Jennifer Lopez might have sung “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” more than 20 years ago, but these days, it’s not uncommon to drop some cash in the hunt for a partner.
Others like Hinge, Tinder, Grindr and Bumble have free versions along with paid tiers or features that banish ads, allow messaging prospective dates before matching or show the user’s profile more prominently.
Not necessarily, say matchmakers and Canadian daters, who have found an open-minded attitude and the right profile are the biggest indicators of success on paid and free dating apps alike.
“It’s really about thinking about what you want to put that money into and doing your research rather than being like I’m going to join Match and pay whatever,” said Shannon Tebb, the Toronto dating expert behind boutique matchmaking service Shanny in the City.
“Do you have a good profile? Do you have good photos? If no, I don’t know why you are already joining the membership.”
There has been little recent public research specific to success with paid dating services, but shopper advocacy publication Consumer Reports studied user experiences on dating apps in a 2017 survey of 115,000 subscribers.
Ashley Madison, which is marketed to people who are married or in a relationship and suffered a massive breach involving the data of 30 million users in 2015, had one of the highest fees for its services, but was among the lowest scoring online dating services.
The success of services that only accept paid users often hinges on the quantity and quality of daters it attracts.
Too many people can trigger choice paralysis and make users tired of swiping or scrolling through a seemingly endless ream of options, but too few might make matches difficult and prompt cancellations.
A survey of 644 people from Statisa found only 19 per cent of male and six per cent of female dating app users were paying in . Twenty-two per cent of men had paid in the past and 12 per cent would consider it in the future, while 15 per cent of had paid for dating services before and eight per cent were open to trying it for the first time. Continue reading “Will paying for dating apps make you more likely to find your love?”