be2 Review
Be2 Review Ratings
Summary: Matchmaking site built around compatibility testing, has potential but it doesn't come cheap.
2.7
First things first. Signing up to be2 and getting your profile completed really is quite easy. Answer some questions – which shouldn’t take you longer than around five minutes and then you’re set – your profile is there and you can start using the services.
However, if you think that it will suffice as your profile, we suggest you think again. Yes, you will have a very basic profile to start with but of course, like most dating sites, building up an original and comprehensive profile takes a little time and effort. There’s plenty of options to write about yourself, although most of it is the standard type of stuff asked on dating sites.
You can upload up to five pictures and Be2 lets you decide who can see your photos – or you can upload them straight from Facebook. Bear in mind that you can also not upload a photo but in that case you won’t be able to see other users’ photos either. In a way that’s fair. Of course, we would always encourage anyone joining an online dating site to upload a photo as well. Not to speak of the fact that you don’t seem completely trustworthy without a pic – but you absolutely don’t stand a chance of standing out from the crowd if you don’t put up a picture.
Also, if you don’t fill in your profile – the same rule applies as with the pictures: you can’t also read what other members have written on their profile pages. So that’s another incentive why you should get it done.
Oh, another note on the photos – unless you’re a paying member, you don’t see the photos clearly, just in a blurred way. We have to say it is a little annoying when dating sites do that. After all, you’d like to get a feel for who’s out there before you pay up, right? But at the same time, it does help keeping the scammers at bay a little.
Science makes soulmates?
The profiles themselves consist of two separate parts – there’s the part that you fill in yourself and then there’s also the personality test report outlining your main characteristics. As a lot of dating sites do personality tests these days we have a fair amount of experience in taking them.
Be2 compares well against other sites in that department – the test doesn’t take too long but gives some insight to your personality and makes the profile that bit more interesting. However, as far as compatibility tests go, this one doesn’t seem to be anything special. You don’t answer a lot of questions in order to get your initial personality report, so don’t expect anything thorough and extremely insightful. That said, they do take a lot of pride in their compatibility system themselves, claiming that they’ve used scientific approach to work the test out and have a 40 per cent success rate… Well, go figure.
Also, the personality test comes in to play when be2 starts looking for suitable matches. You can perform a standard search and then see the results in the order of so-called be2 index, which basically is the compatibility between you and the user. You can check the compatibility report to see how well you compare in important areas, what are your similarities and differences and how to make them work for you in the best way.
Unfortunately we can’t say we were very happy with the search results themselves. As far as the accusations of scammers and fakes go – no, we didn’t notice anything especially shady going on at this site, it didn’t seem to have any more of it going on than any other standard dating site with subscription. But there just aren’t very many results, not even for some rather big cities – which is a bit of a surprise, seeing that Be 2 advertises itself to be one of the most popular dating sites in the world with more than 38.6 million registered members worldwide. But what’s the use of all those members in India or Qatar when all you want is someone from your own hometown, right?
You can, of course, perform a search in the whole of UK as well as your own area only. The search results aren’t very conclusive either way – the pictures are small (or blurry if you haven’t become a member yet) and the list doesn’t hold much information about the users, so you don’t really get a very good overview of the choices unless you go through all the profiles through and check out the matches one by one.
Send a message or Just Ask
When contacting the users you pretty much have the standard option of sending an email only. There is no winking or smiling option in Be2 although if the person’s profile isn’t very conclusive, you can also press a button that you want to know more about the match and the system notifies the member that someone is interested and wanting to know more – thus prompting them to complete their profile or get back to you via a message.
Can’t say Be 2 has put in a lot of effort to get two people talking. They used to have a “Just Ask” button where you could choose up to five questions, give those answers and send them over to your match, urging him or her to give his /her answers to the same questions. Wonder what happened to that feature? In any case, it’s gone now.
Free vs paid site
Another thing that’s gone – it used to be that when you signed up to Be 2 and were completely new to the site, you could actually make the first contact with a match for free. That’s also gone. Perhaps that is a good thing, as it is, once again, one of these features that can get scammers going.
Mind you, free users aren’t able to see member photos anyway so I suppose there weren’t much of a chance that you’d end up sending that free email. As a free member you can’t read and send messages but you can send contact requests. Paying members will also be able to see who has visited their page.
Paying members will also be able to see who has visited their page and they will also be able to benefit from the Be2 guarantee – if you don’t exchange messages with a minimum of ten prospective dates during the duration of your paid membership, they will extend it until you do so – free of charge.
Pros and Cons
Clean design, easy enough to use.
Unpaid members not unable to see photos – blurred images aren’t inviting to sign up. Also, not really enough users to make it worthwhile signing up.
And that’s the end of our be2 review, good luck if you cecide to sign up or check below for some alternatives if not 🙂
About the Author
Aet Suvari has been reviewing and writing about the world of online dating since 2008 and the launch of Online Dating Help. A stickler for promoting ethical practices within the UK dating industry she champions the sites that get it right while highlighting those holding it back. You can follow her on Google+
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