[Marketing strategy - how do these companies get customers?]
Marketing Strategy
Most companies offer customers "free" 1 month trial memberships which are advertised on many of the dating sites. The trial memberships usally then turn into a full membership in which the customer is billed monthly, with some companies they'll offer the customer their money back if they can't find their match within 1 month example: Match.com and eharmoney.
Referenced, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_dating#Pop_culture
D.W.
For Subscriptions and No FEE dating services, even if you're not interested to sign-up initially when you visit, in order to browse and click on a possible match to either read the profile or notify them, the dating service entice you to register for FREE to view the potential listings they found based on the criteria you selected. -DKW
Traditional Ways in Meeting Individuals:
- Bars
- Clubs
- College
- Through Work and Other Friends
Marketing
- Companies market themselves by advertising in newspapers (The New York Times, USA Today, and New York Post), Radio Spots (WHUD, CBS Radio), and Television.
- Niche dating offers access to specific groups
Examples of various Niche markets: -DKW
Singles who love motorcycles and want to meet others who have the same interest [http://www.bikerkiss.com/]
These are specifically open to plus size singles [http://www.bbwcupid.com/]
Online dating for baby boomer are geared for seniors [http://seniorfriendfinder.com/]
For vegetarians and animal rights singles [http://www.greenfriends.com/]
For attractive and wealthy people [http://sugardaddie.com/]
Marketing ideas include Hiring Celebrity Psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw to represent Match.com and a TV Series star from next top model to be a spokesman for the company. A cultural anthropologist was hired at Match.com to develop a questionnaire similar to the popular EHarmony questionnaire-based matching system. -GY
Besides the initial subscription fees there are additional packages a person may purchase that raise the price of a subscription, some include psychological counseling. Some sites charge an initial fee to join and then a reduced monthly fee. (GY)
So they are going to have a unique number of visitors to their site per month. So the company would need to target their audience carefully and establish effective ways to make their front page more appealing to those who visit it, then the conversion rate will be relatively high. I don't know how well these company convert their free members to paid signups, but I think it depends upon the quality of the website and payment policies.
Online Marketing Deceptions
The majority of online dating websites make you believe that if you sign up as a paid subscriber, you can communicate with anyone else on the site. What they don't tell you is that the person you are trying to communicate with must also pay to be a member in order to communicate back with you. Some of the biggest offenders include eHarmony and Match just to name as the top giant companies. Not all the online dating services do these forms of deceptions such as LavaLife and American Singles just to name a few. -DKW
There are some companies that have lawsuites filed against them for continuing to bill a subscriber without their consent even when they canceled the services.
(onlinedatingmagazine.com - June 14, 2007) A lawsuit seeking class action status was filed against True.com on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, alleging fraudulent billing practices, particularly charging members after they have canceled their service. The lawsuit was filed in Dallas County, Texas on behalf of Thomas Wong who resides in Washington and was a member of True.com in August of 2006. Wong was apparently continually charged for several months after he canceled his membership with True.com. [http://www.onlinedatingmagazine.com/news2007/lawsuitagainsttrue.html] -DKW
Sound like these free signups are part of the marketing strategy. They get people to try for free and once the potential member sees all the attractive potential matches they are tempted to sign up.
Remember that marketing is about creating successful transactions. It's more than advertising. It's also targeting customers, setting the price, and more
This is only part of the picture. But online dating firms also use other marketing channels like TV. What about PR? 1
