SkaDate has released an update to it’s dating platform. After six months of development, SkaDate 7 is available for download. You can find more information about Skadate 7 version at: http://www.skalfa.com/press/skadate-7-major-release.html. The link is to a fairly exhaustive blog post about how the system has been improved, including new features, template management, security and especially performance. You can test drive SkaDate 7 demo at: www.skadate.com/demo.
If you’re in the market for dating software, SkaDate and it’s distant cousin Boonex Dolphin are worth some due diligence. Disclaimer: Both are advertisers on the blog. There are several other reputable dating platforms available, each with their pros and cons.
No dating or social networking software is perfect, and it’s great to see the main platforms receiving upgrades after getting banged around with lackluster reputations for several years. I hope vendors listen to customers and continue to refine and improve their systems. The latest offerings feel light-years ahead of where packaged dating software was a few short years ago. One ongoing problem that I don’t see going away any time soon is finding programmers fluent in these platforms who are reputable, reliable and economical. I search for them, believe me, and my efforts have often been less than fruitful.
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Great post! I am really excited about online dating. Meet new friends and date with someone. It is really amazing. Cheers.
Dave,
Thanks for highlighting. Yes, we’ve done enormous job with the latest release, and the biggest drive was customer feedback. SkaDate is all about refinement, we’ve been doing this for 4 years in a row.
P.S. You have boken link to our demo, please correct. Thanks.
It’s good to see dating software revamping itself I think the white label platforms have definitely hit into their market.
Software doesn’t solve the fundamental problem that you still need a membership database, customer support and a solid partner to run the business. It also needs constant innovation in terms of CRM, marketing to your users and regular new features.
A lot of our recent partners are either moving across a former competitor that is now going under or from one of the two main dating software platforms. Typically on both occasions the new partners were unhappy with the conversions of their previous supplier.
Ross
To clarify, dating software vendors sell just that, software. The software is not responsible for conversions.
There are pro’s and cons to each option. Do you pay a white label provider a large portion of your subscription fees, and not be able to offer free dating and be locked into “their way”? Or do you spent a lot of time and effort and money on a developer and designer to build your site to your exact specification? It depends on what your goals are, how much money you have to spend and other factors.
I have talked to people who leave white label providers to build their own system. It’s a revolving door, churn is unavoidable.
What white label providers don’t tell you is how many people in your target demographic they really have. Ross can you shed some light on this?
Hi David,
I’d disagree about the software and conversions – the software is generally responsible for the user flow and user interface – yes, the site owner should be responsible for this but most just tweak the out-of-box software.
There’s two reasons our platform converts better than the other white label platforms or software – user interface design and CRM – so I do believe this is an important consideration.
Re. “paying a large portion of your subscription fees” to the white label partner – this portion goes towards paying for hosting, software, customer support, crm, etc – and you’ll very likely make 3 or 4 times more on the right white label platform so even if you have to share 50% of your revenue, you’re sharing a much larger pot of cash so you’ll generate more revenue.
Re. leaving white label providers – I can’t comment on that as we’ve had no partner leave us once they’ve started generated more than a few hundred quid. However, we have partners generating over £200k/month now who are very happy and really won’t leave.
Finally, your point about people in target demographic is absolutely correct – white label platforms really aren’t right if you want to a run a small site dedicated to blind transexual ferret lovers – but as long as the niche is reasonable large enough (general, adult, casual, gay, christian, jewish, muslim) then you’re generally better off on a white label platform which will have at least a few hundred thousand members of each demographic.
Ross
The default templates and layout for most boxed dating software leaves much to be desired. The farther you move from the core functionality, the more difficult it gets to customize the software. This is true with all dating software. However, I have not checked out the most recent SkaDate and Boonex solutions, which I think are going to be game-changers.
One key metric is how much are those partners earning $200k+ a month spending on marketing?
Hi Dave,
That was £200k, not US$200k – which used to be significantly difference but nowadays alas, are nearing pretty much the same thing!! :(
However, to be generating about £200k in gross revenue per month (and earning around £100k/month) they’ll be spending about £30-40k per month.
So they’re left with about £60-70k net profit (as there’s no overheads besides marketing when using a white label platform).
The only caveat to that is it does take time – for example, one of the guys generating £200k this month has been with us for about 18 months now – starting spending £500/month on Google Adwords and gradually increased his spend to £30-40k/month as his revenue increased as well.
Hope that’s a helpful indication – I genuinely believe dating software has it’s place, but it really is in the small, niche game.
For people whose primary interest is making money – revenue – then they should judge their decision by what will make them the most money, rather than whether the solution allows members to upload videos from YouTube. I don’t wish to sound frivolous, merely highlight the fact that many people lose sight of the important aspect of making money and get side-tracked by shiny features which most dating site users don’t really need or want enough to pay for.
Ross
Appreciate the transparency into marketing spend. Those are some impressive numbers.
Good exchange of questions and answers; thks guys.
Ross, who owns the profiles (pics, email addies, profile answers, etc.)? WLD, the partner, or both?
