1. ELITESINGLES review: summary

ELITESINGLES expanded into USA from its origins in Europe, where it was established as a highly successful, well known dating service [note:  ELITESINGLES is also known as eDarling in some countries].

One of the sites USP’s is its focus on members and potential members with higher educational backgrounds and who are upwardly mobile (“elite singles”)—and  know what they want in terms of love and long term relationships.

ELITESINGLES has a strong reputation for high quality matching so, to put this reputation to the test, we signed up as a member on the US American version of the site.

Our aim? To find a match with that perfect female!

Oh…, and another key objective was to see if ELITESINGLES is worth the subscription fees. Our assessment included testing the algorithms, as well as evaluating the various other service offerings.

2. ELITSINGLES practical test

The registration process for the ELITESINGLES site may take longer than some other dating sites, but this is primarily due to the fact that the site focuses on matching elite singles based on psychological characteristics, rather than on members’ other attributes.

The test asks some 280 questions but they are all straightforward to answer using a rating scale from 1 to 7 („Doesn’t apply at all“, to „completely applicable“) and the whole test can be completed in around 20 minutes.


Picture: Part of the EliteSingles personality test

Your ELITESINGLES adventure really starts as soon as you have finished the aforementioned questionnaire, as you will then be asked to upload a profile picture of yourself; no sooner has this been done then the system will start to work on some relevant partner suggestions. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the “elite singles” moniker attached to the site, it’s worth noting that the majority of members of ELITESINGLES are professionals and 30+.

Once the system starts suggesting other elite singles to you, it’s possible to immediately start contacting them as you choose, although it should be noted that there are some limitations on the functions of the free ELITESINGLES membership. This mainly relates to the number of partner suggestions you receive or the number of messages you can send on a daily basis; additionally, the profile photos of other members are blurred.

To overcome some of these limitations, we decided to buy a 6-month subscription to ELITESINGLES in order to more fully experience the services and benefits of the site.

Picture: First partner suggestions on EliteSingles USA

2 weeks to the first date

Within 24 hours of contacting 10 different female members of ELITESINGLES we received 3 replies. Just on 2 weeks after several enjoyable and detailed conversations, we arranged a date with one of the women.

In the next few weeks, several more dates followed. As one would expect, not all matches were perfect and the law of averages showed us that, for every 10 females contacted, it is probable that 3-4 of them might be someone you liked and would want to see again. Of course, this assumes that that lady in question also liked you! Based on this experience, it’s fair to say that you will need to date 10 or so women in order to find someone who might be considered a reciprocal match.

All this comes back to an earlier point where we mentioned that you should try to answer the questions of the personality/character test with the utmost objectivity and honesty. If you do so, this will certainly save time and help avoid disappointment—but also leave you free to enjoy having lots of fun meeting and dating a variety of women through the ELITESINGLES site.

3. ELITSINGLES functions and ELITESINGLES profiles

The heart of the ELITESINGLES dating service is matching algorithms which are derived from extensive personality/character testing. Quite uniquely, these tests have  been developed with the assistance of psychologists and other experts in human relationships.

However, quite apart from these tests, there are a number of other interesting functions worthy of highlight in this review.

These include:

Communication features
ELITESINGLES allows you to approach other elite singles using the platform in various ways:

Sending messages:
Typically, most members will use this function as it’s probably the easiest and quickest way to get in touch with a new potential partner. Naturally, before sending any messages it’s prudent to  read other users profiles carefully, and try to make sure that you only approach those members where the chance of a connection is high and you appear to have something in common.

Sending “smiles:
A little less direct than messaging, sending a smile or two is much more of a subtle way to connect with someone who attracts your attention. Hopefully, the person will send a smile back or, if not, you may decide to send a message—perhaps in case they missed your “smile approach”.

5 questions for your match(es)
ELITESINGLES provides 50 predefined questions for your review; the idea being that you choose 5 key questions which you would like to send to one of your potential matches.

