Looking for love? Online outperforms offline.
May 4th, 2009 by Ingrid Cliff
If you are looking for something these days, chances are you will check out online as your first port of call. This shift in consumer buying behaviour is also reflecting in how people search for love. A study reported in New Scientist by Harris Interactive found you are more likely to find love on the net that at work or at a party (especially if you are over 45).
The study looked at 10,000 people who married in the US over an 18 month period. 19% met online compared with 17% who met at work and 17% who met through friends. Now, you may question the validity of the findings given the study was sponsored by an online dating agency, but the facts remain – people are increasingly shopping online.
The problem online dating sites face is the same as for any business – people struggle in describing what makes them special. Ask people what is unique and wonderful about their business or themselves and they freeze up, or come up with platitudes. To succeed in an online world you need your USP (unique selling proposition) to be clear, articulate and compelling.
In the past 5 years we have seen an explosion in resume companies helping to polish individuals resumes. In the next 5 years I fully expect to see an increase in online profile companies – helping to polish individual’s online profiles whether dating, Twitter, Facebook or other social media. Who knows … it could become a whole new branch of web copywriting complete with “How to write killer online dating profiles” e-courses and training.
In the mean time, if you are looking for love online then make sure you take a tip from business and highlight what makes you wonderful and different from the crowd. Test and measure the words you use and don’t be afraid to adjust the language to get a larger response.
The one thing offline marketing for love and online share in common is at some point the buyer will check out the product to see if the claims match reality. If you over-inflate your claims expect a lot of returns to the online dating pool.
Until next time
Ingrid Cliff
We put your business into words
This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 9:28 am and is filed under Web copywriting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
