ParshipMeet Group

For people who opted into marketing emails from Datran Media, eHarmony's e-mail marketing partner, they recently received 3 different emails over a 6 week period. The goal of this marketing email campaign was not only to find customers but also to increase brand awareness. At the end of the campaign, a study found brand awareness increased by over 37 percent for eHarmony, from those who received the emails. Through email, advertisers can focus their marketing dollars and zero in on key demographics. As an example, in a test, eHarmony targeted people over 40 who where Asian and Canadian. Once sent, they found brand awareness increased by almost 12 percent from those who received the email.

Click E-mail gaining utility among marketers for the full story.

For singles interested in this online dating service, our eHarmony review is a good source of information.

In a poll that appears to be from eHarmony (though it is reported on a UK website) found that 19% of married couples surveyed met online. The poll was conducted in 2006 and 2007 and surveyed 10,000 married couples. 17% of these couples met at work with the same percentage meeting through friends. In a similar poll conducted in 2004 and 2005, of the 5000 married couples surveyed, 14% met online, with 20% meeting at work and 17 percent through friends.

In the 2006-2007 poll if you looked at the age group 45-54 for couples, the result showed 31% met online. In the 20 to 44 age range this is much lower at only 18% of couples met online.

I was surprised by the poll results and I would have expected the numbers regarding married couples meeting online to be slightly lower than it was. I wonder what this percentage would be for couples who are not married yet? If this was an online poll (it is not mentioned if it is or not) then I would also expect the numbers of married couples who met online to be higher since the couples who are polled are people who are tech savvy and have been online.

These poll numbers are also backed up by some eHarmony statistics we reviewed a little while ago (see story). If you look at the comments section you will note it is calculated that eHarmony has a 32% to 40% success rate. A success is measured by if a couple who met on eHarmony actually got married.

Go to Mirror.co.uk News for the full story or check out our review of eHarmony for more information on this dating service.

Update - August 16, 2008

I found another news item regarding this survey which gave me a few more facts. It was an online survey and it was done by Harris Interactive.

It appears woman over the age of 50 want a younger man on two of the most popular dating services, as reported in the Washington Post. On average a 50 year old woman on Match.com wants a man who is 48. At the same time on eHarmony, a woman who is 50, is looking for a man 10 to 15 years younger. Thanks to in part of the women's movement and the fact that woman now are more independent equal opportunity has come to matching. Older woman matched with younger men also makes sense from a biology stand point.

Women, according to calculations based on mortality risk, are five years "younger" than men the same age. The 65-year-old woman is the biological equivalent of a 60-year-old man. So it's sensible, not just fanciful, for a woman to look for a younger guy.

By looking at the averages on eHarmony and Match.com though, most men are still looking for a younger woman. eHarmony has found men 50 years or older are seeking women 6 to 26 years younger and Match.com has a similar ratio. On average men who are 56 are seeking someone who is 54 but, when you look at men who are 70, they are looking for a 58 year old woman.

Of course this is what people want and the problem with it is, it creates an age gap. If both men and woman over the age of 50 are looking for a younger partner, matching them up becomes difficult. Of course what a person wants and what happens in real life is a different story. On eHarmony were reporting of successful matches is requested, it has found woman 40 years or older found a match with someone who is plus or minus 4 years their age. For men at age 40 it is the same age difference as woman but, by the time men reach 60, successful matches for them has reached the age range of plus or minus 6 years.

For the full story see the Washington Post. Read our Match.com Review or eHarmony Review for more information on these popular dating services.

We were sent by eHarmony a coupon code for their six month subscription that gives new members 20% off or an additional $30 US. This promotion is for both the United States and Canadian sites and expires on September 30th, 2008. The Code is:

CJSUMMERPROMOAABB

They made the code is a little long which makes it a little hard to remember. Visit eHarmony now or for more information on this dating service (including user opinions), read our review.

The Unofficial eHarmony Blog got a peek at eHarmony’s June advertiser kit which had an interesting promotional page. On it eHarmony stated they receive 3.2 to 3.5 million unique visitors with 350 - 500 million page views per month. With this traffic, they receive 12 - 15 thousand new registrants per day. From this, 1 in 20 site visitors will subscribe to eHarmony and these memberships refresh every 3 to 4 months.

From the information above, I calculated that eHarmony receives between 600 – 750 in new paid members a day or 219,000 – 273,750 paid members a year. This means at any one time on eHarmony there are between 72,000 and 90,000 paid members (if you take the 4 month member average refresh rate).

I’ll have to update my Online Dating Statistics & Facts page with this new information. For a more detail view of eHarmony, try reading our review.

On Tuesday members of Project Wedding got an email informing them that eHarmony had purchased the website. Looking at the home page of Project Wedding you will notice that the copyright at the bottom has been updated from WebShaka, Inc to eHarmony, Inc. The current owners, Joe and Margaret, will still maintain the site for an unknown period of time.

Project Wedding is as the name suggests, a place to help you plan your wedding. The site includes message forums and articles where you can seek advice. You can also find a list of vendors for weddings that include categories like photography, dresses and cakes. These vendor listings also include customer reviews which can be very helpful to the bride or groom to be.

What did eHarmony purchase this site? Well, it is a natural progression for the company to go from matching couples together to now help them plan a wedding. Last year eHarmony has said they were responsible for over 43,000 marriages in the United States. They already have generated goodwill with these couples and they are use to using eHarmony's service so it should be fairly easy to get them to use an online wedding planning site. This website may becoming a bit of a niche social networking site for eHarmony where couples can trade information from where the best place is to get pictures done in your city to, who has the best wedding dresses.

Currently eHarmony also runs eHarmony Marriage, which they call an online alternative to marriage counseling.

For more information about the dating service, eHarmony, please read our review.