EHarmony

History

eHarmony was founded by Neil Clark Warren, a psychologist and author of relationship advice books, along with Greg Forgatch, Warren's son-in-law. In the late 1990s, after more than 35 years of work as a clinical psychologist and marriage counselor, Warren decided to test his theory that certain characteristics can predict compatibility and lead to more satisfying relationships. After three years of research in collaboration with Galen Buckwalter, Warren developed a model of compatibility that is now the basis of the company’s matching system.

The service was financed with a $3 million investment from Fayez Sarofim & Co. and individual investors. In 2004, eHarmony received the fourth largest venture capital infusion of that year from Sequoia Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures. With its subscription model, the service has been profitable since then and reached a milestone in 2009 as it exceeded $1.0 billion in cumulative revenue.

The service launched its matching service for singles in 2000. Since then, the company has had about 33 million members, and, as of 2008, about 15,000 people take the eHarmony questionnaire each day. After finding a match on eHarmony, Harris Interactive states that an average of 542 eHarmony members in the United States marry every day. With 14 percent of the U.S. dating-services market, the company trails only IAC/InterActiveCorp, parent of Match.com, which has 24 percent, according to industry researcher IBISWorld. The unique service that has been often noted by eharmony customers for years is the misuse of the website to incur auto-renewals from members. Members frequently complain that the website lacks a stable cancellation for membership or the auto-renewal subscription.

Over the last three years, new memberships, retention rates and time spent on the site decreased, primarily due to increased competition. In July 2012, the 78-year-old eHarmony founder came out of retirement to become chief executive. Warren closed unprofitable international operations, switched advertisers, made changes to the board, and bought back stock from Sequoia Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures.

Methodology

No independent studies of eHarmony's methods or success rates have been published.

Prospective members complete a proprietary questionnaire about their characteristics, beliefs, values, emotional health and skills. Matching algorithms, which the company believes matches people's core traits and values to replicate the traits of happy couples, use these answers to match members with users the company believes will be compatible. The software technology also evaluates users' behavioral data such as average time spent on the site.

Buckwalter says that the compatibility system rests a lot on commonality, for their belief is that "Opposites attract, then they attack."

Starting in January, eHarmony users can now see why they're compatible with a feature called "The Two Of You Together". They will be able to see the matches who score at an advanced level of compatibility and also why.

CEO

Founder Neil Warren announced his resignation as CEO in July 2016. Grant Langston, former vice president of brand marketing, was announced as the new CEO, replacing Warren.

Reception and analysis

After answering a 258-question profile, some would-be customers are frustrated when they are not accepted for the matching process. About one in five people are not suitable for the service for reasons including that the user is currently married or has been married more than four times, provides inconsistent answers in the profile, is homosexual, fails its "dysthymia scale," or is identified as possibly having "severe depression."

Same-sex couples

Initially eHarmony did not offer same-sex matches, but now it does through its separate service, Compatible Partners. Warren originally explained that he had done extensive research on heterosexual marriage but does not know enough about homosexual relationships to do same-sex match-making which "calls for some very careful thinking. Very careful research." He also noted that eHarmony promotes heterosexual marriage, adding that (at the time) same-sex marriage was illegal in most states, "We don't really want to participate in something that's illegal." In a separate interview, Warren went into more detail on his own views, noting that "cities like San Francisco, Chicago or New York... they could shut [eHarmony] down so fast. We don't want to make enemies out of them. But at the same time, I take a real strong stand against same-sex marriage, anywhere that I can comment on it."

eHarmony's lack of same-sex matching options prompted lawsuits claiming that eHarmony violated laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. As part of the settlement of a New Jersey case, eHarmony launched a partner website called Compatible Partners providing match-making "for men and women looking for a serious same-sex relationship". Theodore B. Olson, an attorney for eHarmony, said that even though the company believed the complaint was "an unfair characterization of our business", it chose to settle because of the unpredictable nature of litigation. In 2010, eHarmony settled a separate class-action lawsuit filed in California that alleged illegal discrimination based on sexual orientation. The company, which did not admit wrongdoing, agreed to allow access to both its gay and straight dating sites with a single subscription, to display its gay dating services more prominently and to establish a settlement fund to pay people who can show they were harmed by the company's policies.

Compatible Partners has attracted over 200,000 registrants. Michelle Garcia, writing in the LGBT-interest magazine, The Advocate, also notes that, like eHarmony, Compatible Partners attracts high-quality customers. According to Garcia, "Because of the price tag and the emphasis on long-term relationships... Compatible Partners' users are seen as quite desirable."

Matching paying members with non-paying members

After approval by the questionnaire, eHarmony begins to match members regardless of their subscription status. A member's list of matches does not indicate which members are paying or non-paying but, as of March 1, 2012, it shows the last time the person logged on to eHarmony (non-mobile browsers only). In May 2015 recent user login activity was removed from the expanded profile view.

Security breach

On June 6, 2012, eHarmony confirmed that its password database had been breached and a section of its user base had been affected. Affected members were sent e-mails by the company requesting them to change their password immediately.

Explaining success

Satoshi Kanazawa thinks that part of the success of eHarmony can be explained by the high cost of entry in terms of time required to fulfill the initial questionnaire—over 18 hours, but other sources put the time to complete the relationship questionnaire at approximately one hour. Using Laurence Iannaccone's original idea that success of fundamentalist churches is explained by the high demands imposed on their members, Kanazawa hypothesizes that a similar self-selection mechanism is at work with eHarmony: "they select their members very carefully, and only admit those who are very committed (or desperate; if anyone who chooses to join eHarmony is truly desperate to get married, then it can potentially and partially explain why it produces such a high proportion of all marriages in the US)." Another factor suggested by Dan Ariely is the limited choice of partners offered, which may make the decision easier for some.[unreliable source]

eHarmony dating app

eHarmony’s smartphone App allows those registered with the online dating service to access their accounts at any time or place. In addition to an ease of access, some of the features that the App includes are: the capability to upload and delete photos, sorting through matches, reviewing new matches, and free communication via a chat component. The mobile App can be downloaded freely at either the iTunes App Store or Android Market. And can even register and complete the relationship questionnaire which some say is a lot easier due to their scoring system being easier to navigate on a mobile. In 2014, eHarmony launched the “Datebook” addition to the application. “Datebook” allows users to organize their outings and record their experiences. Some of the highlights that “Datebook” offers are: Calendar Sync- a system that automatically transports any dates entered into “Datebook” directly to a smartphones calendar feature, Date History- a digital journal that allows users to record their thoughts pertaining to a particular date, and Date Questions- a component that permits users to save ice breaker questions that can always be used on first dates. The eHarmony app is compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

eH+ by eHarmony

Commonly referred to as eHarmony Plus, eH+ by eHarmony is their high-end online matchmaking service which provides members with personal and professional matchmakers who help hand-select their dates from the pool of millions of regular eHarmony subscribers. eH+ launched in December 2013, just prior to the release of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The movie features an eHarmony personal counseling service, mirroring eHarmony Plus.