OPW – Jun 18 – Karinna Kittles-Karsten, CEO of Sacred Love, discussed ways in which online dating companies can increase the value and engagement of a dating site's talk objective. Karinna believes that sites should invest more in their customer's love life. She believes this will help extend memberships beyond the average 3 month customer life cycle by creating repeat business. Sacred Love provides content to support customers before, during, and after finding a partner. Karinna believes this principle can double or quadruple revenues by keeping customers around for 6 to 12 months or longer. Extending a dating site's value proposition is about creating the right mix of content for you customer's extended engagement. According to Karinna, sites must focus on their customer's love life by supporting matches through the entire process.
Month: June 2010
iDate Coverage – Regulation of Online Dating
OPW – Jun 18 – Senator Catherine Pugh (D), Maryland State Senate, and Dan Sykes, CEO of Anastasia International, discussed the hot topic of regulation of the online dating industry. A primary target of Maryland's recent regulation was the International Marriage Brokers segment. Senator Pugh clarified the intent of the legislation was to apply to IMB only and not online dating in general. The Maryland law attempts to mirror the Federal IMB regulation passed in 2005, but with additional caveats and penalties. There was strong opposition to the law from Anastasia International and A Foreign Affair. These companies believe they are being unfairly targeted by the legislation and have had no incidents. They claim to have very significant protection programs in place already.
Dan Sykes believes that the definition of Broker is problematic for companies such as his, giving a negative connotation of human trafficking. He also discussed the issue of compulsory disclosure of personal information, which currently only applies to IMB. Members of the online dating industry are encouraged to stay abreast of legislative issues which may affect the industry and become involved in the process.
Easydate To List On Alternative Investment Market
NASDAQ – Jun 18 – Easydate said it plans to list on London's Alternative Investment Market at the end of June. Easydate operates a number of mainstream and niche dating websites such as DatetheUK.com, Canoodle.com and DatingforParents.com, and four of the U.K's top 15 dating sites belong to Easydate's portfolio. The company began its international expansion in 2009 and said it continues to grow in all other English-speaking territories outside the U.K. including India. Easydate said shares of 2.5 pence each would be admitted, but didn't give details of how much it plans to raise on admission or its expected market capitalization. FULL ARTICLE @ NASDAQ
Facebook Dating App Pulls In $5 Million Annually Through Subscriptions
ALL FACEBOOK – June 17 - Snap Interactive, the developers of the “Are You Interested?” app has successfully grown a $5M a year dating application, shifting from a free model to a subscription model, using Facebook as a cheap source of new user acquisition. Earlier this week the company formally announced their continued growth in cash receipts. FULL ARTICLE @ ALL FACEBOOK
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iDate Coverage – Internet Dating & Its Role on Television
OPW – Jun 18 – June Sarpong, an actress and broadcaster, discussed the opportunities in developing game shows and television shows about dating which would be hosted by an online dating company. The key to success is finding the right producer and network on which to develop the show. These shows are a unique opportunity for additional revenue streams through brand sponsorships as well as terrific user engagement and traffic generation. June also advised dating sites to learn a lesson from television shows and continue to foster relationships with users after they have found someone and left your site with the end goal of the user returning to the site should the relationship end.
iDate Coverage – Internet Dating & Reality TV Shows
OPW – Jun 18 – Jerry Kowal, Senior VP of Digital Media for Endemol USA conducted a question and answer session about developing promotions and content across multiple media venues. Some examples given were reality TV shows and viewer sweepstakes. Jerry discussed the complications and benefits associated with partnering with TV networks, including one of the largest challenges in content ownership and control. There are definite opportunities for additional revenue channels with the right partnerships and ideas in place.
Dan Abelon, President And Co-Founder Of SpeedDate
OPW INTERVIEW – June 18 – SpeedDate brings people together to participate in first dates over their webcams. The service resides at the intersection of two very interesting and important trends. The rise of computer based webcam use, and the rise of phone based webcam use. Have you seen the iPhone 4? That’s a real game changer that should bring growth to the likes of SpeedDate, Woome and other sites that offer webcam based dating services. – Mark Brooks
How big of a deal is mobile for SpeedDate?
It’s an extremely big deal for us. We’re fairly focused on mobile. We launched as a destination site on SpeedDate.com but over the past year mobile services have been an increasing part of our business. 20 to 30 percent of our activity each day is coming from mobile.
How do you define activity?
I would define activity as people registering for the site as well as using the services offered by SpeedDate.
