DatingDirect.com

DatingDirect.com - The best thing to hold onto in life is each other

DatingDirect.com is entrepreneur Darren Richards’s brainchild invention in the arena of dating in the UK. Established in 1999, DatingDirect.com had nearly 40,000 active members in just 3 months and by 2003, it had nearly 800,000 people online on the dating platform. This figure has some importance since it belongs to a period where dating online or talking about it was considered a little unorthodox or futuristic.

In 2012, this platform merged with Match.com and now shares almost the same features and membership database of nearly 4 million members from the UK. The members belong to the age group of 18 to 65 years old and gender distribution is nearly perfect with 52% females and 48% males. The large majority of members are looking for a relationship for the long-term and it takes only 90 seconds to complete the profile with selective questions. Write a little “about me” piece, and upload your photo and you are good to go. You can even perform a full search, view members photos, and their descriptions before upgrading to a full membership.

The user interface is clear, uncluttered and intuitive with some nice features to help make your partner search fun and enjoyable. Search is pretty straightforward with a basic search option and an advanced option. Even with the basic search can find thousands of results while the advanced option can be used to narrow down the numbers with selective preferences like eye color, short hair, non-smoker, etc.

DatingDirect.com has developed a unique matching process in the online dating market involving only two steps. The first one is the usual creation of profile with personal details and description about the type of people you are interested to meet. The second one is: attending events. DatingDirect.com states three reasons for singles to attend these events. They say that 1 in every 2 people meet someone at an event, you can invite up to 3 friends and there are lots of single guests. In a way, this an icebreaker deal and thus happens to be a great way to increase chances of meeting someone special.

DatingDirect Reviews:

DatingDirect is one of the earliest dating sites and more of an online community than a pure dating site, launched in 1999 in the UK by the Meetic network, who also now own Match.com; the site offers people a place where they can socialize, meet and romanticize other singles, and generally just have fun. As a result, both sites share many similarities, the service is committed to provide a pleasant experience for users, so they could search for love in their own pace. As most of the features are only available to subscribed members, we took a look to see if the subscription fees lead to a better-quality experience. you will find numerous tips and advices on the site If you are unfamiliar with online dating so you won’t feel discouraged.: it also organizes social events where singles can meet in person. The registration on the site is free, and users are able to piece together their profile with tons of personal information and preference, facilitating the chance of finding a suiting date.

Signing up is free but you’ll have to subscribe to a paid membership to enjoy the full benefits. Creating an account is an easy 5-step process that takes around 5 minutes to complete.

First, you’ll be asked to select your gender and whether you’re looking for men or women. Then, the platform will ask you to choose a username, password, and provide an email address. At this stage, you’ll be automatically redirected to a questionnaire that asks you to provide personal details, including your marital status and intention on the site.

All this info will then be displayed on your profile, and this step saves you the hassle of filling in the profile at a later time. Uploading a profile image is optional but highly recommended, then you’ll be redirected to your dashboard.

The homepage will show you a selection of profiles that best match with your profile and that are located near you. You can open and check all profiles, add them to your favorites or send a Wink to those you like. If none of the matches selected by the site is of your interest, there is a search option where you can sort the results by location, age, and other criteria.

Your user experience ends here unless you upgrade to a paid membership. There are different plans to choose from and as a Premium member, you’ll be able to send and answer to messages, join live chats and more.

Dating Direct comes with a bunch of features but before talking about them, have a look at the main pros and cons of this platform.

DATING DIRECT ADVANTAGES

• Generous user pool. Dating Direct may be less famous in America but is one of the main dating sites in the UK. Merged with Match.com in 2012, the Dating Direct shares a common user database with the former and counts thousands of members worldwide.
• Matchmaking questionnaire. to match you with other users Dating Direct uses a matchmaking questionnaire, called Affinity. The purpose of Affinity is to help the system find people with whom you might have a thing or two in common.
• to take your experience to the next level This online dating site boasts interesting features designed. several interaction ways, Advanced search features and filtering options, but also a blog packed and loaded with advice and online dating tips will certainly make you enjoy your time on the site.
• Dating Direct complies with all local and international safety regulations Like most mainstream dating sites. The quality of the members is high and most profiles are genuine.

DatingDirect MATCHMAKING SYSTEM

To create a solid matchmaking system DatingDirect.com uses several tools. signup quiz is the first that gathers information about your past and current marital status, body type, race, education, and your intentions on the site.

you’ll have the opportunity to access the Affinity questionnaire Once you land in the dashboard; the questionnaire is rather laborious and lengthy but it’s well worth the hassle.

Based on your answers to both questionnaires, the matchmaking system finds users that match your personality and who are located within a manageable distance. You can either set the maximum distance in miles or enter the name of a city.

The matchmaking system also uses these preferences to send you 6 matches a day; you can view their profiles, add them to favorites, or send a message if you’re really interested.

INTERACTION

Multiple interaction options give members by Dating Direct that go from a simple wink to messages and chats.

Interaction is reserved to the paying members, but with a free membership, you can still show interest by liking other profiles or by sending a Wink, which is the equivalent of a flirt. Sadly, you won’t know if the other user has contacted you unless you subscribe to a monthly plan.

The paid membership welcomes you to full interaction. As a Premium member, you’ll be able to send winks, gifts, messages, or communicate via chat. All these channels will help you decide whether or not it’s worth taking the things to the next level and ask the other member to meet you in real life.

