Match

To update an older story we did on Paying For Perks at dating sites, I noticed on Online Dating Insider that Match.com has added a few more perks above and beyond what a normal paying membership covers. Their main push is still MindFIndBInd with Dr. Phil but, the new perks included:

• matchMobile - Allows you to access features of Match.com right from your cell phone. Includes viewing profiles and instant messaging singles. Costs $4.99 per month for 3 months.
• Email Read Notification - Find out when and if singles from Match read the emails you send them. Costs $3.99 per month for 3 months.
• matchTalk - Speak with other Singles on the phone but keep your phone number anonymous. Completely integrated into Match. Costs $4.99 per month for 3 months.

I wonder if these new features will work out. If they do, this is where paid dating sites will start to out shine there free counterparts. By having services that truly offer added value and are just too expensive to be implement by the free dating sites (costs couldn't be covered by on site advertising).

The only service I don't agree with here is the Email Read Notification. In my opinion, this service should be included with a normal paying membership. It should be part of the Hot Lists functionality like, who has viewed your profile. There also should be a privacy option here for members to disable notifications being sent out when you read someone's email, and not a paid option either!

One perk I did miss from my last article was:

• Highlighted Portrait - Your profile picture is highlighted with a border so it stands out in search results. Costs $2.84 per month for 3 months.

This perk may be worth it for some members since it does make your search listing much more noticeable, and the price for it is not bad either.

I notice this article on Online Dating Insider, it looks like Match.com now requires you to sign up for a free membership before you can perform searches or view any profiles. While I understand they are doing this to increase membership numbers, I think the increase in singles creating fake profiles or people just moving on and not signing up would be a bigger loss to Match. Most singles do join multiple dating sites (according to our polls) but I would think they like to perform searches to see if there are potential matches close to home before investing time in creating a quality dating profile.

Should be interesting to see if Match.com does this still in 6 months.

Here is an interesting article on CNNMoney.com about the founder (Andrew Conru) of the FriendFinder Network of dating sites. It talks about his failures and successes including AdultFriendFinder, his biggest success which generates more than 60% of his total revenue (over $200 million). This site rivals the likes of Match.com and Yahoo! Personals in total number of members. Last year AFF had more than 35 million visitors and on average 75,000 new user registering each day (not paid members).

I just read an interesting article regarding Match.com. They are one of the largest dating services on the internet, and this success is due partly to their marketing towards singles between the ages of 45 and 59 (Baby Boomers). These singles make up over 1.7 million members of Match.com's 15 million total membership, this is a 350% increase over the last 6 years. Another interesting thing to note is 7 out of 10 of these members are divorcees.

For more information, see the full article here.

Match.com is so sure you will meet someone special within 6 months on their dating site that they have come up with the Make Love Happen guarantee. If not, your next 6 months are free.

A few of the simple rules too follow during your 6 month subscription:

• You must create a truthful profile with a primary photo that is visible.
• Respond to or initiate email communication with at least 5 Match.com members each month.

For full program details visit Match.com. To purchase the Make Love Happen Guarantee program, just simply subscribe today and choose the Love package.

Update 2020-02-11: The Match Guarantee program was discontinued on April 4th, 2019. Any new 6 month subscription purchases after that date will not include the Match Guarantee. If you bought a subscription before this then you have one more chance to use the Guarantee at the end of your subscription term.