Jump to content

eHarmony

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Rlogan2 (talk | contribs) at 13:40, 16 June 2009. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

eHarmony.com
Company typePrivate
Founded2000, Pasadena, California
HeadquartersPasadena, California
Websiteeharmony.com

eHarmony is an online dating site. eHarmony matches men and women with compatible singles of the opposite sex, taking into consideration what it considers key dimensions of personality. In addition to singles matching, eHarmony operates eHarmony Labs, a relationship research facility, and publishes eHarmony Advice, a growing relationship advice site. eHarmony, which was launched on August 22, 2000, is based in Pasadena, CA and has operations in the U.S., Australia, Canada and the U.K. The company is privately-held, with investors that include Technology Crossover Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Fayez Sarofim & Co.

History

eHarmony was founded by Neil Clark Warren, a psychologist and author of successful relationship advice books.[1] In the late 1990s, after more than 35 years of work as a clinical psychologist and marriage counselor, Warren decided to test his evolving theory that certain characteristics can predict compatibility, and lead to more satisfying relationships. After three years of research, working in collaboration with Dr. Galen Buckwalter, Warren developed a predictive, scientific model of compatibility that is now the basis of the company’s matching system.[2]

The service was financed with a $3.0 million investment from Fayez Sarofim & Co. and individual investors.[3] In 2004 eHarmony received the fourth largest venture capital infusion of that year from Sequoia Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures.[4]

eHarmony launched its matching service for singles in 2000.[5] Since then, the company has had about 20 million members.[6] As of 2008, about 15,000 people take the eHarmony questionnaire each day.[7] After finding a match on eHarmony, Harris Interactive reports that an average of 236 eHarmony members marry every day.[8]

Methodology

Compatibility is the core tenet at eHarmony, as Warren’s research indicated that a couple’s compatibility was the leading indicator of long-term success. As CEO Greg Waldorf explained, “It's not about matching people who like certain hobbies ... it's about compatibility. You go on to the site and tell us about you, rather than about what you want."[6]

Early on, eHarmony’s scientific approach to a deeply personal and emotional process[9] differentiated its matching service. While competitive dating sites require users to browse photos and profiles, new eHarmony members complete a questionnaire that determines key characteristics, beliefs, values, emotional health and skills. Sophisticated matching algorithms – the basis of the matching system Warren and Buckwalter developed, 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 compatible users.[10]

Besides values and personality traits, the questionnaire, which takes about an hour to complete,[9] allows members to tailor their matches based on a handful of parameters, including geographical distance, desire or presence of existing children from prior relationships, and religion as well as habits such as drinking and smoking.

Although eHarmony is less than 10 years old, eHarmony has begun to track its success stories. While eHarmony's research methods and its models for compatibility matching have not been submitted to any peer-reviewed journals for evaluation and publication, in 2004, eHarmony's research director, Dr. Steve Carter presented a paper at the 16th Annual American Psychological Society (APS) meeting. In the paper presented, Carter compared eHarmony couples married for more than five years with a control group, using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale(DAS), a measure of couple satisfaction. The results showed that "over 90% of eHarmony couples had marriage quality scores which were above average when compared to couples who had begun their relationships elsewhere. eHarmony couples were more than twice as likely to be in highly successful marriages than non-eHarmony couples... Not only are eHarmony couples 35% more likely than other married couples to report that they enjoy spending time together, but we found they are nearly twice as likely to report that their marriages are "extremely happy" or better versus other recently married couples."[11]

Research remains central at eHarmony as the Company rolls out its matching service to different markets. eHarmony analysis shows that across cultures couples value very different things, differences that the company has accounted for in the matches it provides members in different countries. In the U.S., for example, couples put more focus on the interpersonal facets of their relationships, reporting that they laugh together, exchange ideas, kiss, and confide in each other more often.[9] In Australia, couples report highest overall happiness with their marriages. Australians are also less concerned about how often their spouses shows affection. Married people in the U.K., on the other hand, are more satisfied with how they share household chores and how much time they spend together.[10]

Although the company has received criticism for matching only heterosexual couples, eHarmony announced plans, in November 2008, to roll out a same-sex matching service Compatible Partners.

