Thursday, June 21, 2012

eHarmony Situation Analysis 2011, document found using Google.

Just found this document using Google, it seems it was from October 2011.
It also seems it was old plans for eHarmony resurrection.


·  Just this past summer, June 2011, of eHarmony customers suffered as victims of identity theft once the website was successfully hacked and their credit information stolen and utilized in different markets.
The direction of the strategic focus is to diversify. The strategic focus will leverages eHarmony’s brand to address the rising number of competitors entering the online dating industry. The recommended goals and objectives will utilize the popularity of eHarmony’s brand to broaden into a new segment of the target market, “medium term” daters. Also, the focus is to complement the company’s established reputation as the #1 Trusted Online Dating service with the image of being a good corporate citizen.
The Jazzed website was created to tailor to the needs of customers termed “medium term” daters.
Goal A: To aggressively pursue the “medium term” dater segment
Objective 1: To increase traffic into Jazzed website by 10 percent, within six months following the marketing mix campaign
Objective 2: To convert 5 percent of the “declined membership” from the primary eHarmony website into Jazzed subscribers over the next twelve months following the marketing mix campaign.
eHarmony has taken into consideration that for every successful match they make, they loose two subscriptions.
The advertising budget will increase from USD90 million per year to USD95 million per year, with USD8 million allocated to the Jazzed re-launch, and USD2 million for promotion of the philanthropic initiative.

Marketing Strategy
eHarmony’s marketing strategy in the past has been to capture the forty something single men and women looking for a long-term relationship leading to marriage. This has worked for them in the past, but when they first started the online dating website they were the only website of this nature. They were the first to capture a market that was previously overlooked by all others. To maintain their elite status in the online dating industry, eHarmony will continue to aggressively seek this market but will also expand it’s parameters to include the younger generation X and Y’ers that might not necessarily be looking for marriage but companionship with the possibility of marriage later or just looking for someone to connect with that is like minded, which we are calling the “medium-term dater”.
The 2012 Marketing strategy for eHarmony will include the following:
· Reach a new target market – Gen X and Y by steering the medium-term dater to alternate website Jazzed.
· Increase customer awareness of subsidiary websites for dating based on race, age, religion, geographic location, sexual orientation, level of interest, etc.
· Increase brand image by launching a philanthropy campaign in which we donate 1 million dollars to the charity of choice.
· Offer current and new customer’s “bring a friend” coupons to increase new customers to the website


Recently Right Brain Advertising  had published some fresh documents about “eHarmony’s plans”, but if they do what it is planned, eHarmony Inc. will die peacefully, going directly to bankruptcy.
Any CEO needs to show success, achievements during his/her tenure. Mr. Verba should replace eHarmony, a 12 years old & obsolete site, performing as placebo, with a a new site with a new matching algorithm using the 16PF5 test or similar including the latest discoveries in theories of romantic relationships development with commitment.

No comments:

Post a Comment