Match.com Dating Site Review

Overview

M atch.com claims that it has led to more dates, relationships, and marriages than any other site. What they don’t immediately tell you, and it’s something you have to do a little more digging to find out, is that it’s based on a study that was done in 2009 & 2010. Therefore their claim is not impressive as it sounds to be. What I found that was impressive is that they bought Yahoo Personals and Chemistry.com since their inception in 1995 and they have adapted to stay relevant and compete with the likes of eharmony, zoosk, and other singles dating sites. Today Match is one of the largest dating services with over 15 million members in over 240 countries. Let’s find out what it takes to sign up and what they have to offer.

Signing Up

Like most dating sites, signing up entails answering a slew of questions. Although this is cumbersome, it is recommended that you do so because it will enable Match to better align you with a potential partner. Your introduction and your details of who your ideal match are imperative to your success, so please do spend a little more time in these areas. The rest of the questions are geared towards getting general user info, relationship status, interest, appearance, and lifestyle. You also have the option of skipping questions or not answering the question. I don’t recommend doing that unless you are really uncomfortable with provided an answer. From my experience leaving anything blank usually results in people skipping your profile. Therefore I stress answering all questions.

Membership

Membership is free and you only have access to a few features. You can perform a search, view photos, send a wink, add members to your favorites list, and like member photos. These features are good starter features, but in order to contact them you will have to subscribe. You will also have access to more features such as contacting other singles, connecting faster with IM, and removing members from view to name a few.

There are two types of plans you can subscribe to. They are the basic plan and the bundle plans. Below you will find a list of features you get when you sign up. The difference between the basic plan and the bundle plan is that in the bundle plan you will get email read notifications, first impressions, and a highlighted profile in addition to the list of features below. In addition the bundle plan cost more, however, it is not significantly more that it would break the bank. Therefore I strongly suggest getting the bundle plan because there is more value in it.

Cost of Membership

Bundle Plan
• 12 months: $16.49/month
• 6 months: $19.99/month
• 3 months: $22.99/month

Basic Plan
• 12 months: $15.99/month
• 6 months: $16.99/month
• 3 months : $19.99/month
• 1 month: $35.99/month

It is also worth noting that subscribing to the membership for at least 6 months is ideal. The reason being is that you can take advantage of Match’s Guarantee program. According to their terms and conditions, if you are unable to find someone special during your qualifying six month paid subscription, then they will give you an additional six-month subscription at no cost. You of course would have to abide by certain rules. The first rule you have to follow is creating a profile with a primary photo that has to be approved in the first 7 days. It also has to be visible at all times. Another rule you have to follow is emailing five unique match members per month. You also have to communicate with match members that you had not previously communicated before you enrolled in the Match Gurantee Program. If you have more questions and need more details, then you can go to Match.com’s term of use section.

Additional Features

Match Events

One of the features that stood out for me about Match is their “Match Events.” In this section there are listings of local singles nights hosted by Match. Some examples are bowling night, wine tasting, and excursions to different parts of the country or world. There would be additional cost to sign up for the event. However, bookings and logistics would already be taken care of. You would just have to pay and show up during the hours posted for the event. There is even an FAQ section that covers what you should wear; the ratio of men to women that will be there; and whether or not you can bring a friend.

Personally I have not attended one of these mixers; however, I have had a couple of friends who had told me their experience. Obviously it is a lot different than talking to someone online because your interactions are real time and you can’t wait a few hours or even days to have clever responses or questions unless of course you’ve had a few of these events under your belt. They had told me that everyone seems friendly and that it’s your typical singles scene where everyone is holding a drink and keeping an eye out for the good looking singles. They were also quick to point out that not everyone is like that. There are friendly singles who talk to everyone. The verdict on those singles is that they are probably networking. For the majority of the singles, there will be a lot of rejection, but that is not surprising. It’s not to say there aren’t successful connections. There were a few singles that left together at the end of the night is what I was told. The advice I got from them was don’t expect anything, talk to everyone, and just have a good time. The rest will come naturally.

Personality Quiz

The personality test was taken from chemistry.com, which is the sister site of Match.com. Match imports your information from Match over to Chemistry.com for the quiz. It then asks you a series of questions about yourself and about your match. The last steps involve describing your ideal match in your own words. From your input it will find your ideal match.

Impress Her

If there is one area you should spend a lot of time on, it is definitely your profile description as mentioned earlier. Granted we are not all romantics, poets, or English majors so we can only write the profiles to do the best of our abilities. For those that want to embellish a tad more on their profiles, then I would advise using the “Impress Her” feature. It will cost you $39.99, however it will definitely help make your profile sound more appealing and approachable because it is being written by professional writers. You will have your newly written profile in just a few days. All you have to do is be patient.

Daily Matches

Match determines your daily matches based on the information you had entered when you initially signed up. How it works is that they send a number of profiles every day. You then have the option of choosing the check mark, which shows that you are interested in the daily match, or the x mark, which shows that you are not interested. If you choose the check mark, you then have the option of writing her a message explaining why you are interested in her or you can skip on to the next daily match candidate.

Search

There are three ways you can search for singles on Match. The first method is through your traditional search means based on the criteria you set such as location, age, appearance etc. The second way to search for other members is through what match calls a “mutual match.” This is where their system matches you up to someone based on what you had written in your profile. If for whatever reason, you decide that you don’t agree with the “mutual match” selection, you can go back and update your profile. The third way to search is through “Reverse Match.” This is where they are looking for matches similar to you based on what was written in the “about yourself” section of your profile. You can also update your profile if you are not satisfied with match results.

Bottom Line

Overall I am not blown away by Match.com. It is however on par with other singles dating sites. It’s generally an easy site to navigate with standard features of chatting and searching you would expect on a contemporary dating site. What I did particularly enjoy was that as a free member you can view other member’s photos (all of them), conduct searches, and wink at them. You just can’t communicate with them unless you subscribe. In addition I also liked the fact that they set up events for you to meet up with your potential matches. This enables you to go do things or meet with other members without having to do much work especially if you are busy with your professional life. Another aspect I liked about Match is that the members were very attractive. This alone has me inclined to becoming a paid member. To me Match.com is a win-win situation, especially with their six month guarantee program. If you don’t find anyone in six month’s then you get to try another six months free of charge. It’s almost as if you are trying the program free for six months. There is no reason not to give Match.com a try.