Changes / improvements and other expensive items

Now I've had a chance to see how smingl is working, I've realised some of the gaps that need plugging. The first and most obvious thing is that it needs to be more interactive. I have this great structure to put people in touch with one another then no way for them to chat once they are there. I did have a messaging system in the original spec. but it's hard to allow users to chat without charging a subscription (because otherwise they can just set up dates for free). This is forcing me to think very hard about how to monetise the site and thanks to the law of unforeseen consequences, I can see the bright side in the site taking so long to develop. My original idea for revenue was to charge to set up a date. A great idea on a piece of paper but hard to structure because people don't want to date someone they've never spoken to. So, I'm now thinking in a completely different direction ...

I'm now beginning to think about monetising the site through a credit based payment system. E.g. you would pay £10 for 20 credits and then activity on the site would be charged with the credits. I could charge for sending messages, responding to messages, sending virtual gifts, setting up multi-dates and entering a speed dating session (not yet live). I think the total revenue will be lower but I really like the idea of activity based costing. People tell me they hate paying a subscription for dating sites when they may not use them for 3 months. This gives people the chance to control their spend and have great visibility of exactly what it's costing them to date.

All this requires some structural changes to the site - not least a fairly big change to the central theme of the site which is setting up a date through the date search. I think this will become secondary to the messaging facility and will mostly be used for multi-dates. It's a big step and quite different from any other dating site so I need to mull it a bit more and take soundings from users but I'm quite excited about being able to offer a real value for money alternative to traditional dating sites.

One month has passed since the site went live. What have I learned so far?
First, I'm really pleased with the number of users. It's 4 times what I expected at this stage so that's a really positive outcome. Second, I'm beginning to see what works and what doesn't in the site. There doesn't seem to be an elephant on the table - phew! But the activity is not working in the way I expected. I was expecting lots of deep, narrow interaction with the site: people setting up networks and motivated to join to friends (hey it's free and you get a really good choice of dating partners) but this isn't happening. The hierarchy is relatively flat at the moment - people joining up and then not linking to any friends. OK, so I need to work on this with more interactive elements, more marketing to pull people back to the site and improved navigation within the site. There's a temptation (big) to add lots of cool new features to the site - hey, what if you could send flowers to someone you like?? Yes, great but my primary aim is to build volume and will this build volume? I doubt it. I think these features will increase stickiness and make the site a more pleasurable experience but building volume is about getting the name out there and marketing it.
My first bit of 'paid' marketing is going to be a sticker campaign. I am about to get some cool stickers printed and will do some underground marketing sticking them on the back of loo doors, tube posters, lamposts etc; It's a low cost option and I will be able to measure the effect by looking at my google hits after posting in one geographical area. I have some more low cost marketing ideas but the challenge is to keep these ideas clean and separate and give each one a good go without getting over-excited (or depressed) about every twist and turn on the site.
I will update this blog when I have some results from the sticker campaign. Keep smingling!