An engaging way to draw attention is by playing the “hot or not” style game. You’ll be prompted with the profile picture of a member and you’ll have to choose whether you’re interested, uninterested, or maybe interested.

If you click yes, the other member will get a notification and you’ll have the chance to connect.

SEARCH

To find a number of suitable profiles in your area Dating Direct uses your location and sign-up info, but this info can be altered easily by changing the search area or criteria.

The website offers a good advance search facility where you can filter potential matches using a number of different parameters, such as physical traits, personality traits and distance from your area etc. You can also search for people born on the same day as you, or for users whose birthday it is on the day you are online.

There is also the option to browse through online members, but this can be an arduous process, for example when we were online there was over 28,000 other members online at the same time, so you are much more likely to find a potential match using the search functions.

DatingDirect SAFETY

Profiles are checked for inappropriate content and the website is well moderated, and as a result there are very few fake profiles and scammers that you might find on some of the free sites. As on some of the other sites we have used the guide to safe online dating isn’t as comprehensive. All information is encrypted to a high level, so you can be confident about your personal details remaining secure on the site.

SINGLE EVENTS

Single events are the One of the best things about DatingDirect.com hosted by in collaboration with Match.com. These events are held internationally and you can simply choose which ones to see by selecting your preferred city.

When talking about Single Events most people think of wild parties and nights out, but Dating Direct is geared towards helping people create connections and finding a long-term relationship. Yes, there are parties to join and nights out, but there are also multiple alternative events.

For instance, you can choose to discover a new city by joining a walking tour, attend an outdoor competition, or join a cooking class.

MOBILE

DatingDirect understands that modern singles are more likely do their love birding through their smartphone instead of sitting in front of a monitor. That’s why they made sure that their website is truly optimized for smaller devices with a touchscreen. With all the popular browsers, starting from Internet Explorer to Firefox and Chrome this mobile version of the website is fully compatible. Naturally, you use on the regular site will be accessible the same profile, and all the features are available here as well. Other than providing a simplified design, the mobile version was also created with touch-friendliness in mind, meaning that actions like setting the search parameters and chatting can be done with ease. Sadly, this also means that for smart devices DatingDirect has no actual app, and accessing the site through a browser is the only solutions. On the contrary, as the mobile site offers a unique enough experience this might be not that big loss.

DatingDirect.com PRICING

Similar to other dating services, DatingDirect offers a double-edged freedom by allowing free registration. It’s true that setting up an account is without a cost, and you aren’t forced to pay for anything. But don’t forget that your actions are also limited and you are being blocked to make a move on others. The only way to lift these shackles is to upgrade your account to a premium one, and keep paying the monthly fee to do so. There are three payment plans available, and the price is reduced according to the length of the subscription period. The monthly subscription costs $29.99, the three month-long plan has a price of $19.99 per month, while the most cost effective is the semi-annual plan with a price tag of only $9.99 per month. DatingDirect payments can be done either with a credit card or PayPal.

DatingDirect CUSTOMER SERVICE

In case of an unexpected problem, DatingDirect offers numerous answers. with a well-sorted FAQ The site has a detailed help section, plus members are entitled to search for solutions by typing in keywords. However, the site is leaning towards the solve-your-problem-on-your-own approach, as the actual customer service can be only bothered after several search attempts have been made in the help section. This could alienate users who have a unique problem, as they are forced to read through a bunch of generic answers that might be not useful at all.

DatingDirect SAFETY TIPS

Dating Direct comes with a series of dating tips which are seamlessly displayed on the site’s homepage, Caring for the safety of its members. Through these tips we recommend reading if you haven’t used an online dating site before.

Not only you’ll learn what to watch for to avoid falling victim of fraud or criminality, but you’ll also learn the basic do’s and don’ts of online dating.

DatingDirect MEMBERS’ QUALITY

The vast majority of the profiles are genuine and you’ll get to enjoy a fun and rewarding online dating experience on this platform.

Quality and quantity of members also mean you’ll find someone to talk to at any time. Even those living in smaller towns find plentiful members in their proximity, and most of them are active on a weekly basis.

If you don’t believe me, there is an easy way to test the quality of the members by joining the site and leaving your profile blank for a week. Don’t upload a picture and don’t put in any profile information. Then, go back after a week and check how many members have contacted you.

The odds are you won’t have any messages, after all, who’d contact a blank profile. Those who have contacted you, however, are probably just fake profiles you should steer clear from.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Arrived at this stage, you’re perhaps wondering what’s the verdict. Do we recommend DatingDirect.com? We certainly do, but this doesn’t mean you should join the site.

Dating Direct can be a superlative online dating site if you live in the right side of the world or if you’re interested in meeting people from a very specific geographical area, namely from the UK and perhaps from other neighboring countries.

If you live in the US and are looking for the man of your life within a manageable distance, Match.com is a much better choice.

you also agree by joining Dating Direct to keep your online dating experience more on a desktop than on mobile. This site doesn’t have an app, yet Match.com does. Since both platforms share the same user pool, you might choose the latter should you need an app.

if you’re the traditionalist type who wants to connect with people in an old-fashioned way, Yet, I do recommend DatingDirect.com. This site is easy to use, intuitive and has attractive graphics. A responsive mobile version will even allow you to stay connected on the go.

DatingDirect.com really deserves a chance at the end of the day. And since, you can just signup to see how you feel, joining is just free. Then, it’s up to you to decide whether or not this site is worth a chance in your case.