Singles Crowd Review

Costs:

Basic membership is free. Singles Crowd calls it a trial membership.
Premium members subscriptions available:

Membership Costs	Silver	Gold	Platinum
1 Month	$15.95	$19.95	$39.95
3 Months	N/A	$48.95 ($16.07 per month)	$89.95 ($29.99 per month)
6 Months	N/A	$69.95 ($11.66 per month)	$129.95 ($24.99 per month)
12 months	N/A	$99.95 ($8.33 per month)	$179.95 ($15.00 per month)
Lifetime	N/A	$154.95	$229.95 (One time payment)

Features:

Free Trial membership makes these features available:
- Create your own profile and upload pictures
- Perform a search for other members in your local area
- Browse other members' profiles, check their pictures
- Hotlist and Block list options available to save your favorites and block unwanted attention.
- Use the Supermatch system to maximize your potential matches (see Editor's Verdict).
- Trial Members can phone, email and chat with Platinum members.

Silver Membership enables you to:
- Send an unlimited number of emails
- Read and reply to messages
- View full lists of New members, EarlyBird matches (e-mail notifications), members' Birthdays, and Online members
- Listen to voice messages, view members' video and personal descriptions
- Receive priority replies from Singles Crowd's Support Team within 36 hours
- Save emails in your Mailbox for up to 120 days
- Search using Singles Crowd's StarMatch, SoulMatch, SelectMatch, and SensualMatch options (see Editor's Verdict).

Gold Membership enables you to receive all of the benefits of Silver Membership PLUS:
- Search using Singles Crowd's powerful SuperMatch facility
- Chat online via Singles Crowd's Chatterbox system
- Make calls using Singles Crowd's Call Centre at very low rates
- Use an extra 5Mb of disc space for your Media Library

Platinum Membership is an elite membership that enables you to receive all of the benefits of Gold and Silver Membership PLUS:
- Communicate with Trial Members, giving access to millions of additional contacts in The Singles Crowd database.
- Trial Members can phone, email and chat with Platinum members.
- Appear on high profile Featured Members' Lists
- Receive top priority on search listings
- Have your e-mail highlighted
- Receive personalized support from Singles Crowd's support team
- Have access to Singles Crowd's online psychologist for help and advice
- Have your messages (foreign language) translated for free
- Receive priority replies from Singles Crowd's Support Team within 24 hours
- Make calls using Singles Crowd's Call Center at the lowest possible rates
- Use an extra 15Mb of disc space for your Media Library.

Performing a Search:

A full search facility is available, allowing members to search by:
- gender
- age range
- relationship desired
- appearance type (big and beautiful, shy and sweet, etc)
- state of health (AIDS/HIV, addiction recovery etc.)
- sports activities
- education level
- hair length
- favorite dog breed
- lifestyle
- language preferred
- occupation
- children
- eye and hair color
- military service
- music
- marital status
- location to within 5 miles of where you live
- whether the member has pictures posted
- ethnicity
- smoking
- drinking
- height
- weight
- pets
- religion

Editor's Verdict:

Singles Crowd is about as first rate as we've seen without being in our Top Ten. It may crack that select group in time, but it will have to double it's current membership (of 2.5 million) before that happens. The features offered by SinglesCrowd out-reach and out-perform most but the very elite sites. In terms of member involvement this site gets it. Premium members have access to Audio & Video Chatting, SMS Messaging and International Online Audio (like a phone call but using the internet instead of the phone lines). Free trial members have access to the Super Match Wizard system and the ability to communicate with Platinum members via email, phone and chat. This site definitely is in the "mover and shaker" category.

Most sites try to induce their members to purchase a one-size-fits-all approach of Premium membership at their dating site. Singles Crowd has three membership plans each addressing a different level of commitment (and readiness) on the part of the member. They have a unique look and feel to how their site is designed and organized. It seems too busy to us (maybe because they have packed so much into it), but it works and has a uniqueness of its own.

The registration process was a bit tedious as these sites with matching capabilities tend to want to get the information early in the process rather than wait for the profile stage.

