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What paid membership model would you use for a dating site?

by atvking
12 replies
I am opening a paid membership dating site in my country. Kind of like e-harmony where members are matched by a personality test.

I have 2 membership models in mind:

1) the classic one - member does personality test, gets free info about his personality AND also a list of free matching partners BUT if he wants to contact them he has to join...


2)my version- everything like above (does test,gets test results, gets list of compatible partners) BUT also gets 5-10 messages free but has to pay when this expires to keep communicating later on...


I am leaning towards method #2 because the free messages would, in my opinion, make the whole experience more valuable to the customer if he can talk to some potential matches first?

I was thinking something in the line of either 48 hours free communication or 5 to 10 messages. Not sure what I will go with first.


What membership model would you go with if you were in my shoes?
#dating #membership #model #paid #site
  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Hill
    I would use #1. Most conversations on dating sites last 3-4 messages before they meet or exchange private contact information so they can communicate off-site.

    Follow what the big sites are doing (Match, eharmony, Christian Mingle). They've probably tested all this stuff already.

    Kevin
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    • Profile picture of the author AlexCupid
      Originally Posted by Kevin Hill View Post

      I would use #1. Most conversations on dating sites last 3-4 messages before they meet or exchange private contact information so they can communicate off-site.

      Follow what the big sites are doing (Match, eharmony, Christian Mingle). They've probably tested all this stuff already.

      Kevin
      Kevin has the right point. A lot of people will use these free messages to get off the website (like to exchange IMs or even offline contacts). Most big dating sites work this way: pay first and talk to members afterwards. Although you could still try free messages idea. Maybe you will find that it will work better.
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanmilligan
    Banned
    I would go with your own model.

    But I would try them both, along with some other things to see what converts the best.

    I tried my hand in the dating niche for a bit; hated it.

    Its a hard one to get right, but if you do - you will bank.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    3. Allow free registration and free to contact. Then charge them to "retrieve" their messages
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    • Profile picture of the author atvking
      Originally Posted by John Romaine View Post

      3. Allow free registration and free to contact. Then charge them to "retrieve" their messages
      Can you please explain what it means to "retrieve" their message? I'm very interested...
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      • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
        Originally Posted by atvking View Post

        Can you please explain what it means to "retrieve" their message? I'm very interested...
        Tell them they have messages in their inbox. Then when they go to retrieve them, charge for access?

        Ive seen this method used on share accommodation sites. It certainly raises curiosity when you know theres something there.
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        • Profile picture of the author brettb
          Try different things - many dating sites alter their charging models.

          But ryanmilligan is right, dating is hard to get right. You need a good understanding of your market. A problem I see a lot is people paying half-decent programmers and spending $$$$ on a site that takes a year to build.

          On the other hand, the rewards are gigantic. Most of my competitors aren't that old. Some have over one million members. A site with that many members will be very easy to monetise.

          There are some very nice white label scripts out there. I would go down this path if I wasn't a programmer and having that programmer thing of thinking everyone else's code sucks . White label is really good if you have an existing site (e.g. gothic forum) and want to add a dating site on.

          One nice thing about starting a dating site is that I'm putting some tremendous meat on my CV. I can see some lucrative dating site development/maintenance contracts coming my way.
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  • Profile picture of the author atvking
    Thanks for the input.

    Maybe 5-10 messages is too much. Point taken. I will reduce this to 2 messages just to try and get them even more interested and will naturally split test with the standard model.

    If anybody has any tips for a paid dating website of any kind I would be more than interested in hearing any sort of advice because this niche is new to me I do fitness and Motorbikes so even if its obvious stuff I may not know it...thanks for any information in any case!
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    • Profile picture of the author AlexCupid
      You could actually try White Label solution, when you get a free working website from an existing big brand. It can make your life easier. First, it's easy to set up. And your partner company will help you take care of all technical stuff. So you don't need to be a great web-designer and a programming guru to own and run really good site with a lot of features. Second, from the day one your members will have access to the existing member base. It's one of the important things when creating a dating website: have a decent member base. When people register there they actually expect that there will be a lot of other members to talk to. Sometimes it may take years to build up the number of active members. Moreover, you'll own that member base that is brought by you (it'll be your own chunk in the total member base).

