<Member acquisition campaign (new dating site).
Conversion rates.
Companies with free registration commonly get 2% - 3% of visitors to
register. Between 1% and 7% of registered users will convert to a paid
service.
(Source: Conversion Chronicles.)
http://www.conversionchronicles.com/page.php?PageID=41&tracking=conversionbenchleft
According to Marketingsherpa, Match.com was achieving an 8% conversion rate.
http://library.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?CID=2650
According to this article, the dating industry standard for the
conversion of trial members is between 15 to 40 percent. (Source: How
do I? Manage the Ecommerce Business. Case Study: Match.com by James
Maguire. January 31, 2003.)
http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:94Ycu8KVCGgJ:ecommerce.internet.com/how/biz/article/0,3371,10365_1577861,00.html+%22case+study%22+dating+promotion+conversion&hl=en
Case study ? increasing membership conversion rates to a dating site.
A gift incentive program was targeted to appeal specifically to those
interested in romance and relationships. Visitors were provided with a
special award for deciding to become a member on that visit. (Source:
Silver Carrot)
http://www.silvercarrot.com/solutions_get.htm
---------------------------------------------------
How other dating sites have acquired new members.
Wireless Friends.
Wireless Friends, a new site, set up a beta-test site and advertised
it on the MIT, Harvard, and Boston University campuses. The campaign
resulted in 9% of the total student body participating, giving a
starting base of 20,000 users. Of these, 15% said that they found the
service useful enough that they would upgrade to paying $20 per year
to have more matches and added functionality.
The business plan of Wireless Friends also shows that they have
established an alliance with Dell who has agreed to install the
Wireless Friends software on every laptop computer and PDA during one
year for an agreed sum of money.
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:fYovUtotgzwJ:www.mit.edu/afs/net.mit.edu/user/foley/athena/Classes/2.891/Wireless_Friend_Business_Plan.doc+%22marketing+campaign%22+%22dating+site%22+acquired&hl=en
MyCoffeeDate.com
This site had access to the member profiles of MatchRanger.com which
gave an initial member base of 350,000.
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/031118/acni.pk10qsb.html
Ezifriends found it was difficult getting people to sign up for a
dating site with just a few members. They decided to restrict access
to the site profile search facilities so that only registered users
could view members profiles. As a further incentive they gave away
plenty of free contact stamps so that new members could use to contact
others. This led to an increase in signups to the site and the steady
growth of membership.
http://www.internetguru.com.au/gurublog.php?cat=12
Gagging4.it has put postings on student forum sites inviting people to
try out their dating site for free.
http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:KmHgiK3DU9gJ:www.interstudent.co.uk/modules.php%3Fop%3Dmodload%26name%3DXForum%26file%3Dviewthread%26tid%3D549+%22beta-test%22+%22dating+site%22+&hl=en
Friendster
Friendster used viral marketing to grow its user base. In less than 6
months it had approximately 1.8 million users with almost no marketing
budget.
http://www.loiclemeur.com/english/2003/11/the_dating_indu.html
Match.com
According to Jonathan Gaw, an analyst with research firm IDC, Match
attained its large user base partially through a very advantageous
deal with America Online.
Pop-under ads are being used by the major dating sites. It is
expensive but the response rate is among the strongest according to
Brad Shapiro form Date.com.
http://www.directmag.com/webmarketing/marketing_datecom_moves_away/
AmericanSingles began in 2001 with an infusion of new members by
acquiring Socialnet Inc. a free service with a database of 1.4 million
members.
http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:6YJ01RagNRMJ:www.hv-info.de/download/Matchnet_AG_01-12-31_GB.pdf+%22dating+site%22+%22membership+increased%22&hl=en
Mymatchmaker.com
The business plan for this company describes their marketing strategies:
Spending approximately $5 million of its advertising budget on Google
and other pay-per-click advertising and well as Search Engine
Optimization to drive traffic.
Additional Internet advertising in the form of Internet banner ads,
newsletters, press releases, and co-branding efforts with websites
that have high traffic-visitors that match Mymatchmaker.com?s target
demographics.
Television advertising campaigns geared to the local viewing audience
in key cities with high populations. The Company will develop
advertising campaigns that will air on television channels frequently
watched by its target audiences. They plan to acquire surveys with
the breakdown of viewing audiences of all the major local television
channels. These studies will pinpoint the best channels to use and
the most cost effective times to advertise.
Billboard advertising in strategic areas in major cities with high populations.
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:QYaENj1BEIMJ:mymatchmaker.com/MatchMaker%2520-%2520BP%2520Final%2520Draft.doc+%22dating+site%22+%22new+members%22+revenue+launched&hl=en
Adam & Eve recruits members through advertising in local and
metropolitan newspapers as well as national women?s and men?s
magazines.
http://www.adameve.com.au/html/s_advert.php
MyCountryMatch.com has formed partnerships with radio station owners
and operators who wish to use their unsold ad inventory. In exchange
for advertising, 50% of the revenue from the site within a 50 mile
radius of the station is shared.
http://www.specialtymatch.com/dating_radio_partnerships.html
According to ClickZ, Match.com acquired 30% of its new members are
recruited through online channels such as AOL banner advertising or
partnerships.
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3322071
Dating site kolayARKADAS wanted to try Phonely?s Let?s Talk service.
151,000 members had been signed up between 1999 and 2004. On the
announcement of the Let?s Talk service, the membership increased by
50% to over 218,000 within a few months.
http://www.phonely.com/ka_basari.php
Operation Love Link
Date.com targeted the military market with this campaign in 2002.
Military personnel could register for free on Date.com by selecting
?military? as their profession and inserting a special code before
their user names. The code was released in a series of paid
advertisements in Stars & Stripes, the military?s daily newspaper. At
the Date.com site, visitors and members were encouraged to send
messages, particularly on Valentine's Day, to members of the armed
forces.
http://info.date.com/infotopic_86_contentid_500.html
----------------------------------------------------
Timescale.
This article claims that a dating site took its member base from
26,000 to 50,000 in 3 months. (SearchEngineblog.com. Pay-Per-Click
Strategies for Search Engine Marketers - Part 2)
http://www.searchengineblog.com/interviews/pay-per-click-part2.htm>
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