The Good: Clean interface; original and intelligent questionnaire and matching tools; quality, serious userbase
The Bad:
Relatively long sign-up time (30 mins to an hour) due to the questionnaire; no instant chat
The Bottom Line:
PerfectMatch was one of the nice surprises in our review process. We really like the website, the questions and the matches we received. The site gets a high recommendation from our reviewers.
Reviewed on: February 22, 2012
Last updated:
March 02, 2012
Detailed Review
A good surprise
We started our review of PerfectMatch without big expectations. After reviewing the biggest sites such as eHarmony or Match, we didn’t expect to be positively surprised, by comparison.
But we were. PerfectMatch really surprised us positively and in fact broke into our top 5 of favorite sites.
It is true that in the last few years, Perfect Match has gathered quite a lot of media attention, with appearances on NBC, on Dr. Phil, Dancing With the Stars, the Bonnie Hunt Show, and articles in TIME and the New York Times. The site has also appeared in big Hollywood movies such as “Must Love Dogs” (with John Cusak and Diane Lane), “Superman Returns” and “Failure to Launch”.
A focus on love and relationships
As the company name indicates, the focus of Perfect Match is more on finding love and long-term relationships than on casual dating. The emphasis is on common values and compatibility. As you register, you will be walked through the patented Duet Compatibility questionnaire, which is unique to Perfect Match.
This is all based on the research of Dr. Pepper Schwartz, a professor at the University or Washington and famous expert who studied human relationships for over 30 years.
The idea is to analyze your personality and match you with appropriate people, or “perfect matches”. This is an approach similar to other dating sites like eharmony or chemistry (but we liked the Perfect Match questionnaire better).
The questionnaire will take a while to complete (about 30 minutes to an hour) but the questions are fun and it’s quite an enjoyable ride. You can save your results at any time and resume completing the questions at a later time, if needed. A handy progression bar at the top of your screen lets you know how much you’ve progressed.
You’ll start with a Values and Ideals questionnaire, progress into Deal Breakers where you have a chance to point out what is unacceptable for you, then move on to Life & Lovestyle where you describe what you are looking for, and finally into the Duet Analysis, which analyses 8 parts of your personality:
This sounds like a lot, but keep in mind all the questions are already written, and you simply answer by clicking on “true” or “false”. So it’s not a very complicated process .
The questionnaire features very original questions, such as your favorite romantic gestures. The only thing we didn’t like was you could select only up to 2 hobbies, interests, activities from the long list they provide...which we feel is a bit restrictive. But maybe that’s just us having too many interests!
Personality type leads to matches
Once you finish the questionnaire, you are instantly presented with your “personality type”, which is determined by four letters , and you will see how many other singles on the site match you.
You are then instantly shown a few matches based on your responses (we had an instant 6 matches!). You can review their profile, although you can only see one photo per profile with the free membership. Once you are a paid subscriber, you can send matches a private message and initiate conversations.
We found the matches to be good, and the comparative feature allows you to compare yourself with any match very quickly, literally at glance . We had never seen anything quite like it, and particularly liked that feature.
Best of both worlds
In contrast to eHarmony, you not only receive “perfect matches” choosen for you by the system, which can be a time saver, but you can also search for profiles on your own. This gives you the best of both approaches and is less limiting than the eharmony way, where no free search is possible. To optimize your chances, we suggest you use both approaches, ie look at the matches offered to you by Perfect Match, but also spend some time browsing profiles on your own a few times per week.
The interface is very clean and easy to navigate, and communication flows easily once a conversation starts.
Under the “Love and Life” tab, you’ll find a section that works like a mini-magazine or dating column, with tips on the quizzes, advice from Dr. Schwartz, and polls from members.
Different “entry pages”
All singles, whether straight, gay or lesbian are welcome to join. In fact, the site offers different entry pages, structured around different needs. For example:
Jewish Singles
Seniors Singles
Asian Singles
Canadian Singles
Military Singles
Active Singles
Christian Singles
And many more!
We thought that this division of the site into categories was pretty interesting! Note that you do not have to use those specialized pages, and for standard mainstream dating, the standard point of entry remains www.perfectmatch.com. You’ll get similar benefits and access to members no matter where you join.
