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A unique matching system
eHarmony is a popular yet controversial dating site and app that is quite costly.
Its principle is based on the compatibility of users calculated automatically with the help of detailed questionnaire. In fact, it is presumed that a user would pay for this unique mechanism of matching.
Let’s start by saying these types of compatibility tests are often given for free everywhere on the Internet and are considered as a part of hobby.
For example, socionics is a popular entertaining science based on psychology and sociology that offers detailed personality tests and compatibility tests.
But sites on socionics rarely charge people for that. They usually live on ads and sponsorship.
Many free dating sites also offer personality tests and compatibility tests as a self-evident addition.
At the same time, even non-matching is commercialized on eHarmony since each member can try the What If? option for extra payment and communicate with someone less compatible.
Now, what is the point of such a special conception as automatic matching, you may ask, if no-matches are considered for dating too?
It becomes obvious that eHarmony is just using a marketing ploy to attract customers.
This so-called unique function is connected with another one: a big selection of Quick Questions that work as ice-breakers.
Any person who doesn’t feel confident or creative enough to ask their own questions or start from trivial greetings, can use this feature.
Of course, an experienced online dater who already spent some time on this platform, quickly starts recognizing such automatic questions.
By statistics, people trust less to those users who start communication with the help of pre-written templates.
Men, for example, tend to think they were contacted by scammers or bots, while women do not reply to these messages at all.
Of course, when a very attractive personality is contacting us, we are normally happy and we do not mind that a first sentence is automatic.
But we do notice that, and as a result, our first impression isn’t that romantic anymore. Therefore, this feature is very doubtful as well.
All together creates a weird tendency to find people by mathematic means instead of normal human communication, moreover, to pay a lot for that.
That’s why psychologists call eHarmony a doubtful platform. They think only nerds or sociopathic people would go for such an option.
On another hand, tests and automatic questions may be perceived as a game, and enjoyed in a full measure by anyone who’s got extra funds for online dating.
The flaws that keep on surprising
Although eHarmony is considered a costly site and app, there are still too many fake or duplicate profiles in its database.
Its team obviously doesn’t weed out the low-quality profiles and does nothing when such profiles are reported by the users.
One has to simply accept that or move to another dating site, there’s no third option in case it bothers you.
Now, coming back to the matching system, it doesn’t even work properly. It matches you as promised, but often with inactive members.
What is the point of answering so many questions online, filling all necessary rows, sharing your personality that much if in the end of day, you’re matched with a ghost?
It’s again the question of inefficient support team work, as they do not remove inactive profiles and do not exclude them from the search system.
This inefficiency is confirmed by many users who didn’t succeed to contact a customer team at all. All indicated emails and phone numbers seem non-working.
A big number of inactive profiles may also explain why there are so few responses and real meetings that take place.
Many complaints from the users are connected exactly with the silence in messages and chats. For sure, it makes no sense to pay the money for a silence.
On many paid dating platforms the opposite happens: the users are constantly attacked by letters and messages, even if some of them come from bots.
It’s a bit strange that such a big and well-advertised platform didn’t put efforts to organize a stable flow of inviting messages.
It’s hard to say what users actually prefer: rare messages from real persons only, or an illusion of being popular created by special bots.
But everything around us is marketing, and dating sites aren’t an exception. Bots do help to provoke more activity among the real members.
First of all, they create an atmosphere of constant competition and motivate users to contact each other quicker and with a higher quality.
It is noticed that users on the platforms with a healthy ratio of bots have more noticeable profile photos, more informative profiles, and as a result, a more intensive correspondence.
Not knowing which members are true and which ones are fake, make people try harder and create a kind of insurance for themselves.
Trying to be better and outshine the others, they find a match considerably faster and remain much more satisfied with the dating site services.
While eHarmony suggests to rely on its questionnaires and matching system only, but later it is letting people down with that system.
In general, we would say that flaws of eHarmony are more or less equal to the advantages and it’s hard to decide whether this platform is worthy of its cost.
Success stories: true or fake?
The Internet is full of success stories from eHarmony users. Some of them sound truthful and some not, so we may analyze them.
It is a well-known fact that many dating platforms are paying for good responses. Optionally, the users receive discounts for positive reviews.
We don’t know exactly whether eHarmony is doing the same, but it’s a fact that success stories are mostly found on the site itself and the blogs connected with it.
While independent sites contain also negative reviews from unhappy users who didn’t succeed to find a match on eHarmony at all.
Also, we don’t know many people who would be completely satisfied with the results obtained on the dating site, after paying a lot of money.
Even the happiest couples may mention the high cost and say something like, I do not regret any penny I’ve spent. But there are no such phrases in paid reviews.
Another important factor is mentioning the matching algorithm. Real trustworthy users may say, the What If? option helped me way better than a matching quiz.
Or something like, I found matching algorithm quite useless and found a match on eHarmony by myself. But no one mentions that, although it’s a main base of the site.
The conclusion isn’t very pleasant, eHarmony seemingly prefers to invest into wide advertising and positive reviews, but not into self-development.
The smart system of bots, the system of rewards and bonuses, reducing of automatic processes could become a good investment.
As experts, we conclude that people date successfully on eHarmony mostly thanks to its popularity and random luck.
The process of matching and communication isn’t smooth or optimized on this site. They are once launched and aren’t really updated since.
It could work much better if the database was more realistic, without thousands of dead profiles. Then advantages would prevail.
For now, it’s difficult to recommend eHarmony to some particular group of singles. It is understood, that students or jobless people wouldn’t afford the cost.
While some businessmen and hard-workers could find it convenient enough to let the system decide for themselves and save their time.
Seniors definitely love online tests of all kinds, but not expensive ones. Also, they trust old classical ways of choosing a person for dating.
Teenagers and youngsters in general, meanwhile, are too impatient for passing online tests and questionnaires. So eHarmony obviously isn’t for them.
Therefore, we can conclude, that a platform is mostly created for busy 28 – 50 y.o. singles with a good income who do not manage to find a match in a usual way.
At the same time, it would help to be registered on several other sites just to make sure the aim is going to be reached. eHarmony cannot guarantee that due to its flaws.
The concept of this platform was really good and the owners could succeed in creating the conditions for electronic harmony uniting people.
But after all, what we have is a commercial platform for virtual flirting without a considerable outcome. Its real rating is three and half stars out of five.