NEWSLETTER

October 2021

We can now proudly announce that we have representation in both Sweden and  Southern Ireland. It is really good to see such diverse agencies coming through at such a vibrant time within the Dating Industry. The Dating Agency Association is growing and this is mostly down to our Lifetime President Eddy Ankrett who continues to work in the background, contacting bona fida agencies and promoting the DAA generally.

Monthly lead reports through better listing on Google have produced good results. Please feel free to request one in the second week of any month.

We now have a certificate of Accreditation for matchmakers, so if you have a member of staff who does the matchmaking to a high standard and who you you feel deserves such an accreditation, then please do not hesitate to contact us.

We also have a member’s certificate that you can display on your website, or a paper one for your office. Contact us if you would like one.

We now provide a training course for people who would like to run a traditional dating agency, or become an independent matchmaker. You may wonder why, when this very obviously creates competition, but the answer is simple. Competition keeps us all on our toes, but more importantly by providing such a training course, this will help to raise standards within the industry generally.

Having dome some research more recently, it is abundantly clear that there are many small traditional dating agencies starting up all over the UK, but so many of them are failing, simply because they choose to cover just one county and as we all know, it is extremely difficult to create enough members from just one county. It does seem that very little research is done prior to starting up new dating agencies and this is one of the reasons that we wish to create an accredited training programme.

Just to give you one example of where not to start a local dating agency, the County of Herefordshire has a relatively small population of 192,000 people (more sheep than people ) made up of mostly itinerant workers. Interestingly, there are two new start up agencies there at present. The UK has an aging population generally, so perhaps now is the time to evaluate the age group you target by researching helpful statistics.

Caroline Crowther, a well known and well respected agency agency that covered the west country, has sadly closed down after thirty successful years of trading. Barbara Tonkins was the Founder, but she retired ten years ago and sold her agency to one of her employees .
The agency was run with great integrity and will be sadly missed.

We have been updating the website more recently, in order to make it easier for the general public to understand who we are and how we can help. We now have a dedicated mobile number and this is proving very successful for people to call and enquire about the various member agencies. In order to remain neutral, we provide a little more information, but ultimately suggest that they explore our site further where they can view and contact the agencies directly by clicking through.

We now provide a training course for people who would like to run a traditional dating agency, or become an independent matchmaker. You may wonder why, when this very obviously creates competition, but the answer is simple. Competition keeps us all on our toes, but more importantly by providing such a training course, this will help to raise standards within the industry generally.

• Company name
• Registered number.
• Place of registration.
• Registered office address.
• Contact details, including an email address.
• Details of how to contact business by non-electronic means.
• The VAT number of business, if applicable.
• Details of any trade body or regulator registration.

I don’t think I can stress the importance of displaying the above information on your website. It is against the law not to have such information. There seems to be a sort of reluctance at present, especially when it comes to the availability of direct contact details. By direct contact details, I am referring to an email address and a telephone number (not just a form to fill in ). This implementation will very definitely instil confidence into potential new members when visiting your website. There is nothing more frustrating that trying to find an email or contact telephone number in any service sector. Make your service the best it can be and keep up good standards of practice in an industry that is sadly lacking in this respect at present.

Not wishing to leave you on a negative note, I do sincerely hope that for the rest of the year and moving forward into 2022, you will continue to prosper. Do please remember, we are here for you with any quick advice or help. We would also like you to contact us if you have any creative ideas or thoughts for the future of the DAA.

It is gratifying for us to note that, despite the huge difficulties facing everyone in the country at the moment and businesses in particular, there are many people who are still seeking partners and thus approaching our member agencies to achieve this. The lockdown imposed by the government has increased activity in both online and offline dating services as people stayed at home, spending increasingly amounts of time on the internet, searching for agencies just like yours. Offline dating services are now on an upward trend again.

According to Which, there were 7,754 online dating scams over 2020, a 40% rise from the previous year, costing consumers a total of £73.9 million. As a result of this, online and offline agencies will have to invest in the future to make their services more secure and improve consumers’ confidence in using their services. Dating Industry revenue is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 4.1% over the five years through 2021- 2022 to reach £290.6 million including a 6% growth within 2021.

In the UK today 18% of couples meet their present partners through work. 18% meet at a restaurant, in a pub, or interestingly, 15% meet in a park walking a dog! On the other end of the spectrum only 3% find love through family connections. Dating doesn’t always lead to a serious relationship. In 2020 a poll of British adults discovered that 25% of married couples in the UK met while out with friends, whereas 10% married their childhood sweetheart. Marriage rates are also down in the UK. A new trend after a survey found that more than 40% of UK adults would consider moving to a new place for better chances of finding love and men are more willing to uproot their lives for love. It seems that women would rather stay put ! But this is good news, it means that the men who join traditional dating agencies are becoming more flexible when it comes to travel arrangements.

Please do continue to watch the Dating Safety Campaign, because from time to time we do update it and it can then be passed on to your potential clients.

Almost 1,200 people are working in the dating industry today. Romance does not happen on its own ! Currently there are 469 businesses operating on the dating market in the UK. Marriage rates are also down in the UK.

We will be offering a Winter special to all new members.

Probably not such a useless bit of information for you, when talking to potential clients, especially when you have a woman of 5’3” asking for a man of 6’. The average height for women in the UK in 2021 is 5’3” and the average height for men in the UK in 2021 is 5’9”. This could well be something you can bring up in conversation when dealing with unrealistic expectations!!!

Well that’s all I have time for now, but I just wanted to reach out to you all. Our work collectively within the dating industry today is sometimes extremely rewarding, but very exacting as we try hard to manage people’s high expectations. You can never please all of the people all of the time, but you can please some of the people some of the time! Unrealistic expectations provide matchmakers with sleepless nights, so by becoming more united, we can share some of these concerns and possibly provide some of the answers. Friday is always the worst day within the dating industry as we all know, with many people looking forward to a lonely weekend and as a result, they will take it out on you. Many years ago, I would actually tell my clients in the Welcome Pack when they first joined, not to contact me on a Friday, because they could potentially ruin my weekend, of course I went on to explain why and it worked!

Let’s think positively about the future of dating together and if you have any funny stories to tell, do please share them with me, so that I can include them in the next Newsletter.
One very funny story that I recall, was about two clients of mine who lived in Malvern Wells and shared a mutual interest of walking on the Malvern Hills, they therefore decided to make this their first date. It was a particularly windy day and just as they were about to reach the top , my female clients’ date suddenly started running back down the hill, after what appeared to be his wig having blown off, at the very moment that they reached the peak. Sadly, he did not walk back up again with wig intact, possibly because there was no glue available to stick it in place, or due to acute embarrassment!!

I do sincerely hope that for the rest of the year and moving forward into 2022, you will continue to be successful. Do please remember, we are here for you with any quick advice or help you may need. We would also like you to contact us if you have any creative ideas or thoughts for the future of the DAA. We are here to listen.