

It sounds like you're looking for an online dating site that does some of the matchmaking legwork for you. That's probably why you're looking into eHarmony, Chemistry and Perfect Match! Well, before you delve into any of these sites, we took some time to build a comparison for you. After all, many of the writers on this site are in the online dating world as well. Let us do the digging so you can find someone you dig.

eHarmony.com

Cost: $60/month (estimated)
Accepts non-traditional clients (gay, lesbian, etc.): no
Compatibility test completion time: 1 to 2 hours
Allows users to search profiles: no
Rejects potential members? yes
Accepts "currently separated" members: no

eHarmony is the oldest of the "matchmaker" type online dating sites. They do all of the legwork for you. Once you complete their compatibility test, you wait for them to match you with potential dates. You're only eligible to receive a certain number of matches per week, so if you close-out all of your options early, you'll be waiting another week to see who else is in store for you. They only accept heterosexual couples and do not allow those who are not legally single (i.e. divorced, widowed or single) to become members. They are famous for their guided communication process, designed to let you get to know someone through their internal messaging system with a series of mutually answered questions.

To find out more about this dating site, read our review of eHarmony.

Chemistry.com

Cost: $50/month (estimated)
Accepts non-traditional clients (gay, lesbian, etc.):
Allows users to search profiles: no
Rejects potential members? no
Accepts "currently separated" members: yes

Chemistry.com is owned and operated by Match.com and there are a number of profiles that are on both sites. Touted as "more fun" than eHarmony, the site accepts members of all sexual orientations and also permits those who are "currently separated" to join the site.

To find out more about this dating site, read our review of Chemistry.

PerfectMatch.com

Cost: $60/month (estimated)
Accepts non-traditional clients (gay, lesbian, etc.): yes
Compatibility test completion time: 1 to 2 hours
Allows users to search profiles: yes
Rejects potential members? no
Accepts "currently separated" members: no

PerfectMatch.com has perhaps the greatest functionality of the three matchmaker-type sites that use compatibility profiles. They allow users to search by compatibility features, keywords and many other criteria that can be customized. They also deliver matches to your inbox as well. An ideal balance if you're looking for some help but prefer the functionality of a user-powered site where you call the shots.

To find out more about this dating site, read our review of Perfect Match.