Match.com Dating Site Review

Match.com is an online dating service and website that is the oldest and most well known that began during the early days of the Internet. Match.com was first launched over twenty-one years ago in 1995 and has since spread its’ services to over twenty-five different countries and can be used in fifteen different languages including English, Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish, etc.

The headquarters of the Match.com Company are located in Dallas, Texas but the online dating service also has offices in cities like Rio de Janiero, Tokyo, Beijing, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. Along with other dating websites like Tinder and OKCupid, Match.com is owned by InterActive Corp. (IAC) in the division known as ‘IAC Personals’ and is considered to be the leading brand when it comes to the online dating market.

Since 1995, Match.com has grown to be the one of the largest, if not the largest online dating website on the planet. Because the website has been around for more than twenty years, the company claims to be responsible for more dates, relationships, and marriages than any other dating website. Due to their wide reach in different countries and languages, Match.com claims a customer base that is easily in the millions of people.

In order to retain the loyalty of its’ membership base, the website offers a guarantee that if you don’t find what you’re looking for in terms of finding a serious partner or relationship within the first six months of membership, then the next six months of membership will be given to you for free in order for you to stick around and keep trying without footing the bill. Marketing strategies and special offers like the one above have helped make Match.com what it is today and has allowed it to remain popular for over the last two decades.

Match Review (Match.com)

Background

Despite being launched in 1995 officially on the World Wide Web, Match.com was founded two years earlier in 1993 by three different men. Those three men were Gary Kremen, Peng T. Ong, and Simon Glinsky who each played different roles in developing and creating what is today known as Match.com.

Originally, Match.com was meant to be used as a way to provide classified advertising systems for newspapers that would use it on their official websites. Mr. Kremen and Mr. Ong worked on designing and creating the initial classifieds systems. Mr. Glinksy aided in creating an Internet business and marketing plan for the classifieds systems that would become Match.com as well as handling the management side of the company.

During its’ development, Match.com would grow and change from a simplified classifieds system for personals / dating into an actual website with a subscription model and different features to go along signing up for a free membership. As Match.com got started, it decided to include men and women of adult ages, professionals, minorities, and even the elderly to use its’ services.

Perhaps what made Match.com a unique player in the online dating world was its’ openness and inclusiveness when it came to the Gay and Lesbian community by giving those LGBT members the option to find love and romance with other users of the website. In order to appeal to women to join the website in similar numbers to men, Mrs. Fran Maier led the business unit in using marketing strategies and advertisements in order to get more females to join Match.com, one of the very first online dating websites.

Match.com founders understood that if a lot of single women were joining the website than that meant that more men would be interested in the website’s services and would want to join as well.

Main Features

When you first sign-up with Match.com, you’ll be able to check it out for three days with a free trial and then you can decide whether you would like to have a free membership or upgrade to a paid membership and start your monthly or yearly plan.

• Create a profile

There are a number of main features that you can access regardless if you’re a free or paid member of Match.com. Every user who signs up has the option to create a personal profile that can be very detailed depending on how much effort you put into it.

In addition to your Match.com profile, you can create your own headline that summarizes who you are in a few words. Beyond the hobbies and interests, on your profile, you can write a short essay about yourself if there’s any information that you left out otherwise. On Match.com, you can also apply to be used in the ‘Member Spotlight’ which will allow you to gain more interest from potential matches by being highlighted on the website.

• Add photos

You can have as many photos as you want to display on your profile and if you become a verified member, it’s likely that you’ll gain more viewers, matches, and potential dates.

• Input general information

You’ll be asked to input general information about yourself such as your first name, current location, e-mail address, gender, date of birth, the age range of the person you’re interested in as well as how wide of a radius in terms of miles or kilometers that you would like to have in your search.

• Customize your settings

In order to make this happen, you’ll be asked to give your zip code in order to locate other Match.com users who are close to you in vicinity. If you’re worried about personal privacy and security about this information, do not fret because Match.com allows you to customize these settings and you can make what information you would like others to know available to the public.

Match.com promises all of its users that its’ information will not be shared with outside partners without permission being given first by the user.

• Add other additional information

In addition to this general information, you’ll also be asked to fill out an ‘About You’ section with additional personal information. You will have to describe your appearance in more detail such as your height, weight, eye color, hair color, and body type (athletic, average, overweight, etc.).

Match.com will also want to know whether you are single, in a relationship, married, divorced, etc. in terms of having your relationship status included in your profile. You can also divulge whether or not you have kids, what your religious and political beliefs are but it’s not mandatory if you choose to leave those sections blank.

Other information that Match.com wants to see on your profile include your education background, salary level, and your current profession / field of work. Lifestyle questions will also be included in this profile such as whether or not you smoke, drink, have pets, and how much exercise you do. If you decide to, you can also highlight if you speak any foreign languages and what’s your racial / ethnic background should you want to.

