After blogging about the PlentyofFish decision to include a pay option, iMingle.ca revisted the site to see if the option and been enabled, as well as gather some feedback from users who had the PlentyOfFish pay option enabled.

Some of the users contacted were not aware that they had the “Serious Member” badge, as they had never paid for the option.  PlentyofFish apparently has either given away some freebies to prompt other members to purchase the option or the members were too embarassed to admit that they paid for the ability to use an “almost free” dating site.  With our online dating profile in hand, iMingle.ca clicked the upgrade button, and found the following:

The PlentyofFish “serious member” option costs as follows:

• 1 year – $74.96 (5.95 a month – GST included)
• 6 months – $49.14 ($7.80 a month – GST included)
• 3 months – $30.87 ($9.80 a month – GST includeed)

A quick search throughout the dating site showed many members proudly displaying the “Serious Member” badge.  iMingle.ca has confirmed that PlentyofFish has definitely given away some of the “serious member” tags for free.  All of the free “serious member” upgrades on PlentyofFish have apparently been given to women.  iMingle.ca searched both men and women and could find multiple women with the “serious member” badge displayed proudly in the first 1-5 pages of the search results.  However, in going through over 10 pages of men returned in a search result, not one “serious member”.

This makes us question if PlentyofFish is targeting men.  It would be interesting to know how many men have been given “serious member” status for free.

If you dig further and contact members (or post on their forums), you get find many members are confused as to what is going on, or they express their displeasure with the “pay option” that has been added.  If the threads on the PlentyofFish forums don’t get deleted or closed, you can read some comments such as:

“I know, no one is forced to become one, but there is pressure for everyone now that they want to be considered a “serious member”

“PlentyofFish will lose it’s market niche.”

“It is really a shame that someone got greedy.”

“…you seriously believe that there won’t be a steady decrease in the quality of service for “free” users?”

“This site does not have the customer service, to jusity charging.”

“This will likely mark the beginning of the end for POF. A sad thing really. I know that it will mark my end here.”

Yes, to be fair, there are those that admire the courage to add the “pay option” to PlentyofFish, but after reading through pages of forum posts, most of the comments are not that flattering.  Some see it as the next evolution of the dating site, while others see this as an attempt to build revenue.  The owner of the site Markus Frind defends the upgrade saying that opting to buy the “serious member” upgrade shows intent.  Intent?  What intent?

This is a very obvious attempt by PlentyofFish to improve its revenue stream.  The business model built entirely around advertiser programs such as Google Adsense has been suffering, and revenues for many sites has decreased in recent months, especially with the effects of the recesssion increasing.  Members have stated this is several forum posts that iMingle.ca have been following.

What about those members who had the “serious member” upgrade showing on their profile?  iMingle.ca has even managed to find people who were not aware that they were “upgraded” and these members wanted to remove the free serious member upgrade they had received.  They were not happy with the supposed added exposure that this was bringing their profile.

After evaluating the pros and cons about the PlentyofFish “serious member” upgrade, iMingle.ca will say this is a bold experiment for one of the largest “almost free” dating sites around.  Is this the start of something bigger to come?  It definitely changes the landscape at PlentyofFish, and if the somewhat luke-warm reception that this upgrade is receiving is any indication, what will come next is unknown.  The PlentyofFish “serious member” upgrade has hit a chord with the members and the dating community.  As many have indicated on the forums, can the site be truly still considered a “free dating website” if it offers a paid option?

This PlentyofFish Serious Member upgrade is in our opinion here at iMingle.ca, a bust.  It does nothing to enhance a user experience or improve the feel of PlentyofFish.  As many members have indicated, efforts in improving the look and feel of the site, improving ability to communicate with users and have more user options are what the members are searching for.  If PlentyofFish is seeing a drop in revenue from its business model, it should examine user experience and take measures to enhance it.  This “Serious Member” upgrade is being seen for exactly what it is – an attempt to boost revenues.