Online Personals Watch Interviews Eric Straus, CEO, Cupid.com

Online Personals Watch offers insight into the online personals world through a series of online dating CEO interviews

San Francisco (PRWEB) July 1, 2005 -- Cupid.com acquired the worlds largest speed dating company last year and has integrated the events service into Cupid.coms service offerings. Cupid.com is unique in one other respect, it uses radio advertising almost exclusively. Mark Brooks, Editor of Online Personals Watch, interviewed Cupid.coms CEO and Founder, Eric Strauss. The following is an excerpt. The full interview appears at OnlinePersonalsWatch.com (opw1.com).

What would you have done differently had you known better?

I would have gotten the Cupid.com domain a lot earlier so I didnt have to pay through the nose for it. We would have started our localization campaign and we would have gone into the events business earlier as well. I think the two, radio and a local focus, are very related. Localism is our niche so having local events in our markets is our competitive and branding advantage over other dating sites.

How do events help?

If you go to Cupid.com and type in your zip code, in addition to finding local singles you also find all these local events that are near you. And were rolling out more coordinators in more cities. They will become our singles experts in those markets. Our ability to do local events and have local experts is our advantage. The singles experts will provide additional local content; local advice, places to go on dates etc. This speaks to our localism.

Cupid is typically around the 12th largest online dating site according to Hitwise. What are your goals for growth?

We would love to be in the top 5. Were looking at possible acquisitions right now and doing some online marketing. Well do more work with radio stations and further improve our conversion rates, even though theyre very good right now.

What do you think of True background checks legislation?

I think this legislation is totally bogus. A brilliant play to get PR. It probably wont pass. It shouldnt, but if it does, more power to them. As a businessman I have a lot of respect for what they are trying to do. I respect them for giving it the old college try. A lot of guys (other dating companies) think how could they do such a thing? They have to worry about their own business. If this legislation passes it puts them in a great situation. I dont think it will, but more power to the guys at True.com for thinking this up.

What do you think of eharmony?

Dr. Warren is a marketing genius. I dont think he does any better job at matching than Cupid.com or any other dating site. He just came up with a great marketing ploy. He designed a great way to solve the problem of women being inundated and guys being ignored that you (Mark Brooks) highlighted for us. Also, because of the perceived value of this scientific matching hocus pocus, theyre able to charge double. I can tell you from the emails we get from customers, theres a lot of dissatisfaction. They complain its a pain in the ass to do. Users have told us they like to quickly be able to get, do searches and open communication. I dont think you can scientifically decide the best matches. There are 10,000 women out there that are right for you and its up to timing and circumstance to get together with them. I cant emphasize enough I think its a genius marketing ploy. If you asked me if Id consider dating a Republican female, Id say no. Im a liberal, Jewish and a democrat. However under the right circumstances I might. Just take James Carville, Clintons campaign manager and Mary Matilin who was campaign manager for Bush. They were arch rivals but they fell in love and got married. We work with a professor at MIT who explained to us something very interesting. If you look at relationships as a continuum, with the far left end representing never having met someone before, or talked, and the right end representing getting married, how far along the line do you thing online dating gets you? eharmony proposes they get you much further along. I would argue neither eharmony or Cupid get you far along. Meeting face to face is what gets you further along. eharmony suggests you can do more. Face to face is where it counts; how they smell, how they laugh. There are a lot of little things you cannot do online. Online dating allows users to learn a few things about each other.

ABOUT CUPID.COM

Cupid.com is a leading online dating site marketed primarily through radio station advertising throughout America. Predating.com is the worlds largest speed dating company and was acquired and integrated into Cupid.com in 2004.

ABOUT ONLINE PERSONALS WATCH

Online Personals Watch is the major news and information portal for the online personals industry. The service is run by Mark Brooks who worked for Friendster, FriendFinder and Cupid.com in the past. Online Personals Watch is allied with the internet dating convention (idate2005.com), Hitwise Competitive Intelligence (Hitwise.com) and One2One Living magazine (one2onemag.com).

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