Month: February 2009

Top 10 Usability Gems And Mistakes On PlentyOfFish

Posted on February 10, 2009

Plentyoffish logo USABILITY TESTING — Feb 6 – Many people think that PlentyOfFish is successful because it's free. But there are lots of free dating sites out there. It's successful because it's sticky, addictive, easy to use and fun. All the features listed below make the site sticky and engaging.

   1. Thumbnails on top. 
   2. Visible e-mail status. 
   3. Who's online? 
   4. Email settings. 
   5. Who's viewed me. 
   6. Who favorited me. 
   7. Large images. 
   8. Clickable interests. 
   9. Call to action is in the right place. 
  10. Automatic approval of photos and essays. 

But no site is ever perfect, so here are some of the usability mistakes I found on the site's main features.

   1. The mailbox delete link is hard to see. 
   2. No Next/Back links on search results. 
   3. Problems with Who's Online
          * It's unclear how the users are ordered.
          * When I reach the second page of "Who's Online," the format changes from gallery and I see women listed. 
          * It would be nice to see how long the users have been online. 
   4. No Clear "Join Now" button. 
   5. What are matches?
   6. The "mailbox" and "Send msg" options should be next to each other.
   7. Checkbox next to images. To make a photo the main image, I need to mark a check box. But if I can only set one photo as the main image, I should be offered radio buttons and not check boxes.
   8. Limited "Viewed Me."
   9. Register Now… and Always. I can sometimes see the "Register Now" link even though I already am registered and logged in.
  10. Who's New is hidden.

The full article was originally published at Usability Testing, but is no longer available.

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BodyWorlds Offers Speed Dating In The UK

Posted on February 9, 2009

Speeddater events logo OPW — Feb 9 — A special Valentines speed dating event which will be held at The O2 Body Worlds Exhibition, with half the proceeds going to Heart UK. The ticket price of £20 includes entry into Body Worlds & The Mirror of Time exhibition at the O2, a glass of champagne on arrival and the chance to find a soul-mate while speed dating. More info here at SpeedDater.

See all posts on SpeedDater

Dating Should Be Easy

Posted on February 9, 2009

Therightone logo BUSINESS WATCH — Feb 8 — ~44% (~110 million) of the population is single. With numbers like that, dating again should be easy, but successful dating requires some preparation. Dating Coach, Kira Sabin, says discovering your single self means being emotionally and mentally ready to date. While pressure from family and friends might make you feel like you should be dating, it's important to want that for yourself. Another aspect of being newly single, says Paul Falzone, CEO and founder of The Right One, is "feeling emotionally and physically positive about yourself. With dozens of online dating sites, there's no shortage of profiles. However, both experts feel that off-line dating has more to offer, with Sabin noting, "60% of people meet through friends." FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WATCH (page 21)

Mark Brooks: One of the reasons dating sites serve singles better than social networks is that when someone joins a dating service, they are clearly indicating that they are not only single, but single and available and motivated. Off-line dating/matchmaking services offer more service and charge a lot more. ~10% of internet daters would pay significantly more then $30 a month for a more all-encompassing service. That's matchmakers sweet spot. How is your dating service helping these higher echelon singles? (Full Disclosure: TRO is a client of Courtland Brooks) 

10 Things Online Dating Services Won’t Say

Posted on February 9, 2009

10thingsdatingserviceswontsay SMART MONEY — Feb 9 – 
1. Keep your hopes high and your expectations low.

2. We've yet to meet two people who aren't a potential match.  "No one knows if (personality profiling datin services) actually work," says author Robert Epstein. If you really want individualized matchmaking then consider a personal matchmaker.

3. Everyone's lying about something. Some users lie about their age to show up in more search results but most lies in the online dating universe are pretty small, says Nicole Ellison, an assistant professor at Michigan State. 

4. We don't have as many members as it seems. Experts say that at best, subscriber services convert ~ 10 and 15% of browsers into members. That means 90% or more of the profiles at a subscriber site could belong to unreachable browsers. On free sites like Plentyoffish.com or OKCupid.com every profile belongs to an active member.

5. Fall in love too quickly and you could end up with an empty wallet. "The romance scam is the most prevalent on dating sites, and the hardest to stop", says Brian Erickson, director of operations at Mate1.com.

6. Our guarantees are only guaranteed to keep you here. Match.com and Yahoo Personals offer "guarantees" and six-month "promises". If you don't find the one during your six-month subscription, you'll get more time to keep trying. Dating sites do this because it's an easy, low-cost way to keep traffic up—and a great marketing tool, says David Evans, an industry consultant. 