Conclusion
So, does Perfect Match deliver? As reviewers of dating sites, we were pleasantly surprised by the whole approach, and we would strongly recommend Perfect Match if you looking for relationships or marriage.
Perfect Match was founded by the previous managing team of kiss.com and uDate.com (sold to InteractiveCorp IAC in 2002).
Similarly to Chemistry.com and eHarmony, PerfectMatch.com is targeted at people looking for long lasting relationships and relies heavily on its personality asse... See Full Summary
Perfect Match was founded by the previous managing team of kiss.com and uDate.com (sold to InteractiveCorp IAC in 2002).
Similarly to Chemistry.com and eHarmony, PerfectMatch.com is targeted at people looking for long lasting relationships and relies heavily on its personality assessment and matching tools to achieve this.
The tool used in this case is the Duet Total Compatibility System (Duet)™. It is said to have been developed based on over 30 years of research by Dr. Pepper Schwartz. Dr. Schwarts is a tenured professor of sociology at the University of Washington. Duet is very similar to the standard psychological testing tool "Myers-Briggs test", and assesses 4 areas: Personality, Values and Ideals, Life and Lovestyle and Preferences.
« Hide Summary
When you pay for the 6 month subscription option you get upgraded to platinum membership which gives you the following additional functionality and services.
· Priority listing in profile search results.
· Free registered members can communicate with you.
· Have your profile featured on the site and shown to more users via platinum featured profiles.
Cost: $199.95 for 6 month subscription ($33.33 / month).
Accepted Payment Methods
Pricing Data Last Updated: February 22, 2012
Feature
When You Can Access it
Free Unregistered
Free Registered
Paid Basic
Paid Premium
N/A
Match & Search
1. Search Profiles
2. Match Assessment/ Personality Test
Creating & Viewing Profiles
3. View Partial Profile
4. View Full Profile
5. Create Profile
Communication & Messaging
6. Send/ Receive Messages (Restricted)
7. Send/ Receive Messages (Unrestricted)
8. Send Icebreakers (Flirt/ Winks/ Pokes/ Gifts)
9. Chat/ Instant Messaging
10. Video Chat
11. Forums/ Discussion Groups
Privacy & Safety
12. Block Other Members
13. View Who Visits Your Profile
14. Hide Visits to Others Profiles
Other Services
15. Dating Advice
16. People Nearby
Do you have a question about this dating site? Get it answered by our editors. Send Dating Site Inquiry
Reviewed by ukkerv on February 23, 2012
Last updated: February 24, 2012
Perfect Match is nice, the site feels very professional and I've been happy with my matches. Currently I'm dating one guy semi-seriously (from the site) and I made some friends with previous dates, we still go out socially.
I can't really comment on the help since I never needed it, so I'll put a 5 there!
I'm travelling nationwide 30+ weeks a year so I rely on dating online, maybe more than I would like but hey, what can you do....
I have an account and membership on a few sites, including this one. It's one of the good ones. You get what you put in though. Spend a while browsing and messaging every few days and in time, you'll get rewarded for your efforts. That's true of every site by the way in my experience.
"sports fan here, got matched with another sports fan!"
Reviewed by johnny on February 27, 2012
I separated from my high school sweetheart last year, so after almost a decade out of the singles pool, it was awkward getting back in. I had never tried online before but a friend recommended it to me as the thing to do these days. I tried this site after seeing the ad on TV and I found a nice gal after 2 months.
We are dating now, not in very serious way yet but hopefully...She likes sports as much as I do and we go see the Jets once in a while, and we've been rock-climbing last weekend...
Reviewed by Edith on February 22, 2012
Last updated: February 24, 2012
I saw an ad and gave it a try in early January. I dated a few guys in January, many of them were compatible as per the test, but there was no spark. Still, I had bought a 6 months membership so I kept it up. I then met a guy who was a good match AND there was chemistry! It turns out we were even colleagues years ago at Microsoft but the campus was too big and I never saw him there. Anyway...it's early days but this is really working for me right now!