Current board of directors

Current executives

Criticism

eHarmony does not match gay individuals, which led to criticism.[12] Warren explained that he had not done the same amount of research on same-sex match-making as he had done on heterosexual match-making.[12] He also notes that eHarmony emphasizes marriage, and that same-sex marriage is not legal in most states.[12] In a discussion regarding eHarmony's lack of services to gay individuals, Warren is reported as having said, "Where Focus on the Family and a lot of these other places come from is that there are six places in the Bible that say homosexuality is wrong." But then he continued: "On the other hand, in the Old Testament if you work on the Sabbath day and you're guilty then you should be shot."[13] eHarmony's lack of same-sex matching options has prompted lawsuits claiming that eHarmony has violated laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.[14] A California case was dismissed, but as part of the settlement of a New Jersey case, eHarmony launched a partner website called Compatible Partners providing same-sex match-making "for serious couples"[15][16] According to the Associated Press, neither the company nor Warren acknowledged any liability. 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.[17]

Some complain that the procedure to unsubscribe from the service is unfair or misleading. There have been reports of credit cards continuing to be charged following subscription expiry.[18]

Various problems relating to the matching mechanism have been expressed, including the inability to filter matches by user-defined criteria, the fact that the matches are entirely generated by eHarmony, and not by browsing and choosing on the part of the user, and the inability to discern if a given match is an active, paying user.[19]

Steve Carter, PhD. also published an article in the APS Observer (The newsletter of the APS), which was criticised by APS readers as an advertisement for the service, without any scientific merit. Other readers pointed out that eHarmony has never published data on how many of their matches do not result in satisfactory marriages, which makes it difficult to evaluate the service's relative value.

Another concern is that after answering a 258 question profile, some would-be customers are rejected without explanation. Known reasons for rejection are because the user is already married, is older than 60 and has been married more than four times, is under the minimum age of 18, provides inconsistent answers in the profile or fails its "dysthymia scale."[20]

eHarmony has been criticized for not publishing their customer support phone number on their website.[18]

See also

References and footnotes

  1. ^ "Dr. Neil Clark Warren". Redbook. 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  2. ^ "About eHarmony". eHarmony. 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  3. ^ ""History of eHarmony"". Online Dating Magazine. 2008-09-16.
  4. ^ Lee, D. (2004). "Matchmaker site lands $110 million". Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. December 22, 2004.
  5. ^ "History of eHarmony". Online Dating Magazine. 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  6. ^ a b Make Me a Match
  7. ^ Fast Forward: eHarmony
  8. ^ Love in Tough Economic Times Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo
  9. ^ a b c How to Live and Love Online
  10. ^ a b Brits Value Sex and Inlaws
  11. ^ eHarmony press release on customer satisfaction study, Mar 15, 2004, results from an in-house clinical survey of former customers
  12. ^ a b c Kornblum, Janet. "eHarmony: Heart and soul", USA Today, May 18, 2005
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ Egelko, Bob (2007-06-01). "EHarmony sued for excluding same-sex matches". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  15. ^ eHarmony agrees to provide same-sex matches Beth DeFalco / Associated Press, 19 Nov 2008
  16. ^ [2]
  17. ^ eHarmony agrees to provide same-sex matches
  18. ^ a b "Consumeraffairs.com eHarmony complaint log complaints lodged since 2004-03-19". Archived from the original on 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2006-06-05.
  19. ^ NPR/ Fresh Air Interview (ibid) Lists 8.3 million total applicants vs: over 1 million applicants being rejected.
  20. ^ Farhi, Paul (2007-05-13). "They Met Online, but Definitely Didn't Click". The Washington Post. pp. D01. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=EHarmony&oldid=296754810"