Are Online Dating Apps Worth the Investment? A Cost-Benefit Analysis

Maximizing ROI: The Truth About Dating Apps

In the digitized era, the craze for online dating applications is no less than the social media platforms where everybody is around you.

As of 2015, the worth of the online dating industry was more than $2 billion as users kept growing year after year. Many a mobile app development company see developing an online dating application as an incredible business venture to achieve maximum profits in the long run.

Mobile app development in the online dating industry has opened new doors to finding a soulmate online.

Despite a large number of dating service providers being available in the industry, many users are still looking out for their favorite ones.

In this article, we will take you through the various aspects of online dating applications such as their features, cost of developing, and most importantly how they work.

An Introduction To Online Dating Applications

An online dating application is a platform where enthusiasts hangout to get their desired partner or a perfect match.

These applications are extremely amusing for users and sometimes couples who find each other in these arrangements enjoy their happily ever after as well. There are many such applications and platforms where girls and boys get the chance to find their partners or future mates.

All they have to do is visit a particular application, register themselves on it, and become their regular visitor. If you have managed to create an interesting profile then eventually you will find a person of your interest and based upon these attributes you can make or break the deal.

In this application, users can interact or meet new people and remain instrumental to discover the love stories having a happy ending.

Different online dating portal development solutions allow other users to enjoy multiple features.

As a member of such an application, the users are held accountable to verify the authenticity and reliability of the dating application and their profiles.

How Do Online Dating Applications Work In Real-Time?

One of the fundamental human impulses is to have a romantic relationship or to even fall in love. However, numerous obstacles might keep knocking on your door while meeting your romantic interest.

The online dating portal development services have enabled users across all locations, ages, and lifestyles to use these platforms for meeting their soulmates. In the past few years, these portals are emerging as a new solution that has specially arrived to heal the lonely hearts.

An online dating application refers to a general method of meeting new people and it is also growing as a widely accepted dating platform. Once you choose to give it a shot, it is extremely important to understand how an online dating application works.

In this article, we will be entirely focusing on the general social networking app development solutions.

This information works well for the majority of online dating applications as well. The working of an online dating application is segmented into four major aspects, which are-

Phase I- Developing A Profile

Initially, when you arrive on any online dating application or website you can easily browse through its user profiles without providing your information on it.

However, the amount of information or details about the profiles that you can see depends on the security measures of the website or application. Some applications allow their users to restrict other users from accessing their profiles and some of them allow access to paid users only.

Confidentiality of the dating profiles is a determinant factor that is streamlined by a mobile app development company. So, the photos of the users might not be visible to you unless you have opted for a paid membership. This is a crucial factor to preserve the anonymity of users so that any family member or co-worker may not stumble upon your dating profile.

Most of the online dating application models have integration for the paid membership and only grant access to the users who have subscribed to the premium version.

When it comes to creating your online dating profile you will have to start by entering some basic information about yourself.

For example gender, references, whether you are looking for women or men, age range, interests, etc. Basic dating profile details also include email address, contact number, birth date, etc. Some of the application administrators may communicate with your profile with the help of this email address or contact numbers only and some allow the messages to be sent to your email address from other users anonymously.

When you receive the message from other users it gets rooted through the applications system and gets redirected to the email address without other users seeing your address. Most of the dating app development platforms utilize their own secure and internal messaging system to maintain the confidentiality and privacy of the users.

If privacy is your major concern then it gets easy to create a free email account and use it entirely for your online dating user contacts.

Phase II- Creating A Good Online Dating Profile

If you usually browse through a typical online dating application then you will come across multiple advertisements from users who are looking for their Mr.

Right or Miss Right. Most of these applications work by highlighting the subject line or interests of the users in the profiles. When it comes to developing an interesting profile, you have to make sure to fill out all the columns because leaving some sections blank may show that you are not entirely interested in the act.

If you cannot enter fancy answers then you can also use generic terms to describe yourself on the profile. You need to avoid saying things like- 'I dislike using dating services but one of my friends put me to this' or similar ones in your profile.

The target of online dating applications is users who are using their services.

Read the blog- Cost And Feature To Develop A Dating App

Once you have successfully created your online dating profile, you have to focus on the appearance of your profile.

Think of multiple aspects related to your personality that are worth highlighting to get your romantic interest. The key to the success of any dating app development solution lies in knowing what you desire and putting the same in your profile.

You will get more responses from the users who are looking for the same thing that you desire for such as if you want to settle down for a serious relationship or just wanting a Friday night date.

Phase III- Developing Contacts In The Online Dating Application

If you have chosen to opt for a premium subscription or become a paid user of the dating application you can instantly start contacting other profiles if they are appealing to you.

You can start sending them messages and if you have already put lots of details about yourself in your profile then there is no need to elaborate on the answers. The sentences that can be sufficient are-

  1. Hello, I saw your profile and it seems to me that we share common interests.
  2. Take a look at my profile and if it is interesting drop me a message

You can use any of these sentences in your online dating profile to start connecting with other users. You can either contact several people at once or one person at a time.

A custom mobile application development company focuses on the interaction interface of the application so that users can easily write back to their profiles of interest. Creating contacts on an online dating application is a very important function and how long it takes depends upon the features of the application or the interest of individual user profiles.

