Category: PerfectMatch

Tech-Savvy Singles Find Online Personals Nothing Like Real Thing

Posted on February 13, 2005

Marycom_logo SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS — Feb 13 — Nearly all of the 1,650 new Bay Area members who joined Table for Six in 2004 were singles who stopped fishing online, said owner Julie Paiva. "A big reason why someone does online dating is to expand their social life,'' said Paiva. "But they find out what they're mostly doing is spending time in front of a computer screen."  Cali, for one, paid for memberships at five sites before pulling the plug. “If you're serious about finding someone, you have to spend money and stick around to make the effort,'' she said.  In 2000, when eHarmony homed in on the population of serious daters — armed with a 436-question personality test — many of its competitors laughed.  EHarmony's algorithms for romance struck a chord; boasts a membership of 6.5 million, up from 1 million in 2003. Yahoo Personals, True, PerfectMatch.com and Tickle followed suit with their own love alchemy tests. At ColorCupid members are matched based on color preference tests.  Mary.com launched this month offering compatibility testing,  background checks and certified photos taken by its photographers to ensure people look like their photos.

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

Mark Brooks: Mary.com, what a great name!

Video Clips Aim to Steer Cupid’s Arrows

Posted on February 13, 2005

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Feb 12 — After exchanging instant messages and digital photos through an online dating site, he flew to Houston to meet what he hoped would be a beautiful soul mate. What he found was a flabby misanthrope with an apparent drinking problem. "I decided right then that I needed more information before I'd go on another date with someone I met online."  New policy: He'll only date women who post videos or use Web cameras in virtual chat rooms.  Videos are gaining popularity among the estimated 20 million Americans who visit online dating sites each month. Nearly one in four U.S. singles have used online dating services, according to Date.com.  Only 10% of 2.8 million active users at True.com post videos, but the percentage is rising quickly and online profiles with video get more hits than those without.  "Online daters go on a lot of first dates but not many seconds," Compagno said. "More information almost always is better."  PerfectMatch.com (1.5 million-members) doesn't allow videos. Nor does eHarmony.com. It didn't accept photos until 2001 and will probably never accept videos, said senior VP Marylyn Warren. "Chemistry fogs your brain a little bit," Warren said. "If you see someone who is drop-dead handsome or beautiful, you might forget that she cheated her way through school or he tells lies or does the kind of things that break up a marriage. We need to get at the true character of a person without emphasis on photos and videos."

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

Mark Brooks: Great chemistry is hugely multifaceted, at the core of great relationships, and nigh impossible to predict.  Personality profiling distinguishes someone as a great potential friend.  The rest is up to chemistry.  Your comments please…

Relationship Based Matching; Love Machines

Posted on February 10, 2005

LA CITY BEAT — Feb 10 — It’s hard to know how faith might play into Warren’s methods, since he is unwilling to subject his never-published test research to independent review. “There’s obviously an evangelical influence,” says Dr Thompson of weAttract.com, creators of Yahoo Personals relationship test. Warren has a master’s of divinity and clinical psychology Ph.D. and served as dean of Fuller Theological Seminary School of Psychology. Friendster.com recently partnered with eHarmony but the company was unaware that eHarmony excluded gays/lesbians until informed by CityBeat. “I have to call and talk to eHarmony about that, because you’re telling me this for the first time,” says Friendster’s head of bus. dev.  EHarmony also rejects one in five who fill out the 500+ personality questions. eHarmony screens out anyone with a curiously low level of energy (depression), users with three+ unsuccessful marriages, or anyone who fails to answer its questions truthfully. Eharmony's questions use the homogamous approach, based on the idea that like fits better with like. True, PerfectMatch, and Yahoo! prefer to match users based on complementarity. Dr Houran, of True, is author of an article in The North American Journal of Psychology detailing their failings. The PerfectMatch members who meet on Dr. Phil are disappointed that they haven’t all been united with their potential soul mate, but seem to understand that very few things in life ever work out perfectly. About 15 of the couples from the show seem to have hit it off.

The full article was originally published at La City Beat, but is no longer available.

Battle for Supremacy Among Leading Online Relationship Sites Heats Up

Posted on January 30, 2005

BUSINESS WIRE — Jan 27 — Online relationship sites devoted to serious relationships are  attracting millions of new members. This burgeoning market segment will continue to attract interest, investments, and members in 2005, and the two companies poised to capitalize on this trend are PerfectMatch.com and eHarmony.com. "eHarmony has done a very good job at educating the market about the differences between a dating site and a relationship site," said Duane Dahl, founder and CEO, PerfectMatch.com. "They've spent a tremendous amount of money, but money doesn't necessarily mean success for eHarmony's members. We are gaining ground quickly." 

