Welcome to eharmony's latest TV campaign for Australia, launched in June 2020.Looking for a lasting relationship? Visit eharmony.com.au today and take our un. EHarmony's lack of same-sex matching options prompted lawsuits claiming that eHarmony violated laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. As part of the settlement of a New Jersey case, 26 eHarmony launched a partner website called Compatible Partners providing match-making 'for men and women looking for a serious.
Learning Objectives
- Explain the process of deciding which customer segments to target for marketing activities
Segmentation Success: A Dating Web Site for Women
When it was launched in 2000, eHarmony quickly made its mark as a new brand and new category in the online dating landscape: a dating site for the serious relationship seeker, particularly women. By focusing on women as its target segment, eHarmony made wise, profitable choices about its product and user experience to address this group's unique needs.
eHarmony entered an online market dominated by two well-established brands, Match.com and Yahoo, and it seemed to violate all the standard practices and conventional wisdom of the industry at the time. Unlike other dating sites, eHarmony decided not to allow users to search and browse their Web site for potential mates. Instead, it requires participants to complete an exhaustive questionnaire before they can receive any information about prospective suitors.
This process creates a much better user experience for eHarmony's target demographic in a couple ways. First, women don't feel like they are being judged solely on their looks. They perceive that they are being matched according to a complex array of compatibility criteria—not just superficial markers like age or income. Second, the entire eHarmony process is very time-consuming. It takes at least forty minutes to fill out the initial questionnaire, and users must court their potential mates through a series of essay questions and then write reviews of any contenders. By making the process so time-consuming, eHarmony has the natural effect of weeding out non-serious users and helping women to feel less vulnerable. This makes the product much better for the serious female relationship seeker who doesn't want to waste time on or take a chance with casual dating.
Eharmony Women
In the following eHarmony ad, notice how the company differentiates itself from competitors:
The result of creating a product suited to women seeking marriage or long-term relationships has had two huge financial benefits for eHarmony. First, they can charge much more and enjoy much better margins than competitors. Because the customer perceives more value in being matched with a 'soul mate' than in just being helped to 'find a date,' eHarmony is able to charge more than other dating sites ($50 per month versus $20 per month). Second, eHarmony is able to generate revenue from women users much more effectively than other dating sites (many of which make most of their money on men): almost 60% of eHarmony's paying users are women.
Check Your Understanding
Answer the question(s) below to see how well you understand the topics covered in this outcome. This short quiz does not count toward your grade in the class, and you can retake it an unlimited number of times.
Use this quiz to check your understanding and decide whether to (1) study the previous section further or (2) move on to the next section.
Starting the Communication as a Woman on eHarmony
Posted by:
Some time ago I wrote an article discussing women making the first step in communication with online dating sites. My argument was that women should be encouraged to kick off the process, even if that only entailed some online 'flirting'.
In that article, my main focus was sites like Match.com where the communication is started by one person by writing an email. However, recently I had a reader ask me a question regarding women making the first move with sites like eHarmony and I wanted to discuss my thoughts I shared with her.
When Online Dating Mirrors Real Life
With dating services like Match.com, there is a clear view of one of the people taking the first step. In some ways it's similar to a bar: a man sees a woman he is interested in and walks over to her and introduces himself.
Match.com (and others like it) can be very similar in that one person is taking a step to initiate communication. Because of this many women hesitate to make the first move as this is viewed (in some traditional sense) as the man's job. Even the women who don't see it as the man's 'job' worry that starting the conversation could appear unattractive or desperate.
So Who Should Make the First Step in Communicating on eHarmony?
I feel that eHarmony is very different than the process described above. As I'll be explaining, my opinion is that women should not hesitate at all to start the communication on eHarmony.
Many of the concerns women have simply don't apply to eHarmony, in my opinion. In particular:
- Will he find me unattractive if I start the conversation?
- Am I assuming the man's job?
