

Ask HN: Are these user-acquisition numbers good for a dating site? - irrationaljared

I have an online dating site (The Matching Game - http://www.thematchinggame.com) with the following user-base numbers:<p>- 3,000 Daters
- 60% Women
- Average Age 23
- $1.27 User Acquisition Cost<p>I have no idea how these numbers stack up against other sites that are out there. I know the user base is small, which is why I'm asking. Need to figure out if there's any chance of making enough money to keep the site running as I scale it up.<p>Any insight would be very helpful.
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nussbi
In my opinion, the User Acquisition Cost looks pretty high, but I can't be
100% sure as scaling is q question of monetization. I guess it all depends on
how you monetize, i.e. what percentage of user become paying customers.

The men/women ratio looks promising though to make it a success!

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dsl
As someone in the know, I have to say you are completely wrong.

At that UAC, you could turn a nice profit just upselling users to join
Match.com or eHarmony.com.

Your biggest problem will be maintaining a UAC that low at any sort of scale,
unless you've discovered some magic bullet which means you'll be the next
PlentyOfFish.

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irrationaljared
Do you have any idea what UAC you need to maintain in order to turn a profit
via upselling? Doesn't have to be too specific, just looking for ballpark
numbers.

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nickfromseattle
How did you get 3,000 people to sign up and post their pictures?

~~~
irrationaljared
Mostly we've been advertising through adwords, Urban Dictionary, and
stumbleupon.

