eHarmony Case Study PDF

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Case study of eHarmony summary and questions...

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Kristen Sestak As eHarmony continues to grow, there is an increased pressure by competitors trying to vie for customers, cutting in eHarmony’s profit and growth rates. eHarmony is only able to focus on one or two options because of resources and based on the case I believe they should focus on their current market segment and long-term research for life transition websites. eHarmony has been able to secure consistent market share with its focus on marriage minded individuals rather than casual daters. With direct competitors such as Match and Yahoo! Personals, eHarmony needs to focus on their distinct brand image. eHarmony has a very long sign up process and rejects 1 million users a year which creates a very specific demographic of users. Match and Yahoo! Personals and have a shorter sign up process but fail to have a distinct and unique position. Individuals on these sites are often looking for casual dates and not commitment to long term relationships. Other websites such as Plenty of Fish, OKCupid, online social networks, and niche sites are all free, which appeals to a large market, but mostly to casual daters. eHarmony is the only website to truly appeal to marriage minded individuals which is difficult to replicate because of the complex algorithms, standards, and current brand image. Consumers’ willingness to pay is higher for eHarmony compared to other sites because they have the most matches ending in marriages. This is a unique position for eHarmony that should be protected against competition. eHarmony should also focus on creating websites for major life transitions such as weddings, pregnancy, and parenting. These concepts all reinforce eHarmony’s positioning as a wholesome dating site. An estimated 2% of all couples that married met online, but according to industry insiders this is probably much higher. These couples can then use the company’s websites they used to meet to deal with other life moments they will have together. These websites would receive revenues through advertising such as banners ads and product pushing. Websites are relatively simple to run and would help couples going through major life changes. eHarmony has already conducting research into couples lives and relationship so this information could be incorporated into their informational websites. eHarmony should focus on positioning and websites rather than expanding their location and demographics. Only 10% of the U.S. population think that marriage is outdated compared to other countries that have much higher percentages, therefore eHarmony should not expand internationally. Casual daters are a massive market but these consumers are less willing to pay a high subscription price and they would hurt their unique marriage minded brand. Overall eHarmony is facing a pivotal time when they need to decide if they want to focus on their unique brand image or expand to other demographics....