If you want to run a successful dating business, you should consider making a dating app. The popularity of the online dating industry is growing rapidly, and you’re likely to earn good money if you successfully launch an app.
Many people use online dating services because they have busy lives, and technology offers an efficient way to find Mr. or Ms. Right. In this article, you will find a lot of useful information on this topic.
The Dating Industry
To give you some insight into the value and future of the dating industry, we will provide you with some statistics.
In 2020, the revenue of the online dating industry amounts to $2,141 million and is expected to grow by 4.3% by 2024. The average revenue per user is $8.92. The current user penetration is 3.2% and is expected to grow by 0.4% by 2024. The U.S. generates the most revenue of any country – $973 million in 2020.
You must have heard about Tinder, a popular dating service. But do you know the story of its success? It became available for iPhones in 2012 and for Android-based devices a year later. The reason for its success was its simplicity. You can swipe right to like someone or left to dislike someone. By 2017, about 57 million people from all over the world were using this dating service.
Dating App vs Dating Site
What’s wrong with creating an online dating website? You can do that, but in order to be competitive, you should follow the latest trends. Smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices allow people to use an app at any time from any place while enjoying a smooth performance and a full set of features. The main advantages of a dating app are as follows:
Flexibility
A dating app provides its users with flexibility. You can use it when sitting in a traffic jam, taking a break at work, or enjoying a cup of coffee at a café. Flexibility is especially important for busy people.
Smooth Performance
Today, you can create a responsive web design that is convenient to use on mobile browsers. However, web design is not a substitute for a feature-rich application. If you want to ensure a good user experience, consider developing a high-quality dating app.
Confidence
You are likely to be the only user of your mobile device. When living with someone, you may share the same computer, but you use different phones. With a mobile app, you can use dating services without worrying that other people will find out about your messages or preferences.
How Do Dating Apps Make Money?
So, how can you actually earn money with a dating app? There are different monetization methods you can take advantage of, including the following:
Advertising
Ads are used in most apps; however, you should not annoy your users with too many ads and prevent them from using your app comfortably, or else they will stop using it at all.
Premium Apps
Most dating apps are free to download, install, and use. However, the choice of free features is limited. To get access to advanced functionality, users can opt for a premium account. For instance, right swipes are used to like a person, but the number of swipes per day is usually limited in a free app. You can offer an unlimited number of swipes for an additional price. Another premium feature might be the removal of ads.
Gifts
When communicating through a dating app, it can be difficult for users to show affection for each other. For an additional price, you can give users the option to send each other gifts such as flowers, virtual kisses, special greetings, and more.
Dating App Builders vs, Custom App Development
You can create a dating app using an app builder, but you should consider the pros and cons of doing so. App builders unfortunately provide only basic user interface elements and can be pretty limited in general. You would also have to pay a monthly subscription fee.
Using an app builder may seem like an easy way to save some money on dating app development, think about whether your product will stand out from the crowd. You should also remember that it’s important to modify your application from time to time to keep your users satisfied, but apps created with app builders can’t be updated easily.
Another serious drawback to making a dating app with the help of a builder is that, if there are any issues with processing your monthly payments to the service provider, your users won’t be able to access the app.
You can use an app builder, but keep the following factors in mind:
- A set of features;
- Ease of use;
- Price;
- Tech support.
Professional app developers build custom dating apps based on your business’ requirements. The opportunities are limited only by your fantasy and budget. Making an app with professional help is the only right way to create a highly competitive product that can be easily optimized in the future.
Obviously, custom app development will cost you more money than using an app builder, at least at first, but you will save money in the long run.
Essential Features of a Dating App
While dating apps are considered social apps, they are not the same as Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks. You can use different networks to interact with people, but dating apps are specifically designed to help you find a partner.
People who use dating apps all have the same goal — to find someone. So, these apps are designed with that goal in mind. While the specific features are up to you, there are some essential features a dating app must have.
Social Sign-Up
One of the reasons why Tinder has become a popular dating service is that it frees users from long, boring, and complicated procedures. If you don’t want to make your customers unhappy with an inconvenient sign-up procedure, you should implement a feature to allow users to register via their social media accounts. This also allows users to share information about your app on those networks.
User Profile
A dating app needs to allow its users to fill out their profiles. This is the information people look at when searching for partners. The more interesting, detailed, and accurate the information it contains is, the more likely it is for users to find partners.
A user profile may contain names, information about hobbies, dreams, interests, and more. Since a lot of information is extracted from social media networks, users will not have to spend too much time on that. However, they can edit their profile details if they want to.
Geolocation
This is an important feature that allows users to find people based on location. While some people are interested in finding partners overseas, most of them prefer to find someone nearby. Also, the chances to establish long-term relationships are greater for people who live near each other since they have more opportunities to meet in person.
Matching Algorithms
This is a clever system to match people based on various factors. Information from user profiles is collected and analyzed in order to determine which people would make a good couple. Usually, the factors include the following:
- Location;
- Hobbies;
- Preferences;
- Age and others.
Matching algorithms make finding the right person much more likely. It’s one of the most important features in any dating app. There are different kinds of matching algorithms, and more detailed information on that is provided below.
Location-Based Approach
As we mentioned earlier, people have a better chance of meeting each other and establishing meaningful relationships if they live in the same area. They can live within the same city, for instance. GPS is used to determine user location. If a user lives in Los Angeles and is looking for a partner, he or she will get search results with people from the same city who are also looking for someone. Then, they can simply go through the suggested profiles of users and choose the candidates they like the most.
Compatibility Percentage
A compatibility percentage matches people based on the information they provide. A user fills out a questionnaire and the answers are processed through an algorithm. Some programs use additional factors; for instance, they ask users how they want a potential partner to reply to certain questions.