      So, essentially, you would just need to come up with your own brand and domain name, and promote your own already enhanced product and fully-functioning. You will work on revenue share with that big company that offers you a template and member base. Usually the higher total revenue is, the higher your stake is.

      Overall, it's a good option if you want to kick-start your online dating business.
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      up to $160 per paid signup,
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      • Profile picture of the author atvking
        @alex cupid

        Thanks for all the info but I have already developed the whole platform from beginning to end. I have Jedi knight coders in on this with me so programming is completely free. Design is not a problem and also advertising it is dirt cheap in my country.

        You did address an interesting point though, it is that every start up dating site needs a certain # of base members before one can start charging membership. I have given this much thought in the past and the only solution I can see is going from free to paid.

        Here is how I imagine the whole process:

        Stage 1) I advertise the hell out of the personality profile test, get their e-mail, let users do the test, give the users the report on their personality and a list of matching partners (so far) and also a time frame of when the actual "launch" will be

        Stage 2) I launch the site as a free site when enough members have done the free test, members will communicate for free , for example, for one month, and it will be called a promotional period, the members will be fully aware that the site will turn to paid soon

        Stage 3) Things go to the paid model when enough members accumulate...I will then test the model from my first post in this thread (2 free messages for new users)


        Now keep in mind the following:


        1) I have 0 competition, the other dating sites are a joke, they are full of fake profiles and spammers and theres 1 women to 100 guys
        2) no other site, in my country, does the personality test, or is even remotely serious like my site...all the other sites are "find a sex buddy" kind of cheap biz ...in my country its 1996 as far as the net is concerned
        3) no other site advertises in any way and they look visually shameful to say the least...i am literally light years ahead of the non existent competition...
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        • Profile picture of the author AlexCupid
          That sounds very good. It looks like you are investing a lot of time and efforts into this project. Good luck with that! And make sure that none of the folks from your country reads this thread lol What country are you from if it's not a secret?

          Make sure though that your members can actually afford to pay for their membership. And of course keep the member base growing, otherwise people will just get bored of each other.

          Originally Posted by atvking View Post

          @alex cupid

          Thanks for all the info but I have already developed the whole platform from beginning to end. I have Jedi knight coders in on this with me so programming is completely free. Design is not a problem and also advertising it is dirt cheap in my country.

          You did address an interesting point though, it is that every start up dating site needs a certain # of base members before one can start charging membership. I have given this much thought in the past and the only solution I can see is going from free to paid.

          Here is how I imagine the whole process:

          Stage 1) I advertise the hell out of the personality profile test, get their e-mail, let users do the test, give the users the report on their personality and a list of matching partners (so far) and also a time frame of when the actual "launch" will be

          Stage 2) I launch the site as a free site when enough members have done the free test, members will communicate for free , for example, for one month, and it will be called a promotional period, the members will be fully aware that the site will turn to paid soon

          Stage 3) Things go to the paid model when enough members accumulate...I will then test the model from my first post in this thread (2 free messages for new users)


          Now keep in mind the following:


          1) I have 0 competition, the other dating sites are a joke, they are full of fake profiles and spammers and theres 1 women to 100 guys
          2) no other site, in my country, does the personality test, or is even remotely serious like my site...all the other sites are "find a sex buddy" kind of cheap biz ...in my country its 1996 as far as the net is concerned
          3) no other site advertises in any way and they look visually shameful to say the least...i am literally light years ahead of the non existent competition...
          Signature
          We offer high performing dating affiliate offers:
          up to $7 per lead,
          up to $160 per paid signup,
          90% of revshare + bonus!
          5% referral program!
          Signup now!
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5990441].message }}

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