eHarmony Blog.com

The class action lawsuit initiated last April by Californians Lynda Kelly and Miranda Soegi alleging eHarmony’s lack of a “scientifically proven system” for matching its members could ironically be spun in a positive light of goodwill if eHarmony’s management takes this opportunity to legitimize its system once and for all. Technically speaking, a process being “scientifically proven” merely requires a consistent percentage of accuracy and validity throughout a significant amount of relevant data. This data is obviously available to eHarmony in abundance, and has been for many years. A qualified, reputable and objective third party should be retained for the purpose of verifying sufficient data in order to establish the actual scientific validity of eHarmony’s matching system in the light of day. Whether eHarmony’s matching system results in a consistent percentage of validity which is very low or very high is irrelevant to it being scientifically proven. The results should be published in a reputable journal of psychology, thus being confidently opened to withstanding the scrutiny of critics, skeptics, and the public at large with what will be much appreciated transparency.

Further procrastination on eHarmony’s part to do so may well make things far worse than they need to be. It is important to note a subtle clue regarding eHarmony’s view of its own process, specifically regarding its information-gathering questionnaire. It is in the simple nomenclature which speaks volumes regarding eHarmony’s process not yet being scientifically proven. The clue is that eHarmony continues to refer to its online questioning process as a ‘questionnaire’ and not as a ‘test’ or an ‘assessment.’ Only after a percentage of scientific validity is established can a ‘questionnaire’ be called a ‘test’ or an ‘assessment.’ This nomenclature may be the strongest self-admitted evidence against the scientific legitimacy of eHarmony’s system. If the plaintiffs or Lange & Koncius LLP, their counsel, are aware of this, it can certainly strengthen the bite of the lawsuit.

So what does the final verdict regarding the scientific validity or non-validity of eHarmony’s matching system really mean to its members? Does it matter? Should it matter? Aren’t we all denied information of all sorts in our daily lives, whether it’s regarding a dating site, a food product, an insurance policy or anything else? Don’t we all fall for cleverly created marketing campaigns of all sorts on a daily basis? Obviously, we all do. Ultimately, it’s up to the individual to decide if eHarmony’s system being scientifically valid or not is important to their decision to utilize the service. Consider the following fact: Algorithms such as those which power eHarmony’s matching system merely offer statistical guesses which tend to have some validity in large groups, but lack the precision required for successful matching of individuals in small numbers. Mutual filtering has proven to be superior to algorithms when used to assess a complex set of feelings and reactions we call romantic love. In this individual’s humble opinion, the scientific validity or non validity of eHarmony’s matching system means nothing because there’s no proof that the assumptions utilized will or will not benefit me as an individual looking for love. Furthermore, one of eHarmony’s questionable business practices makes all of this a moot point. More on this in a bit.

Encouraging massive signups during free weekends whereas to have trust eHarmony needs to do the opposite

Regarding scammers, it is obviously unreasonable for any dating site to be expected to guarantee its members that they’ll never encounter a member who has ulterior, fraudulent or criminal motives. However, it IS reasonable to expect profiles to require some level of moderation and approval before being included within the membership base. If a company is willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to ‘brand’ itself as the supposed #1 trusted dating site, then they can and should back up that claim to a certain degree by spending a portion of those millions on a reputable profile approval company. Consider how eHarmony stating it “pre-screens” its members can understandably be considered deceptive advertising. It is understandable that a new member could feel a false sense of security when signing up after viewing a well-crafted commercial. Filtering every new member through a profile approval company would legitimize this ‘pre-screening’ claim, and be worthwhile in both the short and long term. Not only would this strengthen eHarmony’s claim, but it would also allow them to deflect a portion of their blame and liability when confronted with lawsuits stemming from unforeseeable inappropriate member interactivity. Who wouldn’t be willing to wait 24 hours for approval of their profile if this meant the additional feeling of security that all of their matches would have undergone the same level of scrutiny before being delivered? It would certainly be a highly costly endeavor, but eHarmony should seriously think of the tradeoffs… Actually, each new lawsuit should have them thinking about the value of those tradeoffs every day!

To me, there is one highly questionable business practice implemented by eHarmony which is far worse than all of their others… Encouraging massive numbers of memberships during ‘free communication weekends’ and then using this hugely inflated number to increase the price of advertising on its pages is, to me, the most shameful part of eHarmony’s business model. It is not necessarily deceptive, because the fact that members will be subjected to advertising is clearly stated in their terms of use. However, I still view this as a highly questionable and, dare I say, unethical practice which clearly shows the company’s ultimate agenda… It’s not to give members a pleasant and useful experience, or to even come close to living up on the supposed #1 trusted dating site status which has been created by incessant marketing, but rather, to ‘farm out’ its membership base for advertising profits. In my humble opinion, this practice leaves eHarmony very vulnerable to any new and ethical matchmaking service which can prove itself to operate with integrity and transparency and put its membership’s success at the top of its mission statement… if such a dream site should ever be created.