Equally interesting, however, were my neighbours at the dinner table. On one side, sat the MD of eHarmony one of the most popular and subscribed dating sites in 14 markets globally with 33 million members. On the other, the Marketing Director for Dyson, one of the most innovative UK brands selling machines in over 50 countries and employing over 3,000 people worldwide.
What fascinated me most was the complete disparity between not only the products, but usage, attitude, audience and reason for purchase.
Rational vs Emotional
eHarmony is about the most emotional subject of them all – love. It focuses on finding long term relationships for people who may otherwise not have met.
eHarmony applies a scientific approach to what is effectively a hugely personal and emotional process. The technology used by eHarmony uses behavioural data for each customer and analyses a huge variety of other data points to drive compatability ratings. The statistics obviously work – apparently 542 eHarmony members in the US marry every day.
The usage of these two products couldn’t be further apart. From a personal perspective, I don’t like vacuuming and will go to any lengths to avoid it. It’s boring and a necessity and needs to be done on a regular basis. But I long for a Dyson. They look fantastic and they work brilliantly. A fantastic example of marrying design and technology to create a must-have product.
This is why we have allowed technology to be a defining factor in our lives. Yes, there is a lot of choice and sometimes seemingly endless options and possibilities. And it can also often detract from peer to peer communication, face to face contact and create its own set of problems as we have seen with recent email and hacking scandals.
But I doubt that one of the 542 couples who will meet today on eHarmony believes that any of that is important.