One of the golden rules of online dating says: Turn off your profile after you’ve successfully found a mate. For two years, singles have flocked to the dating website HowAboutWe to meet their future significant others. As its users get engaged and married, HowAboutWe loses its best customers.
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"There's a core paradox in online dating," its co-founder Brian Schechter told Mashable. "The better you do with your service, the more quickly your users aren't going to need you."
The dating service has launched HowAboutWe for Couples to tackle the "rapid turn" of users and to remain a relevant resource for its core customers. HowAboutWe's secret sauce has always been its user-generated date suggestions.
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HowAboutWe for Couples is a membership-based service that delivers one-of-a-kind experiences to members every month. A week before the new month starts, HowAboutWe will ship its fresh datebook to subscribers.
For the month of October, available packages include:
With a $80 a month membership fee, romantic pairs can choose a free experience built for two -- or pay extra for a more luxurious date. The company takes care of all the details including the planning, reservations and letting you know when and where to show up. The gratuity is often conveniently included in the fee. All patrons have to worry about is wining, dining and enjoying their company.
The handpicked experiences for couples are guaranteed to be original and exclusively available on HowAboutWe. Two popular packages that were offered recently include "Lazy Sunday," a home delivery of brunch and dinner ingredients, and an experience called "Once in a Lifetime," offering couples two tickets to the Once musical on Broadway.
The company has been testing out different types of handpicked dates for months in its private beta stage. The editorial team will continue to work with local tastemakers and influencers to carefully craft romantic expeditions.
For HowAboutWe, it has always focused on bringing online dating offline. Since its 2010 debut, nearly 1 million dates have been proposed and accepted on the platform. Expanding the experience-driven dating service to encompass couples was the logical next step, says its founders.
For now, HowAboutWe for Couples is only available for New York City-based patrons. HowAboutWe for Couples will be expanding to other cities -- including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston -- in 2013.
Do you feel coming up with date ideas eats up huge chunks of time? Tell us in the comments if you would use this service.
Bonus: Intimate Apps Built for Two
1. Feel Me
Feel Me is an iOS app that gives couples live connections over the phone. In real-time, the app shows you where the other person is touching his or her iPhone. When both parties touch the same spot, the area lights up and vibrates. The app is perfect for long-distance couples and duos who don't see each other often. Sign up to learn when Feel Me becomes available.
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Image courtesy of Flickr, Nicki Varkevisser
This story originally published on Mashable here.