In our first search attempt we had just a few simple parameters to input and we see members from all over the globe. Our benchmark search resulted in more than 90 matches from the most basic set of parameters: sex, age and location. The listings give a member's age, location, Starsign (astrology) and a little personal one-liner to arouse interest. The matching process was OK at this level. The member's listing had so many options for member communication (five, plus three chat options), that we got distracted from the member's listing itself. Not a bad thing, just an unusual number of options. We're fairly confident that suitable prospects can and will emerge from within the ranks of the members. Also, with such an active site, members may have a the option of simply developing a new circle of friends.

Profile information fell short of our expectations, with partial profiles being the norm. From our point of view, this is a significant weaknesses of SinglesCrowd.com. Photos were often very good quality with an enlargement function to help you get a better look, up close and personal. We were disappointed to find that photos were only present in 50% of the listings generated by our search. The number of photos posted by each member was also lower than expected as was the quality of the photos the members actually submitted. (The members were to blame for these inadequacies, of course, not the site). This site actually has a little section giving the major dos and don'ts for posting pictures, yet the members are still posting group shots, or the dreaded photo with the beloved ex. smiling away, front and center! The percentage of members posting photos (even just a single, poor quality profile shot) was disappointingly low for a site of this quality.

Singles Crowd's unique feature, called Super Match Wizard, is truly the first of its kind that we have encountered. While many sites are trying to distinguish themselves through some kind of matching system, Singles Crowd has taken it to another level with their multi-faceted Wizard. Here's how it works. You enter a substantial amount of information in a multi-checkbox format about yourself and the type of person you're looking for. This information is compiled into four separate results:

Soul Match: which, based on psychometrics, gives a resultant personality type and will steer you to the types most compatible with you own on a sliding scale.
Star Match: which is astrological.
Sensual Match: which is based on ones libido, which is obviously an area where a certain compatibility is going to be necessary.
Select Match which dissects your interests and pastimes and in their words is "arguably the most important" (for true compatibility).

We make reference to 'Useful Special Features' when we discuss the relative merits of dating websites. Singles Crowd's Super Match Wizard is one good example of a value-added feature that definitely enhances this site for the members.

We are staunch advocates for giving the newbies a chance to experience some of a dating site's best features. Often that enhanced experience can encourage people to upgrade to a Premium membership option. SinglesCrowd offer a free "trial' membership which is limited both in the features it offers and the duration for which it lasts. It gives you a limited period of time to get a feel for what the site is about. To help you quickly identify potential matches, this free trial includes access to the Super Match Wizard and the ability to reply to emails sent by Platinum members. To continue on-site, you must upgrade to a Premium membership (either Silver, Gold or Platinum).

We even found the FAQ section to be top notch. It addressed all the typical newbie questions and gave detailed answers that would be very helpful to Premium users. Most of the time we find dating websites' FAQ's to be a collection of useless factoids, but with a site as feature-packed as SinglesCrowd, the FAQ section needed to be good to clue the members in. It also needed to be arranged and written well so as not to confuse the readers. Singles Crowd did both very well and we commend them for it. It lends confidence in the site and gives a good feeling that they have their act together.

There were only three things we could find fault with: (i) the search parameters for trial members initial search are scant; (ii) the members profiles access is a bit limited, and: (iii) the lack of a last log-in notation. With so many good things happening at SinglesCrowd, these complaints may not be not deal-breakers for you.

So do are the listed features and general site qualities sufficient to justify the higher than average costs? We're not entirely sure as this depends on how many potential matches are generated by your search. With the different levels of membership offered (all representing reasonable value for money) you should find something to suit your needs and budget. But we're not advocating jumping in with both feet until you have determined how effective the site will be in helping you find a suitable relationship. We recommend using the trial membership to exhaustion, while getting familiar with the features and identifying potential candidates to pursue. Depending on your personal preferences and experiences, you may decide to upgrade to a Premium membership or abandon the site and sign up with another dating site with a larger database of members.

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Singles Crowd Reviews