I have a client who owns a dating website connecting Western men and
Asian women.  The company wants to spend $25,000 to $50,000USD on a
marketing campaing mostly to place banner ads on websites targeting
Western men 35 to 55 years old.

I need to prepare a marketing report that will detail what our ROI
should be.  I'm looking for hard facts/statistics, preferably
referencing other dating website's ROI from banner ad campaigns.  Some
statistics that would be good to have include a) What is the average
click through rate for banner ads within the dating (preferably
international dating) market, b) What percentage of people who click a
banner ad create a free profile c) What percentage of people who click
banner ads and/or create free profiles actually become paying members
of a service, and d) What is the average total revenue generated from
each paying member before they quit (maybe they pay for 2 months, 3
months etc).  Lastly, in the dating industry, what is the average cost
of aquisition for a new customer.

<Marketing statistics for dating websites.

Average click through rate for banner ads.

Percentage that create a free profile.
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

----------------------------------------------------
Percentage that become a member.
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://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/news/article.php/1577861

According to Marketingsherpa, Match.com was achieving an 8% conversion rate.
http://library.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?CID=2650

24% of eHarmony visitors become paid subscriber over three times the
industry average (which suggests the industry average is under 7%).
(Source: Internet dating service blissfully successful in lasting
relationships. Andrew Blazier. eHarmony.)
http://www.eharmony.com/singles/servlet/press/articles?id=27

----------------------------------------------------
Revenue generated from a paying member and average cost of acquisition.

According to Match.com, subscribers remain members for an average of
five months. (Source: Caslon.)
http://www.caslon.com.au/socialspacesprofile1.htm

Matchnet generates average revenue of $75 per subscriber with an
average acquisition cost of $41.
(Source: Online Dating. Dave Evans. November 05, 2004. Corante.)
http://www.corante.com/dating/archives/2004/11/05/matchnet_3q_2004_results.php


Jdate  
Monthly Revenue $28.42
Acquisition cost $8.09 per member.

AmericanSingles.com 
Monthly revenue $22.16
Acquision cost $43.29 per member.
(Source: Online Dating. Dave Evans. March 18, 2005. Corante.)

http://www.corante.com/dating/archives/2005/03/18/payperclick_ad_inflation_victims.php

A more detailed analysis of these figures is given here.
In 2004, subscriber churn for Jdate was 25.8% and 35.6% for
AmericanSingles. (Source: The Internet Stock Blog.)
http://www.internetstockblog.com/2005/03/quotes_from_the.html


Case study.

One and Only.
ABC Dating has placed banner ads on general websites. They receive one
visitor per 400 banner ad displays.
50% of those visiting ABC Dating click on the link to One and Only.
Less than 1% who click-through sign-up. (Source: Homeworking.com)
http://www.homeworking.com/library/affiliat/affil-2.htm>


<Search strategy:>

<"dating site" "revenue per">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-31%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22dating+site%22+%22revenue+per%22>

<dating "average revenue" acquisition>
<://www.google.com/search?q=dating+%22average+revenue%22+acquisition&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-31%2CGGLD%3Aen>

<"case study" dating promotion conversion>
<://www.google.com/search?q=%22case+study%22+dating+promotion+conversion&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N>

<dating "new members were acquired">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=dating+%22new+members+were+acquired%22>

"dating site" "of new members" revenue
://www.google.com/search?q=%22dating+site%22+%22of+new+members%22+revenue&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N>


<Hope this helps.>