For some time now, I’ve been watching the metamorphosis of one of the worlds oldest industries as it enters the online era. I’m talking about matchmaking and love seeking, surely one of the base drivers of human interaction.
I’ve been following this for a while, in part because match.com, the grand-yenta of them all, has always made interesting use of interface design. Its early Flash work was one of the best examples of how the tool could present interactive information and there's nothing like looking at good examples for design inspiration.
eHarmony, a currently popular competitor, serves up much the same offerings with a less sexy interface and a slightly different structure.
Both remind me of that classic 1966 computer program, the simulated therapist ELIZA. They sort of say back to you what you’ve said to them, and then share that with the database of other love-seekers. (Or in my case, of curious columnists posing as love seekers!)
The hypothesis behind these services is that a giant database combined with special secret algorithms for analyzing your responses to personality and relationship quizzes will yield you your soul mate. And turn a tidy profit, too.
Because what’s really interesting isn’t what services they provide, but how they market, upsell, extend brand, and use direct email contact to lure the lovelorn into parting with credit card numbers.
It is generally agreed that in the digital marketplace, market segmentation plays a powerful role. As the seller, you aren’t one voice speaking to many, but many messages speaking to many markets, a magic bullet seeking its special niche.
Are you looking for a Christian mate? A Jewish date? A liberal lover? A conservative cutie? Are you fill-in-the-blank ethnic heritage and seek same? Guess what, there’s a matchmaker out there for you, one short Google away. The array is really stunning. I had no idea there was that much complexity in finding true love but there certainly is highly targeted marketing messages there.
Databases lie behind most modern business applications and the love industry is no exception. Indeed, as with segmentation, it provides a perfect case study in how a vanilla application can create a whole industry sector.
The village elder would have told you that matchmaking was all about knowing people better than they know themselves. E-Harmony tells you that too. Honest, it even includes a testimonial from a now-matched customer who says she didn’t believe what her personality profile showed, but all her friends told her it was true and once she accepted that, well, love followed.
Databases are all about collecting, managing, and asking questions of information. With a Cosmo-quiz style interface on that, you have the perfect 24-hour dating service. Who ever said database development isn’t sexy.
These companies also take pricing strategies to a new level. As with most subscription products, you want customers that renew and turn into an annuity stream. It’s virtually impossible to sign up for only one month at $56 when 6 months are only $22/month!
Type size, exclamation marks, and breathless language – the sell pages are right out of direct mail marketing 101. And they work. Plus, there’s the added ‘convenience’ of automatic renewal. Just like the Columbia Record Club of old, the bills just keep coming and coming and coming until you scream ‘stop’ at the top of your lungs.
Yup, this is online marketing but it draws upon and recombines all the marketing lessons of old in one convenient location. This isn’t about technology, folks, this is basic sales strategy in action. And well executed too.
Then there’s a LasVegas guy-expert named Christian Carter. I stumbled across him on one of my late night surfing expeditions, following links randomly across cyberspace. He sells an ebook and seminar on how to get and keep a man and is connected to a relationship content marketing company that offers, you guessed it, a lot of products addressing related market segments. Men on women. Women on men. Men on men. Tips for Womanizing. Tips for Getting and Keeping a Man.
Our buddy Christian and company use very cleverly written direct email, the kind you find yourself reading in a supermarket tabloid sort of way. You know its drivel and yet you can’t help but start reading to see what Justin or Kevin or Brad did this week. Or to find out what it is a man really wants. Or what makes a woman fall into your arms.
I’ve been watching his campaign and there is a very planned pace to the distribution of emails, a definite rhythm that seems give a pulse to sales. If you are reading these puppies in the wee hours of the night, it is difficult to resist ... and for us marketing geeks, fascinating to try and analyze.
These messages press every button with great power. And they pack an added punch because they arrive right there in your inbox, an even more intimate direct mail medium than direct snail mail.
There isn’t any industry more widespread or mainstream than matchmaking. It’s an ancient tradition now presented in a digital format. I don’t know if the online edition works better than Nana or Auntie Etta, but I do know that the business of it is booming. Who says technology doesn't touch the heart of us all?
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