Lastly, Match.com wants to get to know more about your preference when it comes to the local clubs, bars, and restaurants. Before you finish your profile, you will be asked to write about your favorite movies, music, books, TV shows, types of foods, hobbies, interests, sports, etc. in order to gain a more complete sense of who you are and who might be a good match for you for dating and a relationship.

• Fill in what you are looking for in a date

After Match.com asks you about who you are, what you like, and where you’re going in life, they will then ask about what you are looking for in a potential romantic partner. They will ask you about what your ideal date would be like in many different ways.

First, they will want to know what his or her appearance would be like ideally for you. They will ask about the hair color, eye color, height, and body type that you are looking for.

After that, they will go into more personal aspects of this potential match by asking for your preferences with education, political and religious beliefs, profession, and race / ethnicity if there are any. You will also have to specify whether or not you want your ‘date’ to have kids, what their relationship status should be like, and what salary range you are looking for.

If they drink or smoke will also be important for you to specify if your preferences as it will be easier to find compatible matches that way. By selecting the ‘Deal Breaker’ option with certain questions about your ideal ‘date’, you’ll be able to indicate what’s most important to you when it comes to the love of your life and what you can and won’t be able to put up with in your dating life.

Additional Features

• Search for matches

There are a lot of other features that are secondary in nature to the personal profile along with the associated pictures but they are still important to each and every user of Match.com. You can search for other members as well as matches that you have gotten in the past or up until the present.

• Rate the matches

You can rate the matches that you get on a daily or weekly basis in terms of whether you like or favorite them.

• Send winks

When you’re viewing other profiles, you do also have the option to ‘send winks’ to show your interest. You can post new profile pictures and get rid of old ones if you want to. In addition to having access to Match.com from a laptop or computer, as a user, you’ll also gain mobile access to the website through your personal smartphone or tablet.

• Reply and send messages (paid members only)

There are certain additional features of Match.com that are only available to paid members of the website. If you’re a paid subscriber, you can send and reply to messages from any members whenever you want.

• Check who have viewed or favorite your profile (paid members)

You can see which members have viewed, liked or favorite your profile.

• Instant messaging (paid members only)

There’s also an instant messaging feature that you can access only as a paid member. There’s also the option to received matches who have been SingledOut and you can keep track of all connections in one part of your profile.

• Remove users from your search

When you’re not interested in certain users anymore, you have the option to remove them from your past search results if you need to free up some space for new possibilities. Your personal profile can also be highlighted randomly giving you a chance to be seen by more members. Match.com can also put you on a priority list for events and gatherings that it can hold for members in person if you opt for an upgraded membership.

Free v. Paid Memberships

When you sign up for Match.com, you can either be a free user who has access to all main features and some additional features such as a personal profile, pictures, the ability to view other profiles and send messages, etc.

However, if you’re not satisfied with these features and want to have full access to everything Match.com has to offer then there are a number of paid membership options to consider if you really want to be upgraded.

Free membership includes the following features:

• Able to create a profile
  • General (gender, birthday, age, location, search by zip code/region.
  • About You (hair color, eye color, body type, height, kids, relationship status, political views, religion, education, occupation, salary range, drinking and smoking habits, pets, ethnicity, language, favorite spots, and your interests (food, movie, hobbies).
  • About Your Date (hair color, eye color, body type, height, languages, education, religion, ethnicity, kids, relationship status, salary, drinking and smoking habits, select a ‘dealbreaker’ (qualities that you need in a date).
  • Summary (headline, essay about yourself and what you are looking for in a match)
  • Photos
  • Verifications
• View profiles
• Search for matches
• Send winks
• Receive alerts
• General mobile access (including mobile apps).
• Rate Daily Matches

Paid membership includes all of the features that free members can access, plus the following:

• Send messages to members you are interested in
• Receive and reply to messages from other subscribers
• Connect with instant messanger
• See who has viewed or favorited your profile
• Get SingledOut matches
• One click search type
• Remove members from search results
• Keep track of all open Connections in one place
• Priority access to evenmts
• Highlighted profile

When your profile is approved, takes approximately 48 hours, other members will be able to find you.

Match.com Cost

The membership costs were last updated in October of 2015 and are reflected in both Basic and Bundle packages. When you have a basic package as a paid member, you’ll be missing out on a few additional features such as first impressions, a highlighted profile, and notifications that your messages have been read.

If you purchase a twelve-month membership, it will cost about $27 per month, which will save you quite a bit of money. From there, it will be more costly for you. A six-month membership will go for about $28 per month, a three-month membership will be about $32 per month and a one-month membership will be around $57 per month, which will be the most expensive and short-lasting option.

