Match making website eHarmony may be in the business of creating lifelong partnerships, but “the internet’s most-trusted relationship service provider” isn’t afraid of some healthy online dating competition.
EHarmony begins a partnership with AOL today to share its online dating advice to readers of AOL Personals. AOL users will be able to register for eHarmony’s singles matching service directly from AOL Personals, but in keeping with AOL's new aggregation format, eHarmony will share the screen with competing services like Match.com.
“We’ve always regarded matching services like eHarmony as distinct from more casual dating sites,” says eHarmony CEO Greg Waldorf.
The partnership with AOL, which follows similar content sharing with Comcast.net and Yahoo7, represents a shift for the company, which until last year served solely as a profitable paid subscription dating service.
Last year the company opened its online advice content the entire web, as opposed to just subscribers.
When eHarmony launched the eHarmony Advice Community,
“we unlocked all this content," says Waldorf. "And were blown away by how many people come to it who aren’t subscribers. That’s been the big win for us. It gives us the chance to engage with people, and when they're ready for a relationship, they can come to us."
The free content serves as advertisement for the company and brings in ad dollars, but Waldorf says that the company will always be at its foundation a subscription business.
EHarmony is comfortable charging for its services while others offer free dating sites because the company is in the business of finding partners, not dates. Some 236 people eHarmony users get married on average every day, according to a Harris
Interactive study.
"The best defense we have is to take great care of our customers and innovate our products,"
says Waldorf. "People come to a company that’s working. And our site is working for a lot of people."
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