eHarmony Blog.com

(Note to regular readers: this list of strategies is “sticky-on-top” until the end of the FGCE. If you’re on the blog’s front page, please find the latest article below this one.)

NOTE: These tips are only for eHarmony US (eharmony.com) and Compatible Partners members. If you use eHarmony’s Canada, Australia, United Kingdom or Brazil country sites, the Tips and Tricks for the Free Communication Weekend article is for you instead.

For Non-subscribers

1. Only communication up to Stage 3 is free. After you exchange answers to the third stage (the open-ended questions) with a match, BOTH of you must be subscribers to continue communication. There is no way around this.
2. Register on the site and finish the questionnaire a few days beforehand. Receiving matches is free but eHarmony only sends a limited number of matches a day, so give your account several days before the FGCE to accumulate matches. When the events starts, you’ll have more choices than if you’ve just come in.
3. Upload your best photos. You will get more replies and less closures.
4. Never post your contact information (email or web addresses) on your profile. Or say you’re just here for the weekend. Trust me, it attracts no quality replies. Plus, it may trigger the system’s scanners which automatically takes you out of the matching pool.
5. Review all your matches and initiate communication with EVERYONE, unless his profile screams that you two aren’t compatible. Nudge those whom you communicated before and would be interested in resuming communication, if any.
6. Be prepared to visit eHarmony several times a day until the end of the Free Event. You will get an email when someone replies, but this email could be hours late, so return often! Some stages of the so-called Guided Commmunication requires lengthy answers, be prepared to put time into answering them.
7. Know the end of the Free Event. Will it end Sunday or Monday? 11:59pm PST is what time where you are?
8. You have only two chances to sneak your contact information or email address. Either as a reply to the multiple-choice questions or to the open-ended questions. As you may expect, eHarmony tries to detect these types of messages and their penalty ranges from warnings to account closures. There are a few ways to do this:
   1. “My family name is ____ and I’m on face book.”
   2. “The H is for Henderson.”
   3. “Call 5 5 5, 2 3 6 8 with a.c. 2 1 2.”
   4. “Write to m y e m a i l a d d r e s s.”
   5. “Multiply 16 × 37 × 83 × 113.”
   6. “I’m the Whitney Packer of chatting.”
   7. “Atlanta Ballerina, Yeah, who?”
   8. Use an email address concealer code. See photo below.
9. And the MOST IMPORTANT tip. If you’re given an email address, write! If you’re given a phone number, CALL! (You did come here to meet people, right?)

For Subscribers

1. You probably won’t get anything useful out of this event. Non-subscribers do not see how you look like, and all they might do is sneak in their contact information within the first and third stage of Guided Communication. In short, you have the email address of someone you barely know and who has decided not to pony up money for a subscription like you did.
2. But if she’s hot, then why not, right?
3. Continue communication with those whom you began communicating during the regular period. They at least know how you look like.
4. Leave matching on but remember that anyone who starts responding to you during this Free Event is potentially a severely-limited non-subscriber. Then again, is he’s hot, then why not?

Got more tips and tricks? Got stories about the free weekend? Post a comment.

eHarmony’s Facebook page http://facebook.com/eharmony/ launched nine months ago this weekend, and this week they bring in three more volunteer “Santa’s Elves” to highlight the positive and to encourage its frustrated customers.

Get in touch with a mentor and get encouragement. Here are the six mentors’ facebook profiles.

• Abi Latham – add as friend send message
• Alycia Marshall – add as friend send message
• David Crean – add as friend send message
• Paul Colaianni – add as friend send message
• Sam Campbell – add as friend send message
• Steve Jensen – add as friend send message

(Except for Jensen, all six are not their real names, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt that they are actual success stories and not company employees.)