New eHarmony CEO Modernises Product, Making Questionnaire Optional & Adding Real-Time Chat
Since taking the helm at eHarmony earlier this year, new CEO Grant Langston has been vocal about his wish to modernise the product and bring eHarmony up to speed with the rest of the market leaders.
Today, those updates have arrived, with Langston overseeing some big changes to the eHarmony service.
Most significant is that new customers will no longer have to complete the 149-question survey in order to enter the platform and browse through other users.
The US dating brand now lets new members create a basic profile by answering a few quick questions, and start receiving matches immediately.
The in-depth personality questionnaire – eHarmony’s biggest USP – is now no longer necessary, however users can still complete the survey to dig deeper and receive more compatible matches.
It’s a big move by Langston, one that shows his commitment to further opening up eHarmony to younger generations, who after years of simple hassle free mobile dating, are unlikely to spend time on eHarmony’s lengthy questionnaire.
In addition to this change, eHarmony is now, for the first time, letting singles know how compatible they are with other matches.
This new compatibility scoring, called The Two of You Together, will let people identify matches who score at an advanced level of compatibility, showing the top three attributes users connect over.
The compatibility rating also lets users see how a match scores on factors like emotional energy, kindness and intellect.
In some ways, this feature seeks to counter and compliment the removal of the personality questionnaire, by giving users a concrete reason to complete the in-depth interest questions – the more questions you answer, the better matches you get.
The final major change is that eHarmony is ditching its more old school email messaging system in favour of real-time chat-style messaging.
And for users unsure what to say, eHarmony has a bank of recommended questions to help them break the ice.
Speaking about the changes, CEO Grant Langston said: “Most people are looking for love in all the wrong places, especially around the holidays when there is natural tendency to crave human connection.
“We’ve been investigating and working to understand what makes long-term relationships successful for nearly 20 years.
“We are excited to be pulling back the curtain on our algorithm and showcasing why two people are fit as well as introducing new features to help people jumpstart a meaningful relationship. We want to set people up on their last first date.”
While making its renowned questionnaire optional will have been a tough decision to make, being such a core part of the product and its history, the change feels, as with the other updates, like good common sense from Langston.
Products evolve, and considering eHarmony’s rock solid relationship brand, it feels like the right time for eHarmony to go after younger users bored of apps like Tinder who are looking for something more serious – a strategy it now has the product to succeed at.
The recent success of EliteSingles and Parship has shown the possibilities of this game plan, and Langston’s changes are a step in the right direction for one of the last household names in online dating.
The new features will be available this week on mobile web and desktop, and on iOS and Android in February.
Read more about them here.
