Category: eHarmony

Gay Love Online, And This Time They Mean Business

Posted on January 23, 2008

Patrickperrine GFN — Jan 22 — E-Harmony's discrimination towards gay clients, has led entrepreneurs to rethink services specifically for gay singles. Patrick H. Perrine MA, PhD is the founder and matchmaker behind myPartner.com. GFN spoke to Dr. Perrine about how he went from relationship counselor to online cupid.

GFN: Why enter into the competitive Internet dating world?
Patrick Perrine: I realized there was a major underserved market of gay and lesbians singles. Nobody was providing a place with the right tools and resources to create positive relationships.

GFN: What did you learn from sites like Gay.com to make myPartner different?
PP: We did a tough competitive analysis, and we took our initial user feedback very seriously. Match.com is incredibly successful because they are constantly changing. That was a big model for us. 

GFN: Where did you get the financing to develop the site?
PP: I used my personal resources to develop the company. Recently, I did take on some angel investors.

GFN: What is your advertising/marketing plan? 
PP: We get a lot of traffic from organic search. October 1st was the start of our major online advertising campaign. 

GFN: Do you eventually want to address lesbians?
PP: It may be something we tackle in the future.

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

New Online ID Verification Service For eHarmony Members

Posted on January 14, 2008

Eharmonylogo
BUSINESS WIRE– Jan 14 — eHarmony released a new online ID
verification service in partnership with RelyID, a leading provider of
age and identity verification services. Using publicly available
information, RelyID validates a user’s first and last name, age, and
address. Once verified, a user’s profile features a RelyID badge, which
shows that their personal information has been verified. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

Chemistry.com Outs eHarmony.com

Posted on December 26, 2007

Chemistry NY TIMES — Dec 24 — Chemistry's new campaign is targeting eHarmony by criticizing that the site doesn't match same sex couples. Chemistry addressed this issue in the form of a $20 million campaign titled "Rejected by eHarmony" this past spring. The campaign has helped the site grow 80% and the number of gay and lesbian users have risen 200%.  The budget for this next ad is planned to be increased from the last one. FULL ARTICLE @ NEW YORK TIMES

Email Data Source Ranks Dating Sites

Posted on November 29, 2007
Email_data_source_logoPR WEB — Nov 29 — Email Data Source, a provider of email competitive analysis data, released its study ranking the Email Brand Equity Index™ of Online dating sites based on the quality and effectiveness of their marketing emails. The Email Brand Equity Index™ is determined by compiling historical data on email marketing messages and measuring the emails' perceived effectiveness in driving website traffic.

Email Brand Equity Rankings
1. Match.com   
2. Friendfinder
3. Spark Networks
4. eHarmony.com
5. Reunion.com
6. Cupid.com
7. True.com

8. Family Friends
9. eCube Media
10. Beliefnet 

A Kiss-Off To Online Dating

Posted on November 21, 2007

BUSINESS WEEK — Nov 20 — The era of Web 1.0 is over, online dating is dead. Going on sites like Facebook or MySpace it's like going to a bar with your friends, whereas a dating site is like walking past a bunch of animals in cages at the zoo. According to comScore, the number of people visiting online dating sites dropped 6% in September. Unique visitors to Yahoo Personals and eHarmony fell 21%, Match.com had a 16% drop, and True.com's visitors plummeted 46%. ComScore does show some names like Plentyoffish.com growing, but these are new sites with far smaller user bases. I doubt PlentyofFish will ever get to the size or valuation of a Match.com.

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

Mark Brooks: Match had $89.1 million revenue in Q3. That's ~$360 million a year.  PlentyofFish is now making $10 million+ a year. I doubted Markus would ever get into the top 10 when I met him in 2004. I underestimated him. PlentyofFish is #2, Match #4 on the Hitwise USA rankings.  On Comscore USA rankings, Match is #2 and PlentyofFish is #8.  In the UK, Hitwise ranks PlentyofFish.com as the #2 dating site, and Match comes in at #5.  And PlentyofFish comes in at #1 in Canada according to Comscore, with Lavalife at #2 and Match at #13. See the full rankings here. (Disclosure: PlentyofFish is a client of Courtland Brooks)

myPartnerPerfect Becomes MyPartner.com

Posted on November 13, 2007

Mypartner_logoPRESS RELEASE — Nov 11 — The company, which is the Gay Man's answer to eHarmony, recently shortened its name to myPartner.com. The site is targeted at gay men looking for relationships rather than casual dating and offers matchmaking and dating advice. It uses a process called the Partner Perfect Compatibility™ Matching System developed by its founder, Dr. Patrick H. Perrine, which is specific to the complexities of gay men seeking gay men. FULL ARTICLE @ NEWSWIRE TODAY

Mark Brooks: The myPartnerPerfect.com domain was just a little too long. myPartner.com is a name that is on par with the eHarmony.com name. Now myPartner just needs $20 million for Q1's TV ad budget…   (Disclosure: myPartner is a Courtland Brooks client)

September Hitwise Rankings

Posted on October 11, 2007
Hitwise_logoOPW — Oct 11 — We have just updated Hitwise US internet dating rankings. Singlesnet and Plentyoffish maintained their 1st and 2nd position. eHarmony ousts Yahoo Personals from its 3rd spot. Mate1 moved down two spots from #7 to #9. Adam4Adam and BlackPeopleMeet.com moved up to #7 and #8. Gay.com is in at #15 and Cupid.com slides off the top 15 to #16. – Mark Brooks

eHarmony #5 In Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Program For LA

Posted on October 4, 2007

EharmonylogoPRESS RELEASE — Oct 3 — eHarmony was ranked #5 in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Program for Los Angeles, a ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, and life sciences companies in the area. Rankings are based on the percentage revenue growth from 2002-2006. The median increase in revenues among the ranked companies was 269.6%.

The full article was originally published at Live-PR, but is no longer available.

Cupid Can Be Stupid

Posted on September 20, 2007

EharmonylogoTHE MOTLEY FOOL — Sep 18 — eHarmony is disputing Chemistry‘s claim that the questionnaires filled out by Chemistry applicants "predict which single men and women you’ll have a relationship and dating chemistry with." If the lengthy registration forms at premium dating services are bunk, why even bother paying for love when there are plenty of free sites out there? FULL ARTICLE @ THE MOTLEY FOOL

eHarmony: The Softer Side Of Technology

Posted on September 17, 2007

EharmonylogoFORTUNE — Sep 14 — eHarmony's constant tweaking of its matchmaking system appears to be working. The 7-year-old online dating site is "very, very profitable" with annual revenues of almost $200 million. Paid subscribers, revenues, and profits are all up roughly 30% year-over-year. By year-end, the company will have $100 million in cash and is eyeing an IPO in the not-distant future. With an expansion into Canada, and the UK and Chinabeing next, their next challenge is to incorporate local behaviors into their matching software.

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

Mark Brooks: I'm surprised eHarmony hasn't had more competition spring up. PerfectMatch and Chemistry are the only true competitors and eHarmony has three time the traffic of the two of them combined.