Pretty much everyone has heard the statistic that nearly 20% of all married couples within the last 3 years met on an online dating site. The market is full of propositions for dating younger women dating older men, for women seeking rich men, dating for wine lovers and pet lovers  – all possible variations here. Interestingly, couples that meet online also tend to get married much quicker than their counterparts that meet in the “real world”: 18.5 months versus 42 months.  This telling statistic makes a lot of sense because on the “right” dating site, you have the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals that are truly “looking for love” – not just a one night stand.

There is no single online dating site that is perfect for everyone.  With that said, you have to find a dating site that fulfills the criteria that is most important to you.  For example, I recommend that you ask yourself the following questions before clicking an online dating site’s “join” button:

• What type of people are you looking to meet, and what type of relationship are you pursuing? As a wise friend once said, “If you’re going to play in the sewer, then you can’t complain about the rats.”  Some sites strive to foster relationships in an exclusive online dating community, while others… Not so much. You have to be honest with yourself and decide what you’re really looking for.

• How does the site want you to meet someone?  In other words, does the site allow you to search and browse its members, or is functionality limited to receiving a finite number of matches by email each week and/or month? For whatever reason (perhaps they wanted to save money on development costs or they arrogantly think that they know what’s best for you), some half-baked sites have decided that it’s a bad idea for users to be able to search for potential matches themselves.  Instead, these sites insist on emailing their users a couple of potential matches each week.  You deserve the best of both worlds.  It can be helpful to have a dating site identify potential matches for you, but you should always have the option to conduct searches, yourself.

• What is the customer service like?  When you consider joining a site, you may have some questions…  If it’s difficult to get in touch with a real person — whether it be by phone, email, or some sort of live chat feature — BEFORE you’ve opened your wallet, good luck getting a hold of someone once you actually become a member.  If it’s difficult to get responsive and helpful service before you have a problem, it’s probably a good indicator of the type of “help” that you’ll get in the future… (e.g., billing issues, difficulty deactivating, problems with sites features, etc.)
• What is the site’s refund policy? It’s an awful idea to join an online dating site with the expectation that you aren’t going to be satisfied with the service… Mindset is important. However, the reality is that sometimes things just don’t work out—and neither the website nor the user is to blame.  So you’d think that most sites would value their reputation enough to have generous and responsible refund policies, wouldn’t you?  Well, you’d be wrong.  Nevertheless, an online dating site’s refund policy is important for reasons aside for enabling you to get your money back.  It’s likely your best insight into the dating site’s business practices…  For instance, the refund policy can help answer questions like:  Does the site actually value you as an individual, or does it merely view you as a credit card number?  Is the site truly concerned about its users’ experience, or is the site primarily concerned with swiping your credit card before you can get away?