I’m tired of hearing people complain about online dating software. What are we going to do about this? For years I’ve made half-hearted attempts at looking into various online dating software packages. From what I’ve learned, most of them I wouldn’t recommend to my enemies.
Let us look at the state of online dating software:
- Lack of strong administration capabilities
- Templates difficult to customize
- Lack of support
- No integration options for third party support
- Upgrading software is a nightmare
- Software isn’t secure
- International developers, language barriers
- Expensive
Overall my experience with online dating software has been uniformly poor, which is unfortunate. I have been recommending SkaDate and Boonex because they are the *only* dating software vendors who have every reached out to me and kept in contact over the years. Both companies are shifting focus to social networks, a telling sign that the dating startup market is changing.
I helped build a site on Dolphin a while back, and I’m familiar with the system and its capabilities. But what about the other 20 companies out there? Which ones deserve thoughtful consideration? Which should be avoided?
I have talked to several vendors over the years,many who dropped off the map. I’m surprised they are not all over this blog. If you’re not actively engaging me and talking about improvements in the software and delivering consistent customer support, it’s hard for me to keep you on my radar. There is just too much ambiguity in the dating software market and a total lack of transparency into which companies are consistently delivering the goods.
Contrast this with social networking software providers. They email, call an keep me up to date on their recent achievements, and most important, clearly show that they are eager to do business an learn from their mistakes.
Part of the problem is the lack of developer support. Lots of people buy a script due to a smooth sales job, then end up paying a developer to learn how to customize the software. Dolphin at least has a fairly strong developer community. This is a huge benefit during the sales and support process.
My work with startups always has a module dedicated to platform selection. In a discussion, I take the time to understand a client’s goals and aspirations. With that knowledge, I am able walk them through the various solutions, starting with free vs. paid, standalone vs. hosted, and all of the pro’s and cons of each. However, when it comes to recommending software besides a few companies, I’m often at a loss. There is simply not enough quality software out there to evaluate.
I always like to have three types of vendors in any area. Cheap and quick, medium-priced and powerful, expensive and the sky’s the limit. This is practically impossible to do in the online dating market.
I was able to meet team Boonex at iDate and spend time talking about their business, the software, and what’s coming next. It’s reassuring to know that that a company flew from Australia to Miami to meet the online dating industry in person. That’s why I’m letting them sponsor this blog. They are committed to new software upgrades and aware that in the past the system was not as robust as it should have been.
Of course people complain about software. People love to complain about anything. Many customers have never run a website before, let along managed developers. These issues, compounded with flaky software and bad customer service, lead to negative comments.
SkaDate’s reputation has been questioned as of late, supposedly this is all from competitors, but I don’t have enough time in the day to chase down all the accusations. I hope they are able to react accordingly and take a presumed negative situation and turn it into a positive.
In this case, the best way to silence competitors is to deliver a superior product. End of story.
I will do what I can to get dating site software developers to work harder, deliver better customer support and work with dating companies to help them grow. It starts with you. It’s *really* important for people to share their experiences with online dating software companies. How else are we going to learn which software is worthwhile?
Image is from DatingSoftwareReviewer (update your site!)
