Over the past decade, the online dating world has reached new heights. This is because customers feel much safer and more comfortable when using and paying on dating sites.
Besides that, the pandemic and social distancing measures have encouraged people to use the internet even more to find love or at the bear minimum, a potential match. It seems that going to a public place to meet new people has become a thing of the past.
Time has also become a significant factor for this increasing trend. In other words, when a user registers to a dating site, they do not want to wait for weeks or months to be able to find a potential partner.
Additionally, the “stigma” attached when dating online (especially when referring to the best dating sites) has faded quite some time ago, as using the internet to meet people has become part of our daily lives.
With this in mind, dating websites have drastically evolved regarding the services they can offer to their users and therefore, have adopted various payment models to cater for their customers even further.
Another topic to consider is the choice between paid and free dating sites. A lot of people raise the question on whether it’s worth paying in search of finding love or a casual relationship. It would be fair to say that on most occasions, a paid dating site has a lot more to offer than a free dating site.
With paid dating sites you will benefit from a number of features and extra services, such as:
– Better quality customer service
– Increased checks to verify users profiles
– Paying on a dating site also counts as a vote of real intent towards other users
Moving forward, the next big question is if a “Monthly Subscription” or a “Pay As You Go” would be the preferred payment model and why?
Monthly Subscription
In the online dating industry as an example, a user will pay a subscription to use certain features, such as checking who has read your messages, using a search bar to look for other profiles or just to chat to other users.
Some examples of dating sites using subscriptions are Tinder, Badoo and POF.
For instance, Tinder currently promotes its “Tinder Gold” subscription, where users are able to pay instalments for extra features such as unlimited “Likes”.
POF (Plenty Of Fish) uses a monthly subscription to gain access to special features. For example, being able to see more information on a user’s profile or being able to upload more images to your profile.
On the other hand, Badoo offers a type of subscription-based membership called “Badoo Premium”, where users are given access to a set of unique features. To give you an idea, one of the features that Badoo is known for is the “Invisible Mode”, where you will not be noticed when browsing through different profiles.
Pay As You Go
Pros and Cons
Monthly Subscription
Convenience –> Users do not need to worry about following up on payments each time Easier to budget
Locked in to product –> It’s harder for the user to have flexibility on pricing and selection
There may be hidden costs when using or ending a subscription
You pay for more services than what you usually need
Check small print on the Terms and Conditions on recurring purchase / automatic-renewals
Pay As You Go
No commitment to a contract or agreement Easier to sample a service than a subscription Services are constantly updated to keep the users interested May become expensive over time as its hard to budget
Affordability and Flexibility → The user can choose which service they wantConclusion
Moreover, from a dating site’s perspective, it is easier for an online dater to try a service if they do not have the feeling of being tied down to a recurring payment or worrying about having to pay for any hidden costs that may appear over time.
If we take an example from above and also one of the known dating sites, Bumble and click-date provide its users with free coins so they can “test the field” before needing to purchase anything. However, even though the latter does not offer a dating app, their users can still use any free or paid coins on any device nonetheless.
As time has moved forward, we can slowly but surely see that the Monthly Subscription is being considered as the old classic payment model. Companies have started pushing towards a Pay As You Go structure as it brings a lot more benefits and freedom for their users as well as reducing any waste throughout the process.
Read more:
Pay As You Go or Monthly Subscription? A User’s Dilemma in the Online Dating World