Bumble and MagicLab CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd has appeard on CNN’s ‘Boss Files’ podcast to shares her thoughts on dating during COVID-19, and how the industry will change.
A common issue that online dating has encountered is the discouragement of online daters to meet and breach lockdown rulings. Bumble has been encouraging users to make the most of the virtual features available, citing the building of stronger relationships as a key marker.
Wolfe Herd explained: “We facilitate connection, so we had to ensure that people weren’t meeting in real life, encouraging users to make the most of our virtual features.
“I wrote a letter to users encouraging them to use the facilities to get to know each other better, build a quality relationship, so that when we do come out the other of this you can begin a physical relationship on a really solid foundation.”
One issue that many businesses have been faced with is the slump affecting the global economy. However, Bumble, as well as the majority of the dating industry, has been able to grow during the crisis, even offering grants and relief to employees and small businesses.
The Bumble founder added: “Bumble has just had its best two week revenue, during the worst economic state in US history. The reason for this is because people need human connection during this time, and we are really one of the only current gateways to that.
“Places where people meet are not available at the moment. All of those options have been put on hold, so your options are quite limited. People are truly enjoying leaning into digital dating.”
The female-forst dating app has reportedly not had to lay-off any staff and has continued to support small businesses by providing struggling companies with $5,000 grants.
Listen to the full interview here.