Dating Site for Married Couples
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
Each blockage HowAboutWe found among the committed couples
they studied has a corresponding feature on the new site.
To overcome the inertia it detected, the site will offer
fully packaged date ideas. To address logistical woes,
HowAboutWe is working to make the packages available with
a single click that will book your taxi, theater tickets
and corner table at the Italian trattoria.
For Mr. Schechter and Mr. Schildkrout, each idea leads to
another. They could arrange babysitters for couples. They
could help slouchy husbands send, with one click, fancy
date invitations that suggest a labor of many clicks. They
could allow couples to follow the dates of other couples
they admire — a digital way to keep up with the Joneses.
Since couples tend to collect a small number of sitters and stick with those - frequently friend-of-friend's older children within social groups (church, suburban neighborhood, etc.) - the most tractable approach is more likely to be a calendaring and booking system for sitters vs. a "vetted employee" paradigm.
The name of this article is really unfortunate and will probably mislead many readers.
But, we welcome the competition ... lots of couples out there. Nice to have someone help validate the market for us. :)
- "Live like a power couple": worst feature ever. I struggle to see how this could be a good feature, and offering this makes me believe you couldn't possibly offer something I want
- $199 a month, for 1 date. Well, one date a month is a bit crap, and $199 is a lot to spend for it. A "nice dinner" date night comes to maybe $120 including taxis, and I could add another $25 to have Exec arrange it if I needed to. (As a startup person, I realize your value is not limited to the value of the date, but you've managed to present the product in a way that I automatically equate "1 date == $199", so this may be a positioning problem)
- I realize your dates are a bit cooler than most, but I want to spend time with the wife, not talking to Chefs and stuff, and not being social with new couples.
- becouply.com is terrible. Becouplydates.com is a much better site, but why are there both? Are you making many becouplys (and so not focussing on the product I want)? Also, becouply.com says you arent launched, it has a twitter feed that has zero relevance to the product ("come see us at #launch", "well done on your acquisition") and has a different price ($149) to the becouplydates.com.
A "nice dinner" date night comes to maybe $120 including taxis
Regarding pricing and value, it turns out that different people have very different ideas of what constitutes "a nice date" and that's perfectly OK. Every date we send couples on includes drinks, a multi-course dinner, a fun activity, and round trip black car. Our customers love the service and the price point, but there are other types of dates out there too and we'll probably add more of them.
[T]his may be a positioning problem
We can always work on our copy, thanks for the feeback.
I want to spend time with the wife, not talking to Chefs and stuff, and not being social with new couples
Great point regarding what's important for your dates. Some dates have a group component and some don't. All of our dates have some sort of exclusive activity. Different couples have different preferences about this sort of thing and, again, that's ok.
Are you making many becouplys (and so not focussing on the product I want)?
Thanks for your feedback on the sites. We're integrating the two right now.
[it] has a different price ($149) to the becouplydates.com
I'm not seeing the pricing typo you've mentioned, but I'd love to correct it.
[it] has a twitter feed that has zero relevance to the product
It's just not the case that our Twitter account has "zero relevance" to the product. We regularly send our Twitter followers on cool dates with their partners. For example, we worked with Motley Crue to send a couple backstage to their Valentine's Day performance at the Hard Rock in Vegas. It's a Twitter account, so we use it to interact with people. It's not just a PR wire, so yes, you'll see something other than our press releases on it at times. :)
I looked for $149, and it was actually in the Techcrunch article. Not much you can do about that. Though it might be better to order your links differently.
I thought this was going to be a site about couples dating couples, like how Lily and Marshall in HIMYM were always trying to find married couples to hang out with.
I suspect this is also an interesting idea to a lot of people and might look very similar to Howaboutwe -- 1. couple dating ideas, 2. monetize by freeing couples up with babysitting.
Howaboutwe is "keep your love life fresh"
Coupledating helps married couples find similar people to hang out with. The site can help introduce couples (match.com), or keep feeding them ideas for things that 4 people can do (Howbouatwe).
Sort of like how you can use linked in to figure out who people have worked with.
People with kids often have friends with kids and you can figure out all the babysitters that have one degree of separation from you.
Good luck to the team.
http://www.makeyourgirlfriendhappy.com
The idea could be taken much further, lack of time on my part really. Feedback welcome.
The same is true (kind of) with car salesman and real estate salesman, if they are successful at selling the customer a car or house and they do a terrific job, they won't see that same customer again for 8 to 30 years. However, if the customer is delighted, word of mouth spreads, and you get a flood of the customer's friends.
As for car sales -- this is a field notorious for how salespeople con the customer, probably for the reasons you specify. People pick the type of car they want, and then endure the shenanigans at the dealers of that brand in their area.