For the bundle plans, prices will be similar to the basic plans that are offered for paid memberships. A twelve-month membership will be about $28 per month while six-months will go for $32 per month and a three-month membership will be $36 per month making it the most expensive and short-term option available.

• Pay for features individually

Match.com also gives its’ free and paid users the option to pay for additional features individually in the case that they don’t want to buy a full paid membership with all of the features included. For $14 a month, anyone can reply to your messages if you have sent one to any interested members or matches.

Also, for $14 a month, you can make yourself ‘private’ by keeping your profile form being visible to other members which allows you to search for other users without being noticed. You can also choose which profiles can see that you have viewed them and expressed your interest. For $7 a month, you can know when your e-mails have been read and by whom.

Also for $7 per month, you can have new members view you continuously to form their first impressions of your profile. Lastly, for the same amount of money, you can highlight your profile and redesign it to make it look more appealing visually. There’s also the unique feature known as matchPhone, which allows you to talk and text other members without sharing your phone number publicly.

• Pay for ‘Top Spot’

Lastly, by enabling ‘Top Spot’ which is a special paid feature that can be paid for separately without buying an upgraded membership. ‘Top Spot’ allow you as a member of Match.com the ability to be seen at the top of many users’ search results for up to an hour allowing you to gain more views and much more visitors. You can buy one ‘Top Spot’ for $3, a five-pack of ‘Top Spot’ for $2.50 each, and a ten-pack of ‘Top Spot’ for $2 each, which will save you some money by buying this special feature in bulk.

When it comes to paid features and general paid memberships, buying the longer-term option will often lead to savings in money and a greater investment in Match.com. Along with the guarantee from the website that you can get an additional free six-months of membership if you don’t find someone special during the first six months of being a user of Match.com, the website also accepts PayPal and all major credit cards so you can be assured that your payment will be secured each and every month.

Mobile Use and Applications

In order to keep up with other online competitors such as OKCupid and Plenty of Fish, Match.com has worked on installing, implementing, and improving its’ mobile functionality and usability in order to compete with different websites in the same dating market.

Now in addition to your computer or laptop, you can also access Match.com using matchmobile, which allows any registered member to sign-in and have the ability to use their profile when they are on their smartphone or tablet. This is possible due to the Match.com development team creating a mobile version of their website which allows users to check their messages, visitors, and other profiles even if they are away from their computer but still have access to their smartphone.

The mobile version of the site is smaller in size but has the same features as the regular version of the site on a computer. You can also choose to receive e-mail and text message alerts that can be sent to your mobile device as well indicating that you have Match.com notifications to check out.

The official mobile application for Match.com is widely available and can be found and downloaded at the Apple or Google Play store. The Match.com application is compatible with the iOS system, Apple Watch, Android system, and Android Wear, which cover most of the popular smartphones that are used today. Match.com’s application is basically the same as the regular website but condensed into an easy-to-use mobile version of the site’s page.

The mobile homepage comes with your recent activity, your newsfeed, and a photo-viewing feature known as ‘Stream.’ Searches can be made in the same ways as they are done in the desktop with you being able to check your daily, weekly, reverse, and mutual matches without any problems.

If you are on the mobile application and find that you like someone in particular, it’s not difficult to send that person interest by sending them a message, an e-mail, a wink, liking a photo of theirs or adding their profile as one of your favorites on the app.

Paid members who have the mobile application for Match.com will be able to manage their favorites, messages, and other communications with the ‘Connections’ page on their website display. This feature is only for paid members and can be accessed in both the desktop and mobile versions of Match.com.

Whether you’re a free or paid user, you will get access to notifications on your phone from Match.com if you have received a new message, have gotten a wink, another user has made you one of their favorite members, etc.

Premium members who have paid for Match.com can also gain access to MatchPhone. MatchPhone is a mobile service that helps to protect the privacy of its’ members by giving them a new mobile number which they can talk, text, and call with without using their real mobile number.

This new number which is generated by matchPhone allows the user to retain their anonymity by having their new number forward the calls, texts, and other notifications to the users’ original cell phone number without the other person knowing that. This specific matchPhone number acts as a go-between yourself and the Match.com user in order to guarantee that your personal mobile phone number won’t be revealed but you’ll still be able to call and text the person while ensuring your privacy and security.

Getting Offline

Unlike most other online dating websites, Match.com makes a concentrated effort to get its’ members offline and to meet with each other in real-life. ‘DateSpark’ is an additional feature of Match.com, which allows you as the user to suggest a ‘first date’ idea to an interested member and then see whether or not they show interest in the idea, respond to you, and then take the conversation offline to have a formal date.

