Home | Dating Site Reviews | match.com review (2011)

match.com Review

Lives up to the advertising hype with a huge number of active members, an easy to use, well designed site with a great introductory offer.

If you're just signing up for one month then match isn't the cheapest dating site around but the current offer of 56% off a 6 month subscription works out at only £12.99 a month and considering the massive number of potential dates on match.com it's a much safer bet than most of the competition we've tested and makes it one of the best value dating offers around.

Creating Your match.com Profile

One handy thing about creating your profile at match.com is that you don’t actually need to write anything in order to start browsing and searching for a potential date. However, while creating your profile might take some time it is worth your while as it will give a good idea about what kind of a person you are and who you’re looking for. But if you’re not too crazy about all this writing and a little unsure about how this whole thing works, feel free to browse around and get a feel to the place and read other people’s profiles before you start.

As far as profile creating goes, it’s not one of those massive questionnaires that take ages to fill. It’s all easy and straightforward, just keep ticking the boxes and choosing the appropriate answers. There’s not a lot you need to write yourself, but if you’re good with words and are looking to impress, there’s certainly a chance to do that too.

Searching for a date on match.com

Next step after you’ve finished your profile is searching for your possible date. match.com has plenty of interesting search features to choose from. You can do the standard search where it will look for someone who matches the criteria you’ve set, but you can also search for only new members, those born on the same day than you, those who have their birthday on the day of your search. You can look for mutual matches, perfect matches and even reverse matches – the ones that consider you to be their ideal match. In any case, there’s plenty of members there and you’re pretty much guaranteed to find someone who makes your heart skip a beat.

Don’t like searching – all those profiles and options just make you feel dizzy? Don’t worry! Match has thought about that and has created a handy little feature called Daily 6 where they pick six new profiles every day that they think you should see.
Another great feature is the 'saved search' button, which enables you to save certain details (from location and interests to height and body type) so you don't have to keep enetering all your requirements every time. It’s also really handy to see the last time the user has been active online in the search view. You can also enter more than just one saved search – match.com lets you create your own list of saved searches, thus saving you a lot of time and trouble entering the details every time.

A nice little feature is 'removed profiles' which enables the user to mark the profiles they no longer want to come across in the search. There’s also a contact filter every user can enable – keeping those timewasters away. If you like, you can keep from being contacted by those who are not looking for a relationship at the moment or those outside your age range. If you wouldn’t like to be contacted by people not in the same country as you, all you need to do is turn on the contact filter button. And you can even keep out those members who don’t have a photo displayed on their profile. However, we advise you to keep an open mind – by filtering you can also accidentally filter out someone who just might turn out to be a true gem!

Probably the best thing about searching on match compared to other UK dating sites we tested is the sheer amount of numbers online. match.com wins hands down in this department as its ubiquitous TV and internet advertising has given them a huge advantage over competing sites. Search within any distance of your postcode and there's always plenty of potential matches near or near enough to your area.

Should I wink or should I mail now?

If you see someone you like you can either send them an email through the website (you get your own private match email address) or if you're in a hurry you can send someone a simple wink which sends an automatic email saying you're interested. One of the newest features in match.com is the IM – basically you can now safely chat online within the same page too, without having to reveal your MSN or Skype name.

Another, more subtle, way of showing interest is to add someone to your list of likes as the system notifies them and then it’s up to them to “like you back”. If they do, you’ll both be sent an email.

There’s also a new feature of “a quiz”, which is basically another form of an icebreaker. Putting your quiz together is simple – all you have to do is choose a bunch of questions (you’re allowed 20, but given a huge choice!) from a list. If you like, you can also write your own. Then you can ask potential dates to answer your quiz to see how “synced” you are. Or just for a bit of fun – your choice really. The quiz doesn’t have to be dead serious.

If you’re a paid member, you can see a list of everyone who's visited your profile, sent you an email or winked at you from your match.com homepage - but make sure you archive your emails and add people to your favourites list otherwise match will wipe the info after a few weeks.

Free vs Paid site

There’s not much to get from the free site – except for the chance to create a profile, search for matches and send winks and quizzes. You can’t read or write emails or even see who has viewed your profile. But at least you can view an unlimited number of profiles, giving you a clear idea what’s on offer before you part with your hard earned cash.

How to cancel your match.com subscription

Lets say you sign up, meet someone you like and no longer wish to continue your match subscription, how do you go about stopping it? Like most paid for online dating sites match follows an auto renewal system so you have to call them up at 020 305 96 492 at least 48 hours befre your renewal date to avoid starting a new 1 month, 3 month or 6 month subscription. Check our guide on how to cancel a match.com subscription for more info.

Conclusion

If you forced us to pick one site to recommend above all others then we wouldn't hesitate to pick match.com. It just gets the whole package right and creates an ideal environment to meet and interact with potential matches. The recent introduction of instant messaging shows it's improving all the time too.

Those new to online dating will appreciate how simple and intuitive the site is to use while experienced online daters will appreciate the lack of fake profiles and timewasters so prevalent on other sites. The current match 6 months subscription offer is a great deal if you're more tortoise than hare when it comes to online dating - if you meet someone special within 6 months then you'll be happy you didn't need the full 6 months, and if you don't... then it's comforting to know that you're only paying £12.99 a month so you can take your time and not rush into anything.

Pros and Cons

Incredibly popular, excellent search interface and informative profiles.
Quite pricey for the 1 or 3 month options.