So that’s 20% defined by activity which is log ins. How about the money split? Are you seeing the same sort of money split?
I can’t give exact details on the financial side but it is definitely a growing part of the business overall. We’ve found that the people who use our mobile services are not more or less likely to pay for the service than people on the site. But I think it’s an area where there is a lot of potential for the online dating industry in general. I think it will become a bigger focus for other companies in the industry as time goes by.
I’ve heard rumors that some mobile dating apps monetize better than others. Do you have any comment on that?
We’re monetizing pretty well for both the iPhone and mobile as well as for the site. We’re not seeing a huge difference there. However, there are some challenges on the mobile side. The marketing and distribution channels are not nearly as built out over the web. I wouldn’t say it’s the Wild West but it’s still a pretty early stage in terms of the inventory that is available and how easy it is to expand.
How is it going with the iPad app?
It’s going well. I think it’s a really exciting platform in terms of what’s available. On the iPhone we have 1.3 million downloads. I’m not sure how long it will take for the iPad to get there but I think there is a lot of potential.
If we were to look at mobile versus online; has there been any surprises to you for usage patterns between mobile and traditional online users?
The interesting thing is that there are a lot of females who are using the iPhone and iPad applications.
You must be excited about the new iPhone having a camera on the front. It fits perfectly with your application. What are your plans for the new iPhone?
Yeah we’re really excited about it. I think all killer dating apps should be mobile so you can use it anywhere and anytime you want. The killer experience from the app should also be live and interactive. I think when you marry those 2 together, the interactive side and the mobile side, then the world basically changes for singles.
Do you have any plans to integrate into SMS as well?
Yeah, that is something we’ve been thinking about. As time goes by and we obtain more potential users
outside of smart phones then SMS will become more attractive for us.
What words of advice would you give to the industry for anyone considering creating a new mobile app?
Experiment and innovate with the user experience.
iDate Coverage – Zoosk Offers Advice on Social Dating Development
OPW – Jun 17 – Jeff Titterton, VP of Marketing for Zoosk, revealed the principles Zoosk follows to stay competitive and thrive as a dating business on the social web. According to Jeff, it is important to plan for quick changes and realize that nothing lasts forever. He encourages companies to take advantage of new, scalable opportunities and avoid distractions.
Another key principle is establishing a direct relationship with your users. It is necessary to remain in the business long term. Jeff also stressed the importance of experimenting with new ideas. It is beneficial to run a lot of experiments that are quick and affordable while yielding usable information. He encourages companies to not be afraid of failures, but to learn from them.
Companies also need to figure out their unit economics by determining which pricing models will work for their particular site and making sure acquisition costs are lower than the lifetime value of the member. Finally, Jeff Titterton advised companies to develop multiple distribution channels. Take full advantage of quality traffic sources, but realize that these sources can dry up.
iDate Coverage – Using Virtual Dating to Improve Online Dating
OPW – Jun 17 – Michael Norton, a Professor from Harvard Business School, believes that virtual dating can improve user satisfaction in online dating. According to his research, online daters are normally very dissatisfied after first dates due to overly lofty expectations. Norton's surveys reveal a typical online dater spends 5.2 hours per week searching and 6.7 hours per week reading and writing emails which leads to a poor date lasting less than an hour. Users generally have very high expectations of other users based on profile information and communications. These expectations quickly crumble on the first real date where online interactions meet reality. Norton believes that virtual dating can be a valuable tool to calibrate a dater's expectations prior to the first date. Norton's study shows that daters who had a virtual date prior to a real date had a significantly better experience than those who only viewed profile information alone.
iDate Coverage – Additional Revenue Streams for Online Dating Sites
OPW – Jun 17 – Online dating sites can create additional revenue streams by partnering with companies which interest their members. Club Med and Cinemark Theaters are two such companies. Ramon Franco, Manager of Key Accounts & Group Operations for Club Med, discussed the resort will work with site operators to create custom trips and events for singles. These events can be sold to site members to generate considerable revenues. Club Med also allows companies to purchase an entire resort to customize it for a large scale event. Allison Jernigan, Director of Business Development for Cinemark Theaters, outlined opportunities for site operators to partner with Cinemark to generate revenue and marketing opportunities. Cinemark offers discount pricing for tickets which can be used for promotions or offered at special pricing to members. Other promotional opportunities are available for high end markets. There is considerable revenue potential in partnerships with other companies which offer products and services that your site members are interested in.