Because of the popularity of Match.com and its’ reach to millions of members, the company has hosted many real-life social events for singles and those people looking for a relationship. These events are held in different cities where a lot of members are living and are held in banquet halls, bars, lounges, restaurants and other public social settings so that new and old users can interact with each other especially if they’re open to dating and companionship.

These events run by Match.com usually last for about two to three hours and are usually free to attend if you’re a registered Match.com user. Usually, guests at these kinds of events can get drinks at discounted prices and can enjoy free appetizers and hors d’oeuvres.

Search For Members By

• Basic Search (gender, location, age, online now, photos)
• Mutual Match (based on what you are looking for and what you fill in your profile.)
• Reverse Match (these matches are based on what you have said on your profile.)
• Communities (associations, certain brands, and organizations, similar interests.)
• Daily Matches
• Match Me
• Connections (winks, favorites, viewed me, likes, and phonebook.)
• DateSpark (propose a date.)

Relationships You Can Search For

• Friends
• Dating
• Long-Term
• Marriage

Relationship Types Allowed

• Straight
• Lesbian
• Gay

Your Relationship Status

• Single
• Divorced
• Widowed

Tools To Use

• Profiles
• Photos
• Mail messages
• Wink
• Match Events
• Instant Messenger
• matchPhone
• Connections (filter, sort, and keep track of members)
• Match.com Apps (Android or iOS)
• The Stir events (in person single events)
• Games (there are 7 short games to choose from and play with other members. Games are approximately 1-5 minutes. Available games: Food Citric, Best & Worst, Name that dance, Romance Rip Off, If I Could, Gut Reaction, and Drawn Together.

Positives and Negatives

Positives:

There are a number of positive features that can be attributed to Match.com which is why it has been around since the early days of the Internet and has subsequently increased in its’ popularity.

• Simple to use

The navigability and design of the website allows for easy use and functionality compared to other online dating sites. The layout is seamless and the main page is straightforward where you’re able to see your potential matches, past visitors, and whom you might be interested in your area based on your profile, personal characteristics and attributes.

• Free 6 months

The guarantee that Match.com offers to its users about if they have not found a relationship or serious companionship within six-months of registering then the next six months are free from them is a unique feature and has not been used or implemented in any other online dating service.

• Biggest dating site

Match.com’s popularity is unmatched and is the biggest online dating website in the world, which goes to show that it works, it’s trusted, and its’ customer base remains satisfied.

• Remove people from the search results

Other positives of the website include the ability to remove people from your search results if you’re not interested in them, the ability to get a notification if someone has read your e-mail or online message as an additional feature, and many other additional features available to paid users who pay fair prices to get more out of their membership.

Negatives:

• Overwhelming 

Because Match.com is the largest online dating website with millions of members and followers, it can be a tiring experience to those who are new to the online dating world and to using websites like these. If you don’t know how to use the website, then it may take you a few days or even a week to figure out how it works due to the amount of free and paid features.

However, Match.com has recently offered an online help system where their customer support team can give advice, share tips, and share answers regarding the website and its’ various features thus making it easier on those thousands of first time users who join Match.com every day.

How To Delete Match.com Account?

Saying goodbye to your online dating life can be quite difficult. This is especially the case when it comes to Match.com which is one of the premiere online dating websites on the Internet.

The time may have come for you to delete your account because you have found someone special and have a serious girlfriend or are getting married now. However, the opposite could have happened in that you had poor luck with the website and are going to try out something else to improve your dating luck.

Before you go ahead and delete your account, you will need to cancel your automatic subscription renewal first so that Match.com doesn’t charge you again for the next month.

After you get that done, you’ll need to navigate to the bottom of the ‘account settings’ page where you can click on the link that states, “To delete your account and permanently remove your profile from the site, click here.”

After you click on the button, it will ask you to confirm the choice you are about to make and to also remind you that once you delete this account, you won’t be able to register with the same username or password again.

You will lose all of the connections on the site you have made as well as the numbers and messages that you have exchanged with other users.

Make sure that you have done everything you need to delete the account properly before you go through with this decision. While Match.com may not have worked out for you, it might be useful to try a different online dating website instead. Check out our eHarmony review here.

Conclusion

Match.com is not the perfect online dating website but it comes pretty close. Due to its’ easy accessibility from your laptop, mobile device, and even in-person events along with the vast amount of free and paid features, Match.com makes the process of finding dates and a companion as painless as it can be. There’s a reason why millions of Match.com users have joined and why thousands of success stories have emerged with new relationships and marriages happening as a result. If you’re new to online dating and want to give it a try, Match.com may be your best bet.

Have you ever used Match.com before? If yes, how was your experience with this famous dating site? I would love to hear your thoughts and advice.