Perfectmatch.com
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online dating |
| Founded | August 2003 |
| Founder | Duane Dahl, Cindy Henry-Dahl, Jason McVey |
| Headquarters | Seattle , United States |
| Products | Online dating services featuring the Duet Total Compatibility System |
Perfectmatch.com operated as an online dating and relationship platform headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company featured the "Duet Total Compatibility System (Duet)," developed in collaboration with Dr. Pepper Schwartz and inspired by the Myers-Briggs personality assessment.
History
Launched in August 2003, Perfectmatch.com was backed by venture capital and founded by Duane Dahl, Cindy Henry-Dahl, and Jason McVey. The founders had previously expanded Kiss.com/uDate.com to more than seven million users before selling it to InterActiveCorp (Match.com) in 2002.
Perfectmatch established its reputation through strategic alliances with prominent entertainment entities such as iVillage, MSNBC, Oxygen Networks, Warner Bros., NBC, and Universal Studios. Key media involvements included:
- Featuring Dr. Pepper Schwartz and the Duet System on Retirement Living Television’s "Another Chance for Romance" in 2008.
- Showcasing the Duet Compatibility System on NBC’s "The Science of Love: A Modern Dating Experiment" in 2007.
- Integrating Perfectmatch.com into the plot of Warner Bros.’ 2005 film Must Love Dogs.
- Generating 207,000 new female registrations in a single day during a Valentine's Day 2005 episode of the Dr. Phil Show.
- Collaborating with Live with Regis and Kelly in 2005 on a matchmaking initiative.
- Partnering with CBS during Season 1 of How I Met Your Mother to develop a character matching game based on Duet and host a dating event in New York City.
- Being featured in the Lifetime movie Perfect Romance in 2004.
In August 2007, Commission Junction reported that Perfectmatch.com experienced a 300% surge in affiliate sales.
The platform discontinued its services by late 2015 following a period of successful operation.
Duet Total Compatibility System
The platform utilized the "Duet Total Compatibility System," which matched users through an evaluation of personality traits, values, lifestyle choices, and ideals. Members answered approximately 100 questions modeled loosely on the Myers-Briggs framework, which classified them into eight distinct attributes. Users could then search for partners exhibiting either similar or complementary characteristics. In 2006, Schwartz authored Finding Your Perfect Match, drawing from this methodology.
While Schwartz asserted that the system is based on scientifically supported compatibility concepts, this claim has been contested. Jonathan Cohn observed that although certain similarities might improve relationship outcomes, research findings remain inconclusive. A review by Finkel et al. examined various online dating algorithms and found no empirical evidence confirming the reliability or validity of the PerfectMatch survey.
Criticism
In 2006, Perfectmatch.com encountered criticism related to inadequate customer service and unresolved refund claims. The Washington State Attorney General's office recorded 18 complaints submitted to the Better Business Bureau between 2002 and 2006, along with roughly 30 additional grievances concerning customer dissatisfaction.