Match.com to offer users confidential dating service

Match.comMatch.com, the dating website, is launching a new service that will offer users greater privacy. It will be based in its US introductory service, Chemistry.com, which does not display user profiles on the site.

The website is looking to launch the product in the UK and Japan and plans to roll it out to further markets. Match.com chief executive Thomas Enraght-Moony says no date has been set for the launch but it hopes to have launched in new markets within 18 months.

The US service differs from its existing offer as it uses relationship profiling to introduce people – rather than allowing users to view profiles and contact each other. Instead, Chemistry matches a user to other subscribers and puts them in contact via e-mail. They can then chat online before meeting up and dating.

Enraght-Moony explains: “The service is aimed at people who want greater privacy. We launched the service after realising that some users, such as teachers for example, don’t want their profiles to be freely accessible and viewed by anybody. This introductory service means they retain their privacy while being able to use an online dating service.”

Enraght-Moony says the company survived the bleak dot-com boom and bust years because the site “fulfils a need for companionship”.

He says Europe is the company’s fastest-growing market. He adds that while the core market remains users in their 30s, in the US the over-50s segment is the fastest-growing consumer segment, a trend he says is likely to be reflected in other markets.