Throughout the years I have talked to and worked with a number of vendors offering services to the online dating industry. This post serves to improve my previous half-hearted attempts at publishing a directory of dating industry vendors, hopefully this will turn this into the definitive list.
It’s my opinion that dating site executives should be on a first-name basis with every one of these companies. Make it a goal for 2010 that you’ll schedule some time with these vendors to learn more about their offerings.
Vendors, your dating industry pitch only works once. Contact me and we can review your marketing materials and industry expectations.
Disclaimer: A few of these companies may compensate me if you decide to work with them. Others I’m mentioning because I feel that they offers great services that would be of use to dating sites. Tell them you were inspired to contact them based on this post.
You can also contact me directly if you have questions, I’ve done a certain amount of due diligence on each company and know most of them personally.
Media folks, these companies give great interviews and are at the leading edge of the online dating industry. Talk to them about how they help dating sites better service members.
Finance folks, why not talk to a few companies that address the needs of the subscription-based Internet market? Many of them participate and are successful in other high-growth sectors as well.
Mobile
Messmo: unique mobile messaging services. Brendan O’kane is incredibly smart and has put together a tremendous offering for dating sites. What, you don’t have a mobile strategy for 2010? Shame on you!
Jajah: world’s only complete package that fits seamlessly into any existing dating platform, adding immediate incremental revenue opportunities with little upfront investment. Again, that mobile thing, kind of important, don’t you think?
Trilibis: The smartest path from zero to mobile. I’m not just mentioning them because I blew off the L.A. iDate after-party to go to the Michael Jackson vigil with them and the founder of Monster.com. Trilibis built the Match.com mobile offering and have been around since the SITRAS days.
Safety
BackgroundChecks: Powers eHarmony’s RelyID product.
Intelius: Give members the option to check each other out on dates with Date Check.
BeenVerified: Similar to Intelius,
[Many so-called background check companies are mom and pop shops, only listing the big players that can scale, have customer service teams, etc.]
Gifting
viximo: Virtual goods are billion dollar industry that you are not taking advantage of.
Tigerbow: Send physical gifts by email, Twitter and Facebook. If virtual goods get you a goodnight kiss, Tigerbow will have you hanging a sock on the door. Gimeo is similar.
Search
Transparensee: Dating site search is either feast or famine. Either you get 10,000 results back or 2 and they are people you’ve already dated. This company makes search relevant with similarity, discovery and recommendation solutions and they are easier and less expensive to integrate than what you might remember.
Anti-Fraud and E-commerce
iovation: Scammers are great for your business. If you like losing money to them, don’t call iovation because it’s their goal to reduce online dating fraud.
vindicia: customer acquisition, retention and fraud management for speedDate, Online Buddies.
imagini: visual lead generator and profile builder. Typing is boring, clicking on pretty pictures to drive leads and create profiles is where it’s at for 2010.
Litle & Co.: Used by many dating sites.
Global Collect: satisfy your global aspirations with their international e-commerce payment solutions. Or don’t, and stay big in Peoria.
[Not going to list 100 payment processors, only the ones that show up at dating industry conferences]
Software and White Label Platforms
Boonex and SkaDate: That offshore programmer that you hired to build your Match.com killer from scratch? Hows that working out for you? Boonex and Skadate have new version outs. Try their demos out and you might save yourself $15,000 and a lot of headaches.
The Dating Lab, White Label Dating, Dating Factory: You’re up and running in a few days in return for giving up a percentage of your subscription revenue. There is a big difference between white label generic and private label, do your homework before choosing a solution provider.
Matchmaking
eLove: Provides online offline services across the US.
Matchmaker Institute: private label service for Matchmakers tied into a full-on CRM system. Similar in theory to the old Spring Street shared database model.
Matching Systems
Scientific Match, Basisnote, GenePartner: Armpit smelling and DNA matching might not seem viable right now, but science is leading us towards better matching capabilities.
IntroAnalytics: Not only did I crash on their couch at iDate, they were top performers in the Netflix prize.
Zoozamen: high validity matching system. Better matchs, make your site more sticky, add a premium or freemium offering.
Sensory Logic: Unique research tools like eye tracking and facial coding.
Content Management
Single Edition: Content for dating sites. Your Help/FAQ/magazine section needs a boost.
Crowd Flower: content moderation. Why hire people to view profiles and photos when you can outsource it for $0.000000000001 per review and get a better quality service?
Milabra: You heard Sam Cox blow people away at iDate last year. Better targeted ads on your dating site means you can charge more. Or just keep showing the same boring un-targeted ads.
Research Reports
Have you read the 2009 U.S. Dating Services and MAtchmakers Market Study?
What about the Subscription & Membership Site Benchmark Report. Aren’t you interested in statistics about the online dating industry and learning about conversion metrics and acquisition costs?
Profile Help
Evan Mark Katz : Who doesn’t know Evan? He is the most net-savvy coach for women in their 30’s. Sell his materials and offer his services to your members.
Datingheadshots: That grainy photo with you and your ex is not going to cut it. Easy to use, easy to integrate with dating sites. Consider positioning it as a VIP service.
This is a work in progress and I’ve missed many vendors. Contact me if you would like to be listed in the directory. Take note that this is intended to be a comprehensive list of vendors, not dating sites.