Also, the amount of time consumed between the first message and first in-person visit differs from person to person and this is one of the significant benefits of using online dating applications. It is crucial to keep in mind that along with many other things you have to make those contacts and your dates go smoother.

Before meeting a person you can also talk to them via email or messages.

When it comes to planning the real-time data on your online dating profile you can choose a public setting or a neutral spot and arrive at the place independently.

Many applications suggest places like a busy restaurant, coffee shop, college sports game, movie theatre, and similar ones. The key is to make sure that your privacy remains intact. It is also seen that most of the romantic dates turn out to be boring or annoying and for the same reason you can plan for short dates at first.

So even if it is the worst date ever you will be relieved to know that it will get over soon. The top online dating portal development platforms allow you to plan the lengthy dates according to your preferences as well.

Phase IV- The Art Of Matchmaking

Once you have filled out your profile on the online dating application, now is the time to provide the list of your interests and matches.

In a few cases, this process is quite simple because each user profile has its own attributes and interests that other users usually check off. it is important to understand that the more matching interest and attributes any two profiles have the higher will be their chances for matchmaking.

Various applications allow users to specify how important each of their interests and attributes is. Each of these interests is assigned with multiple parameters depending on the user’s preferences, for example, if they prefer blondes but have nothing against redheads or brunettes then you can easily run this attribute as low.

The applications conduct matchmaking through these parameters and some of them use extremely complex service for mathematical matchmaking algorithms to match the potential partners.

One survey claims that there are more than 30 dimensions that enable social networking app development companies to predict the compatibility between their users and provide them the percentage of their relationship’s success.

Fortunately, the significant advantage of using an online dating application is that it offers immense control to every user about whom they contact and with whom they communicate subsequently.

How Much Does It Cost To Develop An Online Dating Application?

The cost required to develop an online dating application varies differently from platform to platform. With the ever-increasing demand for an online dating platform, developing one solution is a highly profitable venture for a custom mobile application development company.

The architecture of any cross-platform, hybrid, or native application will require a suitable app development strategy and technology. The overall cost to develop one solution for Android or iOS is inclusive of frontend development, backend development, infra cost app designing and testing resources, support system, maintenance, and finally launching the application.

Let us be clear about one functional aspect of online dating applications, which is no matter how simple they look, technically they involve a complicated architecture and development process.

Hence, speaking realistically, developing an online dating application solution will take around 800 to 1000 hours. Let us have a look at its major components that may alter the cost of developing a dating application:

  1. For a single application that can integrate key technologies like social media integration, geo-location mapping, payment integration, and many more.

    If you are incorporating advanced features then it will take around 600 hours to develop such a solution.

  2. The backend support system for such an application has to be powerful and backed by the most sophisticated app development mechanism to ensure your quick response time towards the issues or glitches.

    The backend phase for dating app development will require around 200 hours for development.

  3. The designing aspect for such an application is crucial and it takes around a hundred hours including the time required for prototyping or wireframing.
  4. The question-answer or FAQ face of an online dating application will take care of testing and analyzing the application and will take care of the logistics before the application goes live.

    Hence, this may consume more than a hundred hours of development time.

On average, the online dating application development cost per hour is $10. Hence, based on the above parameters any custom mobile application development company will consume around 800 to 1000 hours for developing an application and it will cost you somewhere between $6000 to $12000.

Top Online Dating Application Features That Are Required In Any Solution

The journey to discover love can become a stressful process for many users but the presence of online dating applications has swiftly made it to swiping, talking, or stalking the people of your interests.

Since more and more users are turning to digital dating platforms like Bumble or Tinder in the hope to find their matches, we have figured out some much-needed features that are expected in these solutions.

  1. Checking Preferences- The basic objective of online dating applications is to get you a partner according to your preferences. With this feature, you can get a partner of your preferred interest.
  2. Instant Messaging-

    This refers to a communication channel that helps you to find and communicate with your potential match
  3. Check Visitors- You can't remain active on the application all the time and which is why it is required to check the number of users who have gone through your profile or liked your pictures.
  4. Location-Specific- Most often it is seen that users prefer romantic interests who are close to their proximity as it allows them to visit them often and meet them face-to-face.
  5. Social Media Integration- This feature allows you to integrate your online presence with multiple social media platforms and it will facilitate faster signup.

    Social media integration ensures the collection of information related to likes, dislikes, interests, and many more.

Read the blog- How Do Dating Apps Make Money: Monetization Strategy

How Online Dating Applications Have Presented New Social Realities Of The Modern Dating World

There are many emotions like curiosity, loneliness, convenience, boredom, or hope, that drive users to download online learning applications.

These types of solutions are superficial having an emphasis on the social presence but users can also streamline the proximity of other profiles and learn about their aspirations, hobbies, or interests. Ultimately, it depends upon the information or attributes that users have displayed on their profiles to attract their potential matches.

Dating application solutions enable users to control the function of their profile and who they talk to on the platforms and allow them to report or block the users who make them feel insecure. Online dating applications are entirely secure and they have incorporated artificial intelligence-backed algorithms to limit the instances of misalignment or harassment.

Conclusion

Most of the users at present prefer online dating applications because of the convenience and the facilities that it offers.

Regardless of the reasons for users to join such applications, social networking app development professionals encourage users to exercise safety while meeting other users. The current online dating applications have entirely transformed the realities of dating at present.