PLEASE READ THIS FIRST

Okay, it's time to get a dose of reality and face some important facts about eHarmony!

Personally, I can identify with 3 major problems with EH that are upsetting a lot of members on EH, most especially with paid subscribers. And to make matters worse (and this is just common sense), most paid subscribers that come to EH and are dissapointed with these major problems with the service I am sure more than likely go and tell 10-20 of their relatives or friends to "never ever ever join EH for any reason whatsoever! It's not worth your time or your investment! Just stay away!" And to make matters even worse, Word of Mouth is the most effective form of advertising by the way, and it's more than doubly effective when used negatively against a company!

So, in effect, to put a stop to this nightmare from overshadowing eHarmony and perhaps even putting the company out of business permanently someday if EH doesn't start listening to their customers instead of trying to do what they feel is best for themselves (evidenced by the lack of care and support in responses from EH Customer Care and also by the lack of the company to make any significant positive changes to their service in the last couple of years, at least any that are noticeable by members).

And I am not writing this post for no reason at all, fellow subscribers, as I too am going through the same frustrations currently on an ongoing everyday-basis as you are. I am just as frustrated as you are, believe it or not. I too, feel like much of my investment and time spent on EH is being wasted due to these ongoing annoyances. I, too, keep getting a vast majority of matches on EH that give me an immediate gut feeling that they are waste of time and not worth dealing with, and the fact of the matter is is that I am probably right about these matches at least 90-95% of the time, based on a lengthy past experience I have had with similiar types of matches received.

So let's get started, shall we. . .

The 3 problems that are focus of this message are:

1. Members Receiving too Many Matches without Photos
2. Members Receiving too Many Matches that are Non-Paid Members, that they are Unable to Communicate with, and most often Never Changes
3. Members receiving too Many Matches with Incomplete Profiles, that do not contain Enough Useful Information about the Match

eHarmony already has in place an excellent model of technology to help solve these problems with the service and then some, and it still bewilders me to this day why EH chooses not to implement it further into their service. Perhaps they feel as if it would restrict matching too much so that ALL members won't receive enough matches? Well, there is actually a compromise for this, you know, and I for one feel like this is more of quality game than a numbers game in my honest opinion. Wouldn't you agree? It only takes 1 excellent match to change your whole life! You just need more power to filter out and separate the bad apples from the good ones!

It's called flex settings and it's based on a scale of 1-7, with 1 meaning 'Not Important' and 7 meaning 'Very Important'. This was an ingenious idea when it was first implemented into eHarmony, as it allowed all members to gain more control over who they were matched with. Now it is time for EH to implement this feature even further into the service, but only to do so in a way that makes for a compromise, so that the matching process doesn't become to restrictive. You do this by giving access to certain specific flex settings (the following 3 are a start) to paid subscribers only and making them unavailable (or greyed out) to non-paid members. Ingenious, eh?!



#1 Matching Based on the Availability of Photos

This is a new flex setting available to paid subscribers only that does not require a 'Yes' or 'No' question and answer. It is only based on scale of 1-7, which determines how important this is to the subscriber. A setting of 7 means that the subscriber will only receive matches that have at least 1 photo; any matches that have no photos at all will be effectively filtered out. The more the subscriber moves this slider to the left, the more the likelihood increases that the subscriber will receive a match without a photo. A setting of 1 effectively shuts this flex setting off, and all matches will come through regardless of wether or not they have a photo. NOTE: This feature works in exactly the same manner for matches who have chosen not to reveal their photos until a later communication stage.

#2 Matching Based on Subscription/No-Subscription Status

This is a new flex setting available to paid subscribers only that allows subscribers to set how important it is to them that the matches they receive are paid subscribers or not. A setting of 7 does not necessarily mean that the subscriber won't be matched with any non-paid members at all. It simply means that the chances are very high (90%+) that each match that comes through will be a match that the subscriber can communicate with. So, in effect, if you set this setting to 7 then likely as many as 9/10 matches that you receive will be paid subscribers. Moving this slider to the left increases the likelihood that you will be matched with non-paid members. A setting of 1 effectively shuts this flex setting off, and you will be matched with all matches regardless of wether they are paid or not. However, this new feature will in no way tell you which individual matches you receive are paid or not paid; it will still leave you second-guessing at this, until you actually are communicating with a match, as it always has been.

#3 Matching Based on the Completeness/Thoroughness of 'About Me' Profiles

From now on, whenever a member edits their 'About Me' profile and saves the changes, the eHarmony system will automatically count the total number of characters in your profile (including spaces) and display that number to you on the screen. This is critical information for each member because the shorter your profile, the less matches you are likely to receive! If you want to receive many more matches, then this new feature should motivate you to complete your 'About Me' profile! It should motivate you to understand the importance of completing your profile!

This is a new flex setting available to paid subscribers only that allows you answer 'yes' or 'no' on wether or not your matches have a completed profile is important to you. If you answer 'No' then this flex setting is effectively turned off and you will receive matches regardless of the length of their profile. If you answer 'yes', then you must also input the minimum number of characters a profile must have in order for you to be matched with that member. There is a restriction on this feature, however. The minimum number you can set here does have a maximum limit. 'About Me' profiles already do have a maximum theoretical length to begin with. The maximum number you can set here will be set by EH in order to be fair to all members. Any matches that have profiles with less than the number of characters you enter here, will be filtered out and you will not be matched with them. Any matches that have at least your minimum number of characters and above in their profile you will be matched with.



By the way, I don't think that EH should ever even think about or consider taking any of their already-existing flex settings and converting them into premium flex settings for paid subscribers only. That no-doubtedly would cause a customer service outcry and a major nightmare for the company and non-paid members! It would be very unfair to everyone. DON'T DO IT!!!