Matching Based on User Behavior
You’re probably thinking, “Why come up with something else if answering the questions should be enough? However, people may provide inaccurate information about themselves. They may do so unintentionally or on purpose. Incorrect information leads to poor match results. So, how can this problem be solved?
It can help to make matches based on user behavior. This type of matching is conducted based on data collected from various sources. These sources can include your social media activity, your profiles on the net, groups you join, your musical playlists, movies you like, and more. This approach, of course, requires technical resources such as Big Data analytics.
Innovative Matching Technologies
Do you think that innovative technology like Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, or Big Data are only for healthcare, education, military, and other “serious” industries? No, this technology can also be successfully used to find the right people for relationships. So, if you want to develop a dating app that outperforms its competitors, consider using innovative matching technologies.
Chatting
This is another crucial feature of any dating app. Online dating is all about communication between people. Chatting is the best way to talk to a person when using a dating app. Such systems can differ in appearance, layout, and features. Remember to add GIFs, stickers, and emoticons to make conversations more vivid.
Push Notifications
Users should be notified about many things. They should know if the matching process is complete or when an application is in use or closed. Push notifications allow them to obtain important information instantly.
Swiping
Swiping is a very convenient feature for a dating app. Users can swipe to indicate whether they like someone or not. It makes the process fairly simple.
Settings
You should customize your settings to provide your users with the best experience. Settings can include customizing filters, selecting categories, turning the sound on and off, etc.
Admin Panel
As an owner of an application, you need to have an admin panel to manage your app. For instance, through the admin panel, you can block users, sort out problems, and, generally keep things under control.
So, now you know what essential features should be included, and it’s time to find out how to make a dating app.
The Stages of Building a Dating App
You will not be able to create a high-quality dating app quickly without careful planning. There are several stages each application goes through when being developed. You need to have a schedule for each stage so that you have an idea of when the app will launch.
The stages of app development are as follows:
- Research;
- Designing a dating app;
- Choosing the right tech stack to create a dating app;
- Developing an app;
- Testing;
- Launching the app in app stores.
Research
During this stage, it’s important to collect as much useful information as possible, taking into account various factors that your application’s success may depend on. In particular, you will determine the following:
- Target audience;
- Dating service name;
- User location;
- Platform;
- Competitors;
- Features.
- Target Audience
Creating an application for lonely people is a very vague idea. You must narrow the list of options down so that you can target a specific category of people and focus on finding the best solutions for them. For instance, you can target people over 40 who are looking for serious long-term relationships or those from 20 to 35 focused on brief, fun encounters. If you know your target audience well, you will be able to create a comfortable environment based on their preferences.
A Dating Service Name
You will need to come up with an attention-grabbing and easy-to-remember name for your dating app. It may not be easy, but you can find inspiration from the names of similar dating services.
User Location
Are you going to provide services for people in a specific location, across the country, or even around the world? While most people are looking for someone who lives nearby, some men and women want to find their partners in other countries. If you want to make your app accessible to people from different countries, you should consider offering it in multiple languages.
Platform
Another crucial decision is to decide which platform you want to create a dating app for. Android and iOS are the most popular choices. To make an informed decision, you should find out which OS is used by your target audience. While you can create a native application for a particular OS, you can also opt for a cross-platform solution.
You should consider the pros and cons of each approach. While a cross-platform app will allow you to target a greater number of users at a lower cost, it will not perform as well as a native app.
Competitors
You need to know your competitors and the products they offer. By collecting this information, you can find something unique to offer your users and find a niche in the market.
Features
We have already discussed the features essential for a dating app, but you can also come up with other features to create the best user experience.
Design
A designer will create the layout of your app, choose colors, add features, and generally, design your dating app. The design is what users see on their mobile devices.
You can, of course, decide how you want the app to look, but a professional designer will make sure that the app is easy to navigate, all the necessary elements are easy to find, and the color choice is pleasing to the eye.
Tech Stack
When it comes to custom development, there are several tools available, including native and third-party options. The developer will choose a tech stack based on your project specifications. You and your development team must decide on the following:
- Programming languages;
- Frameworks;
- Database;
- Cloud storage;
- Web servers;
- Payment gateway;
- General utilities.
Development
During this stage, developers will build your application based on the chosen design and tech stack.
Testing
Before launching an app, testers must make sure that it has no bugs, runs smoothly, and meets each project requirement.
Launching Your App in App Stores
Depending on the platform of your application, you can publish it either on the Google Play Store or the App Store. If you have a cross-platform version, you can publish it to both stores.
The Cost of Making a Dating App
You surely want to know how to make a dating app for the lowest possible cost. While saving money is important, you need to create a high-quality product to satisfy your customers. The cost will depend on your project requirements.
Usually, it takes 2-3 weeks to develop a simple application, but an advanced app may take several months to develop. The price of design and development services depends on several factors, including team location, specialists’ experience, the complexity of work, deadlines, and others.
The approximate costs are as follows (calculated based on a $50 rate per hour):
- Simple app — $25,000;
- Medium complexity — $40,000-$70,000;
- Advanced app — from $70,000.
You can estimate total costs based on a per-hour rate and the amount of time required to develop an app. A developer from the U.S. may charge more than one from Eastern Europe. Entrusting a project to a local team is the most reliable approach.
Why Should You Choose Our Company?
Our company has successfully developed apps for years. We have specialists with in-depth knowledge of the most popular tools, programming languages, and other tech stack components, allowing us to build high-quality apps for a reasonable price.
You can ask us to create a dating app of any complexity, and we will deliver it to you in a timely manner. We will gladly answer any questions you have regarding our methods, prices, specialists, time frames, support, etc. Just contact us to find out how soon we can make a dating application for you and how much it will cost.
