Online Dating and Match.com: A DSS Perspective

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Online Dating and Match.com A DSS Perspective

• Sokrates Kosmides
• Ronald Montgomery
• Decision Support Systems
• February 23, 2004

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• Romance should never begin with sentiment. It
  should begin with science and end with a
  settlement.
• Oscar Wilde, (18541900)
• We are the eBay for human beings.
• Jeff Titterton,VP of Customer Services
• PlanetOut Partners

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Presentation Overview

• Research Methodology
• Online Dating Industry Review
• Popular Dating Websites
• Match.com company overview and site demonstration
• DSS components of Match.com
• Match.com competitors

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Research Methodology

• Review of subject-related articles in
  practitioner journals and general news
  publications.
• Qualitative investigation of specialized and
  general dating websites, including Match.com.

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The Online Dating Industry

• Growing industry
• 45 percent rise in hits since Jan 2003
• 0.8 percent of online visits
• 302 million revenues in 2002
• More than 16 million users in 2002 in US
• Double time online
• 200 new launches in 2003
• Volatile industry
• Earnings hard to identify
• No standard customer satisfaction metrics

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The Online Dating Industry

• Customers
• Affluent urbanites
• Between 25 and 45
• Males 55, females 45
• One third are married (Jupiter Research)
• Future industry growth in international services

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Popular Dating Websites

• Match.com
• Yahoo! Personals
• udate.com
• Matchmaker.com
• eMode
• eHarmony
• Screening processes
• Reality

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Match.com Summary

• Owned by Ticketmaster
• Largest online and offline dating services with 8
  million members in 2003.
• In 2002, 89,000 members reported success in
  finding the match they were looking for.
• Free to register and place an ad (photos garner
  7X more traffic).
• 24.95 monthly subscription fee to reply, extra
  costs to use premium services.
• All content generated dynamically by members.
  Match.com provides ad-writing and safety tips.

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Match.com An Example
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Customer Information Collection
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Customer Information Collection

• Granular information collection allows for
  precise matching to other customers.
• Qualitative data, such as background and personal
  values allow for fuzzy evaluation by
  prospective dates and friends.
• Trend analysis of tastes and preferences are
  performed by Match.com. The results are targeted
  advertising and adjustment of Match.com service
  offerings.

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Support Problem-Solving Dimensions of Match.com

• Unsuitable candidates quickly screened
• Widens dating candidate and friendship pools
• Used for social scheduling by customers visiting
  other cities or regions
• Protects customer privacy, provides a safe
  environment to meet people

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Benefits of Match.com

• Low transaction costs (time and money)
• Its like going to a library. You could wander
  the stacks, but isnt it easier to check the card
  catalog?
• Anonymous email and phone calls through Match.com
  systems
• For some people, anonymity is a tremendous
  benefit when dating online. More than 50 percent
  of our subscribers say that after exchanging
  three e-mails, they still dont feel comfortable
  giving out phone numbers.
• Trish McDermott
• Match.com Spokeswoman

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Benefits of Match.com

• Robust
• Activities for customers to meet offline Match
  Travel, Match Events, Match Mobile
• Customer can perform targeted marketing of ads
• Scheduled, automated searches that mail customer
  search results. Can also save Favorites.
• Customer can perform and save specific searches
  based on
• Custom-Specific criteria such as age, gender, and
  distance. Selected through check boxes and
  pull-down menus.
• Who is currently online-Real time chat.
• Keyword-Searches string fields for inputted
  keywords
• Mutual matching-Finds profiles that much customer
  criteria then in turn verifies the customer
  profiles matches criteria for found profiles.

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What Match.com Provides

• A venue for targeted marketing
• Free Basic Services
• You have to give some stuff away and hook
  subscribers to pay for extras that attract
  critical mass.
• Jeff Titterton, PlanetOut Partners
• Reduced dating transaction costs
• I liked Internet dating because I could fit it
  into my schedule and not waste time with guys
  that didnt have qualities I was interested in.
• Rainie Finch, Singles Find Love in Cyberspace

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What Match.com Provides

• Inexpensive, more variety compared to offline
  peers
• Great Expectations charges for each customer
  contact, has only 100,000 members in major urban
  locations.
• Opportunities for personal branding
• In keeping with current advertising trends,
  todays online singles market themselves not by
  highlighting their best traits, but by creating
  an imaginary self thats impressively snarky and
  carefree.
• Heather Havrilesky, Meatmarket.com

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Match.com Competition

• Other online services (Yahoo, FriendFinder, etc.)
• Phone personals (urban areas)
• Newspaper and magazine personals
• Traditional/offline dating services (Great
  Expectations)
• Video
• Profile albums
• Family, church, school, other social venues

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Questions?

I SHOULD HAVE SCRAPED MY MANDIBLES
HE DOESNT LOOK AT ALL LIKE HIS PICTURE!!!