I honestly feel that these concerns shouldn't apply to eHarmony. Here's why:
1. eHarmony is Taking the First Step…NOT the Guy or the Girl
The problem some women have with starting the communication is that they put themselves into what is traditionally viewed as the man's role. With eHarmony this is not the case. Why?
The result of creating a product suited to women seeking marriage or long-term relationships has had two huge financial benefits for eHarmony. First, they can charge much more and enjoy much better margins than competitors. Because the customer perceives more value in being matched with a 'soul mate' than in just being helped to 'find a date,' eHarmony is able to charge more than other dating sites ($50 per month versus $20 per month). Second, eHarmony is able to generate revenue from women users much more effectively than other dating sites (many of which make most of their money on men): almost 60% of eHarmony's paying users are women.
Check Your Understanding
Answer the question(s) below to see how well you understand the topics covered in this outcome. This short quiz does not count toward your grade in the class, and you can retake it an unlimited number of times.
Use this quiz to check your understanding and decide whether to (1) study the previous section further or (2) move on to the next section.
Starting the Communication as a Woman on eHarmony
Posted by:
Some time ago I wrote an article discussing women making the first step in communication with online dating sites. My argument was that women should be encouraged to kick off the process, even if that only entailed some online 'flirting'.
In that article, my main focus was sites like Match.com where the communication is started by one person by writing an email. However, recently I had a reader ask me a question regarding women making the first move with sites like eHarmony and I wanted to discuss my thoughts I shared with her.
When Online Dating Mirrors Real Life
With dating services like Match.com, there is a clear view of one of the people taking the first step. In some ways it's similar to a bar: a man sees a woman he is interested in and walks over to her and introduces himself.
Match.com (and others like it) can be very similar in that one person is taking a step to initiate communication. Because of this many women hesitate to make the first move as this is viewed (in some traditional sense) as the man's job. Even the women who don't see it as the man's 'job' worry that starting the conversation could appear unattractive or desperate.
So Who Should Make the First Step in Communicating on eHarmony?
I feel that eHarmony is very different than the process described above. As I'll be explaining, my opinion is that women should not hesitate at all to start the communication on eHarmony.
Many of the concerns women have simply don't apply to eHarmony, in my opinion. In particular:
- Will he find me unattractive if I start the conversation?
- Am I assuming the man's job?
I honestly feel that these concerns shouldn't apply to eHarmony. Here's why:
1. eHarmony is Taking the First Step…NOT the Guy or the Girl
The problem some women have with starting the communication is that they put themselves into what is traditionally viewed as the man's role. With eHarmony this is not the case. Why?
eHarmony is providing the matches; they are saying, 'We think you two could have a nice time together.' No one person is putting themselves out on a limb. You have a match: do you want to start the communication process or not? If you're a woman and you answer yes to that question, then go ahead and kick the process off…which brings me to my next thought.
2. The Process is Going to Be Exactly the Same Regardless of Who Starts It
With eHarmony it is really more about starting a process than starting a conversation. There are no 'traditional' roles for walking through a process like this.
In addition, no matter who kicks things off, you have to go through the same communication steps. You have to answer the same question, provide the same answers, and click the same buttons. For the first several steps neither the man nor the woman are in control: eHarmony is. This is just another reason to be encouraged to contact that guy you find interesting and to not over-think things!
Eharmony Member Log In
My Own Experience with Match and eHarmony
I'd like to think of myself as progressive and a supporter of bra-burning and what-not but here's the honest truth: when a woman contacted me on Match.com it did feel a little odd.
Eharmony Reviews By Women
Not wrong! I liked being contacted. But strange all the same. Perhaps it was just because I received a very limited number of first contact emails compared to the number that I was initiating.
Conversely, eHarmony did not feel odd. It didn't feel like anything (aside from interesting and possibly exciting). Also, on eHarmony I had a lot more women who started the process there (which may suggest that this article is simply pointing out the obvious to many women out there).
Regardless of whether you see at as obvious or not let me end with this:
If you are a woman wondering if you should start the eHarmony communication process, I would encourage you to do so!The controlled environment this service offers really does support anyone getting the ball rolling.
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