Thanks.
Always happy to be open about numbers – we’re rather proud of them so no problem stating them publicly – would love to hear other people share as well.
Saïd, re. ownership – it depends to be honest. Most of the time it’s shared ownership of the data so both parties own the data. This means the partner can take the data and leave us if they’re not happy or want to go on their own platform – that’s never happened yet and we believe that the revenue share the partner shares with us will always be less than running their own platform as we now have such economy of scale.
Thanks Ross. I imagine that this is a deal breaker for some contemplating to use WLD vs using their own platform. Sounds like you guys are amenable to making exceptions vis-a-vis who owns the data. Btw, I recently signed up to WLD to see if setting up a site is as easy as advertised; it is =) well done.
The problem with dating white labels is that they are generally glorified affiliate systems like our friend Markus Frind likes to call them. You just basically promote an already built system and earn commissions.
Software is for another type of startups – those trying out their own ideas.
Yes some White label platforms are just glorified affiliate systems – indeed a recent online dating company that relied on affiliates has just started doing White label – but to offer true White label you need to be a White label platform from the ground up like we are, not merely using White label to attract new customers to your own-brand sites like some less reeputable companies.
And if in doubt – come see us at iDate. We’ll have 20 staff there so should be easy to find :)
Which dating site is now offering white label? I know of of 3 currently transitioning over to the model.
Those Crazy Russians ;)
Typically companies which relied on affiliates are now finding that the smart (and best) affiliates are now moving over to a white label platform (generally ours, to be honest) so may try to offer white label themselves.
There’s a lot more to white labelling than just software – we provide significant account management (I have 10 dedicated partner managers for our partners), quarterly seminars (how to do SEO, PPC, etc), partner events (stock car racing, sailing, etc), partner dinners (meet other partners, eat and be merry) – it’s not the kind of thing you can do if you’re just bolting on white label to what is essentially a normal dating site.
It’s also all about the motivation of the business – we were set up to do white label and are incentivised to grow our partners revenue. One must question whether sites that bolt white label onto an affiliate system are more concerned about their partners or about their own brands.
Finally, it ain’t great when you’re a partner of a company which competes against you in Google PPC, MSN, etc.
Not crazy, they just design signup forms differently ;-)
Great points about partner managers, seminars and stock car racing. High-touch aspects that differentiate from the rest of the pack.
I still see independence and control as the most appealing factors for new businesses into the game. Particularly, that’s what our customers want.
Funny that some of them ask for “ready databases of users” but that’s not a kind of thing that we provide. Although I know some companies selling you databases of fake profiles, sucks really. It discredits the whole industry and makes people disappointed in online dating in general. We answer that we are a software vendor, not profile generator.
See you guys at iDate.
I’m working with a company who has a solution to the cold-start, empty database problem. I’ll post more when I can. See you in Miami.
Back to SkaDate if you don’t mind :) We posted a video that some of your readers might find useful.
Probably a good idea to update your advertising on here so it doesn’t point to a 404 page then Emil ;)
http://www.skadate.com/aid=358
Ross,
Looks like it was a temporary problem on the ad system David uses. Now it’s ok.
I mean the link is different, it’s http://www.skadate.com/?aid=358
Ross, and this major update of our software is a planned one. We do major upgrades once a year at average.
White labels do not hit into our market because you have a different audience. Your customers well… just sit and watch. They can’t do anything on your system. Our customers try to change the game and test out their own ideas. That’s the main difference.
I’ve only just stumbled across this exchange, and found it a fascinating insight.
I have a question to Ross if he still keeps an eye on this particular thread.
as I’m currently debating white label v custom software.
What would happen if I partner with a WL site and after a while it’s successful enough to keep the money rolling in, and then I decide I’d like to sell up. What would happen then ? Would I be able to freely sell my percentage ? would it default to you ? or what would the process be ?
Thanks
Hi Alasdair,
Aaah, I’m grateful for email comment notifications :)
We’ve got a few partners in your position – they’ve built their site on the white label dating platform and have developed a brand which as value and they may want to sell.
You own the brand so you can sell it – it would be up to the new owner of the brand whether or not they wanted to continue with our platform, use another or go in-house.
We can offer shared ownership of data so a copy can be taken away which means you’re not locked in.
So yup – no problem there,
Ross
Hi Ross,
Thanks for getting back to me, that’s allayed some worries on that.
Just whilst I know you’re looking at this thread, I hope you don’t mind me jumping in with another question.
My admittedly limtied experience of investigating dating platforms (white label or otherwise) leaves a little to be desired in terms of design. Apart from a few basic templates (if at all) there only seems to be basic colour choices for text / background etc. However, developing dating sites is all about standing out from the crowd, so what do you guys offer in terms of availability to alter design.
Is it just header / footer or can we spruce up anything else ? Do you have deisgners you exclusively work with or can a site owner use their own staff?
There seems to be a real lack of modern well designed templates to choose from with dating providors.
Many thanks for your help,
Alasdair