Written by Merav Knafo | 06 February 2009

I am a big PlentyOfFish fan. I even got the chance to say that to Marcus Frind in person at the last iDate conference. As a dating site user for about eight years -- and as someone who has created a few dating sites myself -- I can say that when it comes to usability and making a site sticky, PlentyOfFish is one of the best.

The only site that was as good (or even better in fact) was Matchmaker.com before it was bought by Date.com and become a sort of eHarmony. PlentyOfFish has some minor usability mistakes, which I cover on my other report “Top 10 Usability Mistakes on PlentyOfFish.com”, but overall, great site! No wonder millions of users have discovered it, making Marcus a very rich man.

So what is it that makes PlentyOfFish a huge success? Stickiness! All the features I will be listing below make the site sticky and engaging, the way any social site (or any site really) should be.

1. Thumbnails on top. The thumbnails at the top of the page are pure genius. They give you something to do – always.On other sites, for example, an email from an unappealing sender would have you clicking away. Not on PlentyOfFish. Your eyes catch someone cute on the top of the page, you click, check them out and maybe contact then.The bottom line? You stayed longer on the site! I personally don’t even search anymore. I just click the thumbnails. Better still, the thumbnails feature people who recently checked their mailbox, so I know they were recently online. Stay on the site then and you have a better chance of being seen by others. You’re being rewarded for logging in and staying online by receiving more emails. Now, that’s a good user experience!
   
   
2. Visible e-mail status. After a dating site user sends an email, they want to know what happened to it. If it hasn’t been read yet, they’re still in with a chance. If it has been read but not answered, they might be in with a chance. And if it was read and deleted then, well… there are plenty more fish on the site. Yahoo! Personals won’t tell users this information, and Match.com will only share it for a fee. This transparency is so important. It lets users know, not wait.
   
   
3. Who’s online? As I wrote in “The Top 10 Usability Mistakes Made By Dating Sites,” this could be the most important feature on a dating site.Users want to see who’s online now and communicate with them immediately. PlentyOfFish allows users to see each other and be rewarded for being online. There are some things I would change about this feature on PlentyOfFish, but at least it’s there.
4. Email settings. It’s very important that female users can control who writes to them. By cutting out men over 50, for example, they may receive fewer emails, but the messages they receive will be higher quality. PlentyOfFish offers many parameters that allow users to screen in advance. For dating sites, the first priority is to get women to join; men will follow.
   
   
5. Who’s viewed me. Being able to see who looked at your profile is another way to reward users for being active on your site. It means that I can encourage emails just by looking at profiles of men who might otherwise have not seen me. Very easy and very sticky. This is another great feature for women who want to attract attention without sending an email.
6. Who favorited me. Favorite me on PlentyOfFish and two great things happen: First I get an email, immediately! That’s very different to Yahoo! Personals which sends me a summary once a day, and Match.com which doesn’t notify me at all.Second, if I want to attract someone’s attention without sending them an email, I can just add them to my favorites. This is a much better and subtler feature than the “winks”, “ice breakers” and other lame features that other sites use. And again, great for women!
7. Large images. I can view large images just by hovering over them. It’s fast and easy, and much better than taking me to another page or even making me click.
8. Clickable interests. On the PlentyOfFish’s profile pages, the interest the user specifies link to other members with the same interests. This is a great sticky feature that allows me to find people with similar interests and get more engaged in the site.
9. Call to action is in the right place. Usually, the call to action should be on the top right of the page. But when you view a profile, you scroll all the way to the bottom, so that’s where you want the call to action. PlentyOfFish actually has two calls to action: “Email this person” and “Add to favorites.” The email button is more prominent than the favorite link. That’s exactly right. You should always emphasis the action you *really* want your users to take over.
   
   
10. Automatic approval of photos and essays. Paying sites make users wait for photos and essays to be approved -- a real mood killer. PlentyOfFish approves them on the spot.

Spending time on PlentyOfFish is always interesting. Can’t find a match? Rate some pictures. Read forum posts about sex and relationships. Or just click those thumbnails at the top of the page. There’s always plenty to do.

Many people think that PlentyOfFish is successful because it’s free. But there are lots of free dating sites out there. It’s successful because it’s sticky, addictive, easy to use and fun. It rewards users who login and who are active. And it works!

Related article: Top 10 Usability Mistakes on PlentyOfFish.com

 

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