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When most people imagine an online dating site, they are picturing Match.com.
With a long history of creating matches, this site has set the standard for the entire industry. It is not free, but very well may be worth it for you. Here is an overview of what to expect from the site when you visit and join. You can find Match.com reviews on Reddit and Quora. Most of them are negative but some are positive. Match.com has a TrustPilot Score of 1,2 which is bad. A lot of people are unhappy about how the site works.
First Impressions
Match.com is impressive. It is laid out like an online magazine and has an easy navigation system to allow you to search for profiles, view profiles, contact people or to read up on the various ins and outs of the dating world. The mobile app version is just as streamlined and visually appealing. When you first land on Match.com you will be asked to fill out their personality profile and then matches will be suggested for you. To go further, you must get a paid membership.
How does it compare in the real world?
Match.com is has been around for over a decade and remains popular. It has a slightly higher percentage of women than men, the average age is mid-20s to early thirties but there is a strong representation of other age groups. It is geared solely toward heterosexual relationships.
- Match.com is ranked 502 globally ( a 60 point drop in the past year) is 141 in the US.
- Most popular in the US, UK and Canada.
- The average user spends almost 10 minutes a day on the site, accessing it from a school location.
- The membership activity is steadily falling off.
Match.com remains one of the biggest and most popular dating sites, but its popularity is steadily falling off – not leveling off, but dropping. That said, they still have more active users in their demographic than most. They are trying to edge into the above 50 market but are facing some stiff competition.
Features
Match.com is known for its proprietary “personality profile” that has been featured on several news programs. The profile is a hybrid of the Meyers Briggs psychological assessment and a few other profile questionnaires.
- You can opt-in for more advanced features like the one by Dr. Phil (MindFindBind) that costs $8/month and promises to role-play you through meeting someone online and dating.
- There is no chat or forum feature.
- You can opt to search by keywords (for a fee).
- There are also various extended features that allow you to search for more options, hide your profile from visitor lists and see who visited you.
The exclusion of the chat/forum features is unusual in this day and age and can make Match.com a very passive experience. You have to have complete faith in their matchmaking formula and the integrity of the person’s profile to find someone to meet.
Price and membership
Good luck trying to find out what the actual cost of membership is with Match.com until you have your credit card out and are committed to a membership. It is reported that the average monthly cost is about $29.99, which makes sense as it would fit with the rest of the sites under the Match.com umbrella. There are the standard discounts for signing up for several months in advance and the payments are put on an automatic subscription billing format.
There is no trial period or free membership option, except for the teaser personality test that will show you a list of results that you can’t access without a paid description. To use the site and see who is there and what it has to offer, you must pay. It does have different tiers of membership that will allow you access to more advanced features too.
Conclusion
Match.com is hugely successful because it has done a lot of things right and it relies on a proprietary matching system that people swear by – but in the end there is no guarantee that the person at the end of the profile will match their results in reality. It is geared solely toward heterosexuals, is one of the more expensive sites but is viewed favorably by its users. If there is any downfall to it the fact that it has so many members may not work in your favor. Too many choices can sometimes prevent any choice at all.