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Video Review

Match at a Glance

Best for: Serious relationship seekers, casual dating

Number of members: 21.5 million

Recommended age: 35-50+

Favorite features: Lara chat box & live events

Signup Process

Match is definitely a dating site for people who know exactly what they want in a partner. This website is for someone who’s ready to settle down and get married within the next year or so. As a woman looking for a man, I entered that information into the homepage popup along with my age and zip code. I was then prompted to enter my email address, password, and name followed by a bunch of questions about my ethnicity, weight, height, and dating preferences. 

The entire signup process should take between 20-30 minutes; not a huge commitment in the grand scheme of things. You can also save your progress and continue later to make the process more palatable. 

Here's a basic breakdown of the signup process:

• Give Match your date of birth, zip code, and email address to kick things off.
• Define the nature of the relationship you are interested in.
• Give some more details including marital status, height, level of education, smoking preferences, religion, ethnicity, and more.
• Then, the detailed questions begin. You’ll be asked about all sorts of things such as hobbies and drinking penchants. The whole application can be divided into 3 major categories including the About Me, About My Match, and In My Own Words sections. Each section can be as long and as detailed as you’d like, but the more information you give, the more likely you are to find suitable matches (and faster).

Once the signup process is complete (you can also skip sections and come back to them later), you can start viewing profiles.

Matchmaking & Search Functions

The statistics seem to be in favor of Match. In fact, almost 40% of members have stayed in a Match-formed relationship for months. This is, in part, because the user base is more serious than on more casual dating sites, but it also speaks to the efficacy and efficiency of Match’s matchmaking abilities.

 Match is super easy to navigate and offers a bunch of specific search features to help people find that perfect match ASAP. As user John explicitly states in his profile bio, “I’m looking for something serious and not a pen pal,” which felt like a direct hit because most of my online dating matches become forever virtual pen pals. Shout out to all of my dating app matches who have become good friends!

You can browse profiles on your own or have Match do the work for you. With a paid membership you can view profiles and pictures, email or IM other members, and get read notifications. 

Match has an incredibly sophisticated search function, so you can get exactly the kind of profiles you want. The search capabilities allowed me to find someone who perfectly fit my requirements, which was really amazing. You can search via:

• Match words for specific tags (soccer, bubbly, etc.)
• Reverse search to see who’s looking at you
• Daily mutual match for matches with shared interests
• Location-based searches

The Daily Five is one of the most useful matchmaking options. This feature delivers 5 suitable matches every day based on your preferences. Match uses behavioral learning (just like Zoosk) to learn your preferences, based on your interactions and activity on the site. Then, it uses this information to make better match suggestions. The idea backing this technology is that we sometimes have preferences of which we aren't even aware. Let's say that you write on your profile that you are looking for white/Caucasian women. Yet, when searching, you constantly like Asian women. The algorithm will pick up on this innate preference of yours and start showing you some Asian women in your results to provide for the underlying preference.

Match also has a quiz which lets you add up to 20 questions to your profile for other members to answer. It can help with compatibility and to getting to know one another. Match also has games you can play to promote positive, fun interaction between singles.

Features & Communication Tools

There are several communication options on Match, though you have to pay for them (you can wink for free, though!) Subscribers can opt to wink, email, or IM other singles that they’re interested in. As mentioned, you’ll get email read notifications when an email you sent was read by the other member. You can also send out VIP emails that will be highlighted in the other person’s inbox (1 per week). Match also has a What’s New newsfeed with all of the latest activity on your account including emails, winks, likes, call requests, and more.

Match's Missed Connections feature lets users know when a possible match just recently left somewhere in their vicinity. The feature uses geolocation to find a user’s location and pair it with that of another Match user who has opted for the feature and fits their dating criteria. Members will get notified of the match and can choose whether or not to connect.

For singles looking to meet their potential lover in real life, Match’s Events tab offers a ton of really incredible experiences to do just that, including, but not limited to, speed dating parties, food tours, and even cruises to Cabo. I want to go to Cabo?!

In 2020, Match rolled out a new feature, the Lara Chat box. This is a well-branded live chat type of feature that helps new members get started. If you don't really know where to start on Match, Lara can walk you through the process. This friendly face chat box feature asks you basic questions and holds your hand while you get your bearings in this new system.

Like most dating sites, Match has a mobile app that makes dating on the go easier for everyone. You can browse profiles, send messages, or respond to emails from the comfort of your mobile device via Match’s smooth and clean mobile interface. When you download the app, you’ll also be able to get an SMS notification when activity is happening on your account. You’ll even get location-based services with the app. 

Match Love Stories

“Match.com nailed my perfect match on the first try and we haven't looked back since. We fell in love, got married, and had a beautiful daughter, Jayde. So if it wasn't for Match.com, Jayde wouldn't be here, so all of the good things she does in life will be a direct result from this site… Thanks Match.com!” - Joshua of Augusta, GA

“I am absolutely in love with my husband, who I met March, 2010. After talking for two weeks we met, moved in about a month later and started a family shortly after. We are expecting our fourth child together and have been married for almost 5 years. I am sooo happy with Match.” - Kayla of Moorhead, MN

“I went on Match in October of 2008. I met my husband November of 2008. He got into a suit of armor and proposed on bended knee on Valentine's Day 2009. We were married in August of 2009. That was seven years ago and we are still happily married! It worked for me! I would recommend that anyone (especially women) go onto the site without doing your own due diligence. My experience was that people who pay for a dating website were more serious.” Christian of San Jose, CA

Safety & Security

Match makes safety a priority for all of its members and promotes safe dating practices on every front including messaging, connecting, and meeting in person. It has a full section on the site with pointers on how to stay safe while dating in the digital era. This includes videos and tips on protecting your finances, spotting suspicious behavior, and in-person meeting safety. It also promotes the NCSA standards of Stop Think Connect, an initiative that is striving to make cyber security stronger and safer for everyone.

Additionally, Match has a feature called MatchPhone that lets you speak to other members directly without showing your phone number.

Pricing

Anyone can sign up for a free Match membership, but only subscribers are privy to certain features including:

• Contacting other members
• Priority access to exclusive match events
• Email and IM capabilities
• Mobile emailing
• See who’s viewed your profile
• One-click searching

Match has 2 pricing tiers to choose from and 3 packages. You can opt for one of the basic plans that are slightly cheaper, but it hardly seems worthwhile considering all that you get with the bundle plans. The bundle packages come with email read notifications, first impressions, and highlighted profiles, and for only a few dollars more per month, it seems like a better investment.

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Help & Support

Match has a customer support team that is available via an online contact form Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM CST. It also has an incredibly extensive help center with loads of FAQs and an easy to search database of information.

Find Love on Match

One of the best places to find love online, Match proudly boasts more dates, relationships and marriages than any other dating site. You can start meeting new people with a free account. For someone like me who’s looking for something less serious at the moment, I prefer a more casual app.  If, or when, the time comes that I’m an older, crazy cat lady who’s still single, I’ll definitely consider hopping back on this app because I can tell it’s extremely effective for those who want a serious relationship.