7. Don't expect quick results. "You can't just throw up a profile and expect to go on a date," says Mark Brooks, an industry consultant for online dating services. The world of online dating has its own rhythms and rituals, which often take some time. Keep that first date light. "You're going to know by the second sip of your latte if there's something there," says Trish McDermott, VP Love at Engage.com.

8. Once you log in, you're pretty much on your own. Some people could simply use more help than others, says Mark Brooks, but good luck getting it from the dating service you're using. "Online dating sites' biggest flaw is they don't offer service of any kind," he says. Rather, most of them function more like a giant virtual bar or nightclub.

9. You might not need all these extras—but we do. "Besides the overall dampening of consumer spending, the Internet dating market has simply become saturated", says Brooks. That means online dating services have had to start getting creative. 

10. Good luck trying to break up with us.

FULL ARTICLE @ SMART MONEY

See all posts on Plentyoffish    See all posts on Match.com
See all posts on OKCupid        See all posts on Yahoo Personals
See all posts on Mate1            See all posts on Engage

OkCupid Attracts Young People

Posted on February 9, 2009

Okcupidnew logo THE SPECTATOR — Feb 9 — CEO Sam Yagan said Okcupid secures the youngest demographics of all the online dating for three reasons. First, he said, is because OkCupid is free. Yagan also thinks college students are attracted to the site because of the creators. OkCupid was made by the same makers of thespark and sparknotes.com, a site that, until it was shut down, had been popular with students. After sparknotes.com was shut down, much of the site's fan base transferred to OkCupid. The third reason is that the service is similar to other online social networks, rather than really pushing dating.

The full article was originally published at The Spectator, but is no longer available.

See all posts on OkCupid

Why Pay When Dating’s Free Sites Beckon?

Posted on February 6, 2009

Online dating dve mysi a srdce BUSINESS WEEK — Feb 6 – In December, free sites accounted for ~25% of all traffic to the top 10 U.S. dating sites, up from 15% a year ago, according to Hitwise. During the second half of 2008, PlentyofFish was the most-trafficked dating site in the U.S., according to Hitwise. "We are going to double our staff this year," said Markus Frind, CEO of PlentyofFish.com. "The economic downturn doesn't affect me." OkCupid.com says growth picked up in Sep, as the economic decline accelerated. Some paid sites are getting hurt more than others. Traffic to Yahoo Personals fell 15% in Dec from a year earlier, according to Hitwise. In the same period, eHarmony's traffic dropped 61% and True.com's tumbled 68%. At the same time, traffic to Match.com jumped 31% while Singlesnet.com's traffic rose 16%.

The full article was originally published at Business Week, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Plentyoffish               See all posts on True.com
See all posts on YahooPersonals          See all posts on Singlesnet
See all posts on eHarmony                  See all posts on Match.com
See all posts on OkCupid

Dating Site Matches Mentally Ill Singles

Posted on February 6, 2009

Trueacceptance logo ASSOCIATED PRESS — Feb 6 — Dating site TrueAcceptance.com was launched last year to help people with mental illness find healthy relationships. Co-founder, Elizabeth Barrett, observed from her work with people with mental illness that those in strong relationships are more likely to thrive. About 300 users have posted profiles on the site since it started last summer.

The full article was originally published at Fox News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: NoLongerLonely has ~13k members, more traffic, and serves the same niche market.

Social Networks Change The Breakup Game

Posted on February 6, 2009

Breakup HARTFORD COURANT — Feb 6 – With Facebook, it definitely makes it harder to get over someone. "If it's over, it's not quite over on Facebook," said Dr. Pepper Schwartz, of Perfectmatch.com. Updates like "Barry is in a new relationship" or "Sarah went dancing all night last night" or photos of your ex with a new woman are sure to rankle.

The full article was originally published at Hartford Courant, but is no longer available.

See all posts on PerfectMatch

The Love Lab

Posted on February 6, 2009
Eharmony labs logo
PASADENA WEEKLY — Feb 2 — A study by
eHarmony Labs, published in July 2008, had concluded that the more
similar partners were in their personality and the ways they responded
to emotional situations, the more satisfied they were in their
relationships."When someone else is like you and has the same
attitudes," explains Gian Gonzaga, senior research scientist, "that
validates the attitudes that you have… They're making you feel better
about yourself. Psychiatrist Timothy J. Pylko at Peet's on Lake in
Pasadena confesses he's also a bit surprised by some of the research.
"I see complementary personalities working well, oftentimes, someone
who is very gregarious and outgoing is balanced by someone who is a
little bit more introverted." According to eHarmony, similar people are
more likely to get together in the first place because their attraction
is stronger. FULL ARTICLE @ PASADENA WEEKLY
Mark Brooks: Irena (co-editor of Online Personals Watch and my better half) and I are different, and it works. Very well. Have a great weekend!

See all posts on eHarmony