Online Dating Insider delivers cutting-edge insight and commentary on all aspects of the online dating industry. Topics include industry news, site reviews, emerging trends, analysis of dating site features, discussion about safety safety, finance and other issues important to the online dating market. Don't miss our Startups directory, useful to anyone running dating or social networking sites. Subscribe to the RSS feed (you can subscribe via email as well). Your comments and suggestions for stories are welcomed.
We offer consulting services to dating sites and social networks as well.
Chemistry has emerged from beta and is now live. It’s unclear why Match didn’t add the new profile and questionnaire features to their existing mega-brand. This was a big mistake. Chemistry will not pose a serious threat to Eharmony unless they spend an incredible amount of marketing dollars promote the new service. Then again, nobody knew about Eharmony 3 years ago, but their selling point is much better defined and the radio and tv exposure has worked very well to date. I’m also surprised that Chemistry doesn’t have a spokesperson.
[tags: chemistry.com]
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
It is not a marketing challenge!!! Only need to prove (to customers/clients) the method really works == it provides quality contacts == compatible real persons.
“nobody knew about Eharmony 3 years ago, but their selling point is much better defined and the radio and tv exposure has worked very well to date.”
Sure, but eHarmony, PerfectMatch, True and others, CANNOT change anything about their proprietary tests and proprietary matching algorithms (i.e. cannot add more precision nor more reliability than they actually have. Perhaps in some online dating sites you could have greater precision & reliability using the search_engine than the precision provided by the matching_algorithm)
Online Daters are ALWAYS watching_out (on the alert) for new services, using Google, Yahoo, Clusty and other search engines to find new_online_dating_sites_offering_compatibility_matching_methods!!!
The Quality Online Dating Market remains enormous == like Off Line Chains.
Surely new players will appear soon!!!
Kindest Regards,
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
ardenghifer@gmail.com
–
IMMEDIATE successful results == millions of visitors (traffic) converted to free_trial_period_subscribers, and then a promissory amount to be converted into first_time_paying_subscribers.
BUT
Unsuccessful results planning the long_term strategy == 5 years scope (database full of fake or over promising profiles, lots of visitors & free_users impossible to be converted into paying_subscribers, low precision matching algorithms, etc, etc )
Items to analyze:
- Did the online dating site recover ALL the money invested?
- Is the company profitable? or Is the portion of REVENUE composed by (paying_subscribers * fee)
sustainable? i.e. new_&_renewal_paying_subscribers increasing or stable.
Items to be measured:
- visitors (traffic).
- first_time_(new)_paying_subscribers.
- renewal_paying_subscribers.
- total_paying_subscribers == new_&_renewal_paying_subscribers.
- subscribers leaving the site because they succeed in finding someone.
- subscribers leaving the site because they NOT succeed in finding someone.
A Serious Online Personals Site delivering quality contacts always wants their customers to succeed in finding someone:
-the very satisfied customer who leaves the site because he/she succeed most probably will recommend the site to 10 or more persons!!!
-dissatisfied customers leaving the site because they not succeed in finding someone (compatible real person) surely will speak against the company to 100 or more persons!!!
Kindest Regards,
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
ardenghifer@gmail.com
Thanks,
James Houran, Ph.D.
Research Psychologist
Maybe a reason, people don’t talk about online dating(hype talk) as much as they use to is because it is now engraved into our culture.
What do you think?
On a side note, why is Chemistry asking me whether my index finger is longer than my ring finger? What does that have to do with compatibility? Having this as the first question asked of new members does not instill confidence in the methodology. (But, the later questions were fine.)
Dave, were you ever able to get your free lifetime charter membership to Chemistry? You previously wrote about having difficulties signing up. I had no such trouble, though it remains to be seen whether my subscription truly will remain free for the lifetime of my Match membership. The information on my Chemistry subscription page isn’t very clear about this.
Regarding the actual signup process, information was pulled from my Match membership automatically, so this part has been improved. They also pulled all of my profile photos from Match. This was good, though they didn’t tell me until after I tried to upload another photo. This should be made more clear.
I need to look up Helen Fisher’s theory of personality matching, but I’ll describe what I see. Personality is broken down into four types: Explorer, Builder, Negotiator, and Director. You are assigned a major and minor personality type, for example Negotiator/director. Apparently, certain personality types are more compatible with others. There are also five Universal Personality Traits, on which you are rated on a continuum. The traits are: Extravert, Agreeable, Conscientious, Open to New Experiences, and Emotional Stability.
Apparently, Chemistry sends you five matches per day. You get to rate each match (which allegedly is used to help their matching algorithm learn your preferences) and decide whether to proceed further. If you do proceed further, there is a four-stage process that sounds very much like Eharmony’s.
Good Luck
My advice at this point is to send them email objecting to being charged for a system that is clearly not functioning as advertised, cancel your subscriptions, and contact your credit card companies, letting them know that you intend to fight being charged by chemistry.com. This is the order in which my credit card company advised me to proceed.
Unless and until they fix their system on their own time and with their own money, chemistry.com should be avoided.
I can see what you mean about technical problems. It appears that on one match we have each shown mutual interest. The system is now asking for my Relationship Essentials. Although I have followed through I keep getting an Oops message. I have e-amiled them with no reply. Do you happen to have a phone number?
Thanks in advance.
The phone number for chemistry.com is 1-866-610-6338. I called them yesterday to resign my subscription and inform them that I expected a refund. We shall see. I’ve already talked to my credit card company about contesting any charges.
I have also sent email to executiveteam@match.com, which is an address that I found in the chemistry.com terms of use.
Interestingly, the chemistry.com terms of use appear to be an exact copy of the match.com terms of use; they didn’t even bother to change “match.com” to “chemistry.com”! To me, this suggests the extent to which chemistry.com was/is a rush job. If I’m right about that, it begs the question: Why the rush?