Mark Brooks: The holy grail of online dating = finding a truly compatible match (whatever your preferences might be).  The three big psychological profiling based online dating players are eHarmony, True and PerfectMatch.  I'll be profiling the PhD's behind these sites shortly.  Yahoo, Match and FriendFinder offer optional profiling as well, but a minority of their users have taken the profiling tests. 

Personality Tests – a Reliable Tool for Online Dating?

Posted on January 2, 2005

PRWEB — Jan 1 — The online dating industry is experiencing a new wave of growth by offering personality tests. Have you questioned the reliability of these tests? Many online personals tests are based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The professionally administered test-retest reliability of MBTI is 0.75 (only 3 out of every 4 tests are reliable). Since matching involves tests from two people, retest reliability is 0.75 x 0.75 = 56%. Reliability of online self-assessment would be even lower, less than 50%. The test-retest reliability of Compatti.com’s compatibility assessment tool, which is based on biorhythms and astrology, is nearly 100%. PRWEB

Mark Brooks: I'll be writing an article on the top personality test based online personals sites for One 2 One magazine for their Valentines issue. eHarmony, Match, Tickle, True and PerfectMatch seem to be the category leaders.

Silicon Valley VC Firms Invest $110 Million in eHarmony

Posted on December 22, 2004

Eharmony-logo SAP INFO & MERCURY NEWS — Dec 22 — Matchmaking Internet site eHarmony has landed a $110 million investment from two Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures, scoring one of the biggest funding deals of the year. Analysts said the total market for Internet personals is estimated to be about $450 million a year, making it the largest category of paid online content. But growth rates are slowing. Spending for online personals grew at 4% in Q2 of 2004, compared with 60% in Q2 2003 and 376% in Q2 2002, according to the Online Publishers Association and ComScore Networks. EHarmony said it has almost 5.8 million registered users and is profitable. Its sales in November were up 264% from the same month a year ago. Analysts said eHarmony would likely use a big chunk of its funding to continue its advertising blitz, including regular spots on radio and television. "These guys are spending every penny they can to brand themselves,'' said Nate Elliott, an analyst from Jupiter Research. "It's helped them go from nowhere to near the top of the pile in a short amount of time.'' SAP INFO

Mark Brooks: This helps validate eHarmonys approach. The future is in helping people find great matches.  "Who to marry," is the most important decision we make in our lifetimes.  Most people get it wrong.  We need help! True and PerfectMatch are the other top online dating companies branding on personality profiling.

Guthy-Renker and PerfectMatch.com Partner to Create Infomercial

Posted on December 7, 2004

BUSINESS WIRE — Dec 7 — PerfectMatch.com today announced a unique partnership with direct-response powerhouse Guthy-Renker. The companies have combined to develop an infomercial starring actress and author Josie Bissett and Dr. Pepper Schwartz. Guthy-Renker is known for delivering award-winning quality products backed by a celebrity. BUSINESS WIRE

Mark Brooks: PerfectMatch touts it’s Duet matching/profiling system. eHarmony, Tickle and True are similarly positioned as direct competitors.  Match, FriendFinder and Yahoo Personals also have profiling sewn into their offerings.

Classmates.com Taps PerfectMatch.com as Relationship Channel Partner

Posted on October 20, 2004

BUSINESS WIRE–PerfectMatch.com announced its partnership with Classmates.com, a leading online community where 38 million members find, connect and stay in touch. The PerfectMatch.com management team pioneered online dating by founding and growing Kiss.com and Udate.com. ALTAVISTA

$7 Million Funding to Fuel PerfectMatch

Posted on August 26, 2004

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 26, 2004– Series B round of funding for more than $7 million. Led by Ignition Partners with additional funding from Mellon Ventures. "The site combines decades of real, proven methods from a renowned relationship expert, resulting in DUET, a unique matching method that utilizes a Myers Briggs-type 'compatibility' indicator.

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

Men Are From Mars, Women Are on PerfectMatch.com

Posted on August 4, 2004

SEATTLE, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ — Women are flocking to online relationship site PerfectMatch.com. Nearly 65% of PerfectMatch.com’s one million members are women, which sit in stark contrast to the 30-35% female membership found at more traditional online dating sites…PerfectMatch.com has partnered with Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D., the nation’s leading relationship expert, to scientifically co-create Duet…Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®…Another reason for this surge in female membership is PerfectMatch.com’s unique partnership with LIFETIME TV.