For example, some of the questions are:

• „Which of the following evening activities do you find most appealing?“
• „You want to go for a meal in an exotic restaurant. What kind of cuisine do you choose?“
• „You're flying to the Mediterranean for the summer! What do you take with you?“
• „Shortly before a romantic evening with your partner, a friend asks if you can help them out with something. What do you do?“

The concept of asking five key questions is very appealing to many and should form a good basis for future conversations.

Comments and “likes”
In addition to being able to send message, ELITESINGLES allows members to comment  on the profiles of other elite singles. Just as on Facebook, it’s possible to comment on certain activities another member appears to be enjoying the most.

A verified profile increases chances of success

ELITESINGLES enables members to show that they have a verified profile—important when other members are looking for someone who is active on the site and appears to also be genuinely looking for a partner. To achieve verification, simply send a high quality photo showing the front and rear of your valid ID to the customer services department; once your profile has been verified they will insert an icon next to your profile which indicates that you are a genuine user.

It has been proven that, if you are a verified user, the likelihood of being contacted is generally much higher. In fact, during the period of our subscription, we usually focussed on contacting women with a verified profile—enabling us to be sure that, for example, the name and the age of a user were real!

“Have you met...“ feature leads you to meet more people

ELITESINGLES, as with many other high profile dating sites, limits the daily number of attempted introductions for standard members. However, anyone signing up for a “premium plus” subscription is eligible to receive up to 20 additional partner suggestions every day.

One key thing to remember, though, is that algorithms are scientifically based and do not understand real emotions—accordingly, partners being  introduced to you are strictly based on your search preferences and personality profile. Having extra „Have you met…“ introductions may bring you the chance to meet potential partners who may well have been excluded from your initial search and, as with all things of the heart,  might be the one… you never know!  

Dimensions of personality

There is lots of data available which can be shown on the user’s profiles as, as mentioned, ELITESINGLES members need to fill out an extensive questionnaire. However, the site, via a graphical presentation, summarises the key details of the personality test by showing five major personality dimensions.  

Such five personality dimensions are:

• Conscientiousness
• Agreeableness
• Openness
• Extraversion
• Neuroticism

Picture: Different personality dimensions on EliteSingles

Each dimension offers the opportunity for you to find more details about the person you have been viewing. As an example, you can check, when compared to the profile of the particular user you are looking at, information about the average of all users.

4. Customer friendliness

Within this section we reviewed three different dimensions. The usability of the service was something we looked at first, followed by general customer care, and then membership cancellation procedures.

Website usability

The registration for the ELITESINGLES site is straightforward and the site easy to familiarise yourself with, as the functions are all easy to understand and use.

In fact, the site offers some of the most innovative services currently available in the dating sector.

When asking questions via the e-mail template to the friendly customer care team, we always received a reply within 24 hours. This quick response outweighs the fact that it’s only possible to reach the customer care team via e-mail and there is no phone number available to make a call and obtain a direct answer.

ELITESINGLES allows easy membership cancellation

5. Value-for-money ratio

Undoubtedly, the subscription fees at ELITESINGLES are at the higher end of the range. However, given that the site delivers a number of potential partners for you, and the matching algorithms provide great results, we believe the ELITESINGLES service, on balance, offers a good deal.

The are two categories of the ELITESINGLES premium subscriptions, namely the “regular premium subscription” and a “premium plus subscription”; the differences are summarised below:

Picture: Differences between the premium subscriptons on EliteSingles USA

Subscription fees for the regular premium subscription are as follows:

• 1 month: $ 79.95
• 3 months: $ 44.95
• 6 months: $ 34.95
• 12 months: $ 19.95

Whilst for a premium plus subscription they are slightly higher at:

• 1 month: $ 89.95
• 3 months: $ 49.95
• 6 months: $ 39.95
• 12 months: $ 22.95