Digital Marketing by Epic Innovations Let me start with a disclaimer. I don't do online dating. Not that there's anything wrong with it! That said - it occured to me that perhaps eHarmony's ability to create successful matches isn't because of their compatibility profile, but rather their marketing. Think about it, all of their advertising is targeted towards people who want relationships. They are not targeted serial daters - their customers are people who are dating for a goal ... a relationship! A meaningful, life fulfilling relationship. eHarmony ads shows everyday, average people in love. Not your AverageJoe knock out hotties ... just everyday average Janes and Joes. While these aren't the only criteria that determine compatibility - they are major criteria. Clever marketing allows eHarmony to deliver their promise, by effectively targeting the customer BEFORE the sale. Search engine optimization (for both natural and paid listings) qualifies leads in much the way. In other words, search engines drive traffic to your website based upon the keywords the user is searching. The visitor is pre-qualified for the terms they are searching. Clever online marketers develop dynamic pages that change based upon the keywords that are being searched - this technique is most commonly used with sponsored ad listings. Stepping in front of the marketing cycle by qualifying your clients before you market to them is an effective technique for converting sales. While it is still possible to do this after the fact, it becomes more difficult to accurately segment your audience after the fact.