Careingly,
Anita
No.
Their system is so full of bugs that the site simply does not function properly.
And then there’s this: as of today, one week after having been led to believe that a refund to my credit card had been processed, the charge remains on the account. Just spoke to them, and once again I have been assured that a refund has been credited, effective today.
I’d address my issues to them in writing, but they will not give me a postal mail address.
These are not people with whom I would advise anybody to do business at this time.
If you really want to increase her odds, I would say have her try a few. Any system is better than no system and almost all of the programs have some nice people. It comes down to where is the right person for her and nobody has a crystal ball to determine that. In the end most of the programs are very similar - they just describe themselves differently. Picking the right site really depends on what she is looking for.
Good luck.
I am completely unhappy with Chemistry and plan on immediately cancelling my subscription and will contact their customer service number 1-866-610-6338 and send another email to executiveteam@match.com as adviced by Fred, another unhappy customer.
I also believe Chemistry.com has too many problems with their program. I am starting to think they really do not have enough customers to match you up with…
Very unhappy customer,
Maria (619) 685-6643
Can either of you or anyone else reading this message let me know if after cancelling their subscription with Chemistry.com after being signed up for five days or so, were told they would not be refunded their money?.
I contacted the customer service number (866) 610-6338 as indicated on your website by Fred/Steve and was told by phone operator “Lashawn” that they would not refund my money, but could cancel my subscription.
I demanded to speak with a supervisor but was told their was no one available. I left my telephone number and requested that one contact me asap.
Look forward to hearing any feedback.
Maria
The key to it seems to be to talk to your credit card company first, then make it clear to Chemistry that you will contest the charge.
Chemistry will not give you a postal mail address, and will not give you a stand-alone email address. In other words, they want nothing traceable.
Chemistry.com needs to get some business ethics.
I finally received my refund today!!. It took (3)calls and a whole lot of persistence. I have learned my lesson and that is, I will need to find a well established, accredited and extremely professional dating service along with spending a little more money, to receive the quality service I am really looking for and stay away from internet dating websites such as; Match.com, Eharmony.com and Chemistry.com.
I hope for those of you who are going through the same problems I did with Chemistry, I wish you luck!
Maria
out there?
losing hope,
Thanks
i recently came across the chemistry.com website - haven’t signed up for it yet but a couple of the preliminary matches they sent me seemed promising, so i’m thinking about it. anyone know whether some of these bugs mentioned above have been worked out? also, any other suggestions of reliable places to look for info re various sites to learn more before picking one/some & actually laying out the $$$?
Let me predict, also, the same match.com tactic of increased contact/email toward the end of the subscription period. No doubt the research psychologist above can enlighten consumers about the behavioral response to intermittent reinforcement. Match.com has this down.
If you are a match.com member you will be offered to participate in a “free” chemistry.com personality test. Based on this test they automatically make up a profile that then gets distributed to other innocent paying users such as myself. As a result paying users get “matched” with non-suscribers that never checked their accounts because THEY DONT HAVE ONE. You will get matched 95% of the time with individuals such as New Member. See description below.
Chemistry has selected New Member as a match for you based on the profile information we have received at this point. You can see how you match at this stage in the chart below. When New Member completes his entire Chemistry Profile, you’ll be able to learn more about him.
But so far, it’s looking good.
Yeah, right! Chemisrtry.com should be sued!!
Whaddya know! She is probably wondering why this guy (and maybe a lot of others) is ignoring her.
BTW, they want a big pile of money for a month’s subscription to a rather unproven website. eHarmony offers 3 months for the price of 1 every month during the last week or so. eHarmony’s is a tedious process but their psych testing seems better validated and their summary seemed to have me pretty well characterized.
Thanks.
Now it’s time to call chemistry.com. Cancel your subscription. Demand a refund. Inform them of your conversation with the credit card company, and tell them that you are prepared to contest the charge. That last statement seems to be the one that gets their attention. Document your call.
Follow up with your credit card company. It took a week for my refund to be credited back.
Of course, if you’ve already paid your credit card bill, you’re out of luck.
I was suspicious enough to sign up for only one month. My sympathies to those who are trying to keep from being bilked out of more. I thank you all and the owner of this page for the information on phone number and other items.
I summarize the problems this way: This is an interface where ALL the potential matches come at or near the start. If you’re profile is not totally up with photos, and fine tuned, then you may also be lost as soon as you began. I have met one woman. We have immediately gone offline.
I am cc’ing this to executiveteam@match.com.
On top of that, Chemistry has less features than Match.com, and they charge a hefty bit more for it. Now, theoretically I wouldn’t complain, since the matches they pair me with SEEM to be better suited, but it’s a complete snow-job. I’m convinced that half the user-base of the site are bots or fake profiles.
Much like Match.com I have made numerous attempts to contact people through the site, and havn’t even gotten a “no thanks”. At least that would tell me there were real people on the other end.
I don’t know why they play this whole fake profile game. It only makes their service crappier by adding to the noise floor. Who wants to pay to be on a site where the only people you get any feedback from are obviously fake? I just had another “person” wink at me on Match who supposedly lived in Arkansas and now magically lives in Minnesota. Different usernames, same pics. Both accounts were removed one after another. I wouldn’t be surprised if another wink popped up again in a couple days from this same “person” in another state.
It makes me not even want to go to the trouble of writing emails to members for fear of wasting 15 minutes writing to someone who may not even be a real person.
I’ll be surprised if this company is around for another year if this is how they think they’ll make money. It’s so bogus it isn’t funny. A bona-fide scam. Stick to the free sites. At least you know most of the people on there aren’t fake.
I refuse to be stolen from.