Dating Services

The Canadian owned dating site, Lavalife received a makeover of their homepage and front end of their website recently. As long as I can remember Lavalife has always had a homepage that was predominantly red (see right image). Now a light blue and grey is used, as shown in our new updated image on the left. Once you log in though, you will find that the members area has remained the same, with the familiar red in the background.

Another surprising change to Lavalife's homepage, is the standard image of a couple having fun is nowhere to be found. This is a staple for most popular dating services. You just get a basic Join for Free and Login panels for visitors on the new homepage. The Lavalife name and logo doesn't even really standout. I am not sure if this simplistic approach works, as image wise it doesn't show what Lavalife as a service offers. As matter of fact the word Dating is only mentioned once in small letters, in a link for a directory at the bottom of the home page. They mention finding singles, but not really what for. Obviously most people visiting this page would know, but I think Lavalife should of mentioned they are a dating site, since their company name doesn't suggest online dating either. Plus, what do most people type into a search engine when they are searching for a dating site, I would think the term dating site or something similar! If these words are not on the homepage, Google and other search engines are not going to return it in their search results.

I really like the dating site, Lavalife and what they offer singles but, I do think they made a number of mistakes in the redesign of their homepage. They have other landing pages which are more traditional and contain more information, but it is was mistake not to include more information on their homepage.

On a somewhat related note, last year I looked at other dating sites and their use of blue (see Story).

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

This year eHarmony won the Customer Service Department of the Year at The 7th Annual American Business Awards. This award was presented June 22, 2009 at a ceremony in New York City with over 600 executives in attendance. Here is the list of honorees for the Customer Service Department of the Year:

STEVIE AWARD WINNER:

• eHarmony, Pasadena, CA

FINALISTS:

• Dice Holdings, Inc., New York, NY
• iCIMS.com, inc. Hazlet, NJ
• IHG Guest Services, Atlanta, GA
• LifeLock, Tempe, AZ
• The Venetian & The Palazzo Resort - Casino - Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

This year more than 2,600 entries were submitted for the American Business Awards in which over 200 executives nationwide judged to help decide the Finalists and Stevie Award winners. Other award categories included Best Overall Company of the Year, Best New Company of the Year and, Consumer Products Website of the Year.

To find out more on what these awards are all about and for a complete list of the 2009 American Business Award honorees in all categories, visit the ABA website. For more information on this popular award winning matchmaking service, read our eHarmony.com review.

To woo in advertisers IAC released some updated statistics for Match.com. Here is what we know:

• Match.com had 20% growth in the first three months of 2009.
• 2.8 million Match.com users connect online and meet offline.
• Match.com members go out on 6 million dates each year.
• A subscriber spends on average 60 minutes per month on the dating site.
• On average a member views 30 pages per day.
• 132 million winks sent out every year.
• Over 56 million first emails sent out per year.
• On average 12 couples get married or engaged every day on Match.com.

In terms of demographics:

• The gender split is 52% female and 48% male.
• 48% of Match.com members are College Graduates.
• Ages 25 to 44 makes up 56% of their members.
• 44% of Match.com members make between $35k and $50k.

It's great to see Match.com starting to release some statistics but, a few things caught my eye. The first being about 12 couples getting married every day. eHarmony says on average 236 members get married every day (see Story). We will have to take a closer look at this point in a later post and see why there is such a difference. Another point that was interesting was about the 2.8 million Match.com members who connect. Is this the number of actual paid subscribers on Match.com in a year? Every quarter Match.com releases the number of subscribers they have, which lately has been from 1.3 to just over 1.4 million people. Of course this doesn't mean if you add up all the quarters you would get the total number of subscribers for the year as the same person could be a subscriber in quarter 1 and in quarter 2. The last point of interest was about Match.com members going out on 6 million dates a year. This could be taken a number of ways but let's assume they mean Match.com members dating each other. This would mean of the 2.8 million subscribers in a year, on average at Match.com you will go out on 2 dates.

Here is the IAC Advertising Solutions web page for Match.com. Since yesterday they have actually updated their PDF and removed some information. For the original PDF released by them that includes all the stats listed, read our local copy of Match.com Statistics for 2008 and 2009.

For more general information on this dating service, read our Match.com review.

I'm late on a few stories but I thought I should get this one out. Lavalife is now offering Speed Dating and it is currently free to try until June 24th, 2009 (2 days left)!

Online Speed Dates at Lavalife starts 8 pm each night (local time), and you get the chance to meet 10 singles in your area and all in 30 minutes. The events are arranged by location and age group. The age groups span 10 years (i.e. 30 to 40). Your current Lavalife profile will have to be completed and you will need to fill out an additional speed dating profile. This includes a picture, (the one from your Lavalife profile can be used), 'Ask me About' phrases which includes 3 topics you enter that your speed date may want to ask you about, and your email contact information.

Once your profile is complete you click 'Sign up now' below the event of your choice and you'll be presented with a confirmation screen. Once the event is about to start you log into Lavalife and click on the speed dates tab to enter your event. Make sure you show up on time as you cannot join in once the event starts. Each speed date allows you to text chat with the other person in real time. You get 3 minutes on each speed date and at the end, you get 30 seconds to decide if you clicked with the person. At the end of the 30 to 35 minute event you will receive your click list. This list provides you with the email addresses of the members you clicked with and who have clicked you.

Once this free offer is over, speed dating events will go on sale for $4.99 each. You may also purchase 3 event passes for $3.99 each and a package of 5 events cost $2.99 each. Passes only expire if your Lavalife account has been inactive 180 consecutive days (6 months).

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

JDate.com received a complete site makeover this month that includes both the front end of the site and the members area. The new look of the homepage (on the left) gives a more modern and professional feel than the previous version of the site (right). Other updates include redesigned profiles and searching. You now can now search by keywords or a phrase. This allows you more control over who is returned in search results since you can now search the entire profile, including any text inputted by the JDate member. Search results also have been updated to include a new mini search view which is available while you are viewing a potential matches profile. Enhanced search filtering of results is also available for the quick search tool.

Two other new features include a blog and video show. JBlog is a new web blog for members which JDaters can contribute too, discussing their lives and dates. A certified therapist will also blog her advice, analysis and answer any questions from the community. JDateTV is a weekly produced online video that follows "eight JDaters on their journeys to find their soul mates". The first season is now online in its entirety and available for viewing.

You can find the JBlog here and the new JDateTV here.

For more information on this dating site for Jewish singles, read our JDate.com review.

The Unofficial eHarmony Blog has dissected a few web pages over at eHarmony and they have figured out, to date that the dating site has had over 28.1 million user registrations (for all countries). By looking at the source of the registration process and in particular the JavaScript, you can find your user ID number. This number is incremented each time a user is registered. So, if you ever want to know exactly how many users have registered, follow these instructions to find your eHarmony User ID.

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