There’s a Simple Reason Why You’ll Pay More for Certain Dating Sites
If you’re sick of being stashed and over getting ghosted on the regular, chances are you’re considering laying down some cash and putting your dating destiny in the hands of a “grown-up” online dating website like Match.com or eHarmony. Or maybe you’ve already joined and are currently looking for love (hey, your odds of finding love online are pretty high!). Either way, science has just confirmed why you’re probably willing to pay more for eHarmony over Match.com — and it all comes down to rejection.
The study, recently published in Management Science, found that users will happily pay more money for eHarmony, even though they’re given fewer matches than on Match.com, because they face a significantly lower chance of rejection. Study authors Hanna Halaburda, Mikolaj Piskorksi, and Pinar Yildirim created a stylized model of a heterosexual online dating site and found that while a larger number of potential matches (and thus more choice) could have a positive effect on finding a potential connection, it also had a substantial negative effect, since it increased competition between users of the same sex (and thus increased the chance of rejection).
Basically, the more profiles you have access to, the higher the chance you’ll get rejected, which many people are just not here for. And since eHarmony users know they’re getting a limited number of matches, they’re more likely to quickly and successfully identify and act on a potential match than Match.com users.
Of course, this “paradox of choice” conundrum is nothing new. The idea that the more choices we’re given, the less satisfied we are with our decisions, is something millennials have always been battling when it comes to online dating. But the authors of the study remind us it doesn’t necessarily have to be a problem. If you’re happy window shopping, by all means, shop away! But if you’re serious about settling down with a potential soul mate, eHarmony and its limited matches (and limited chance of rejection) may be the way to go.
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