Making Dating Site Demographics Work in Your Favor

How to find online romance in all the right places (and avoid the wrong ones)…

Let’s say you’re a 60-year-old lawyer, nearing retirement and looking for that special someone. You imagine a partner with whom you can share your newfound freedom jetting to the South of France, sipping merlot and soaking up the breathtaking countryside. Chances are you won’t be looking for him/her in a downtown rock bar, frequented by excessively pierced 20-somethings, who’d far rather choose a keg over a bottle of smooth pinot! That would be ridiculous.

This lesson comes from Dating 101: When you’re looking for love, you take your search to the places a potential partner would spend time, based on age, interests, income etc. In short, you consider demographics. In this particular case, demographically speaking, up-market wine bars or the newest art exhibition would be sensible starting points.

In the world of online dating, the same principles apply. Here at Virtual Dating Assistants, we always take site demographics into account to ensure each of our clients is subscribed to the dating sites that will give them the most options possible, according to their situation and preferences.

And this is no stab in the dark. Our team of experts is very familiar with the clientele of the sites available, and for  them, choosing what would suit a certain ‘type’ of client (and the ‘type’ of date or relationship they are looking for) is almost second nature. We do, however, often engage in a systematic process we call ‘site analysis’ to help us determine the sites with the most potential (we’ll save this for another day). But for the average online dater, there is solid information out there to direct you to the right sites for you…

Thedatingjournal.com has compiled a comprehensive set of facts and figures outlining key online dating site demographics, to aid you in making your final decision about which to join.  Through their research of the major online dating sites, they have provided and summarized the following demographics of the membership bases of each*:

Gender Ratios

This is relatively self-explanatory, but an important statistic to take note of. It is essential to figure out the playing field before you start a game…

Online Dating Site Percent Female/Percent Male

Average Age Range

The age demographic of a dating site is incredibly important, and is likely to have considerable influence the success of your search. Some statistics to bear in mind:

Average Age Range of Dating Site Members

Of course, when looking at age demographics, there are a number of niche sites, such as SeniorFriendfinder.com, which caters specifically for the ‘Over 55 crowd’, and which may be useful options when honing your search. This age group is represented on the major sites in the following way:

Percentage of Dating Site Members Considered Seniors

In fact, the ‘Over 55’ group happens to be the fastest growing age category in the online dating world – with the following figures showing just how rapidly senior membership is increasing:

Dating Site with Fastest Growing Senior Membership (past two years)

Note that although Match.com is home to the highest percentage of online daters in the ‘Under 30s crowd’, ironically the site has also seen the fastest increase in its ‘Over 55’ membership, which has doubled over the last two years.

Fees and Finances

Although not necessarily the most important factor, the average income of a particular dating site’s demographic may be of interest to some – and even a deal-breaker to others. The members of eHarmony appear to have the highest average annual income range of the major sites (over $50k per year), though income data was not available from all of the sites researched.

Consequently, eHarmony also has the highest one-month subscription price, at $59.95. This table shows how this compares with other site fees…

Price for a One-Month Subscription (prices subject to change)

Demographically Compatible?

Thedatingjournal.com’s take on what the fees reveal is that “eHarmony seemed to be the site with the members most interested in long-term relationships, as well as the greatest number of professionals.” This site also claims to result in the greatest number of marriages (although this information is debatable), and requires prospective members to fill out detailed questionnaires and compatibility studies.

So, taking into account the financial commitment that a site demands of its members may allow you to gauge whether potential dates will be on the same level as you, in terms of casual versus more serious long-term goals. Also, an idea about the gender ratio should give you an idea about just how fierce the competition really is…

We’ll have more on site selection soon but, in the meantime, however you go about choosing the best dating site to suit your search, always remember that yes, there are plenty of fish in the sea, but if it’s a fresh-water species you’re hoping to catch, you could sail all seven seas and you’d just be wasting your time…

*Editor’s Note: Match.com recently acquired Yahoo! Personals, and according to this article, Match now has a much further reach and its demographics have therefore changed. The other statistics noted in this post are current and relevant.