EliteSingles - Review
Author: Andy
Last Update: 22.07.2024
Ratings for EliteSingles
Conclusion: A personality test – detailed and extensive – is used by this dating service to match up its ambitious, well-educated singles. The test has been developed by experienced psychologists and forms the basis of making intelligent matches and serious relationships. If you’re looking for that perfect match in South Africa, then ELITESINGLES is well worth a look.
EliteSingles at a glance:
Advantages
- High-achieving, well educated members
- Very good ratio of male/female members
- Intelligent and accurate matching formula
- Excellent communication features
Disadvantages
- Higher cost (but high-end quality)
- Currently no available mobile app
Our recommendation for more success
The premium subscription is recommended for those who want to give themselves the best chance of meeting the right person. Additionally, it is worth keeping an eye on ELITESINGLES for special offers – there are frequent new member offers which are well worth looking out for.
EliteSingles numbers
Success ratio
- 100 contact requests in our test profile
- 42 resulting conversations
- 4 out of 10 requests get an answer.
Contact ratio EliteSingles
Member statistics
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1. ELITESINGLES summary review
As a little more background, in some countries, ELITESINGLES is branded eDarling, and is a European business which reached South Africa in 2013.
We wanted to check out the claims that ELITESINGLES is worth the accolades and whether it could live up to it’s reputation as being ideal for intellectual/educated singles. To do so, we signed up and set about evaluating the service and the claims.
Okay, so we did the personality test, which takes around 20 minutes. It’s a thorough test – which covers 29 personality types, and thus gathers the information needed by the system to find the right partner suggestions. Once the questionnaire which you complete during sign-up is completed, then the claim that it is a straightforward process to identify possible suitable people (elite singles from South Africa} to meet, is proven.
ELITESINGLES does not have a search facility as such, but it makes up for this with its USP of a properly researched and thorough personality test, and a system which translates that information into ideal matches. You then receive introductions daily, for elite singles who are likely to be a good match with you.
It’s not ideal that you cannot contact the customer care team by telephone, and are limited to using a template email built into the ELITESINGLES website. However, that said, the customer service, once reached, is very good and efficiently resolves any problems. It is worth a heads up that if you want to terminate your membership, then the customer services team require 24 hours notice, failing which your membership will be renewed. It is worth a mention that the site itself is a breeze to use, well laid out and user friendly.
2. ELITSINGLES practical test
As previously mentioned, ELITESINGLES is about making matches with people (elite singles} who fit your personality profile. It does take that bit longer to register than with other sites, but that is simply because of the psychological testing which is needed to complete your profile and thus make the right matches for you. The science can’t work without the data, basically.
It takes around 20 minutes to complete the test, and it’s a fairly enjoyable experience. There’s just under 300 questions to answer, and mostly involve a sliding scale along the lines of ‘Yes, I strongly identify with this statement’ to ‘’I completely disagree with this statement.
Picture: Part of the personality test questionnaire on EliteSingles South Africa
When the questionnaire is completed, you upload the picture of your choice. Whilst you do so, the system is already compiling suitable singles, based on your extensive answers. You have the option of being a non-paying member of ELITESINGLES South Africa, in which case you lose out on fairly salient features – the photos of matching profiles are blurred with a free membership, for example. Also you will be limited on the number of messages you are able to send, and you will receive fewer matches on a daily basis.
If you opt for a paying membership, then you benefit from immediate potential contacts which will be identified by the system. We opted for the 6 month subscription so that we could utilize all of the website and gain the best overview of how ELITESINGLES performs.
As a footnote, it’s worth noting that most of the profiles are for people aged 30 and above.
First date after 2 weeks
Membership in place, we made contact with 10 women on the first day. 3 replies arrived within 24 hours and following a meaningful conversation with one woman, a date was arranged after two weeks.
Over the course of the next few weeks, a number of dates followed and it seems that the system works. It would be too much to expect for each encounter to be perfect, but it’s fair to say that maybe around one third of matches will be good ones, from your perspective. That’s pretty good.
But it works because of the detailed testing which you take part in, upon registration. It’s pretty vital that you are scrupulously honest during that test, as it is key to making good matches.
ELITESINGLES has it – the psychological testing is fundamental to its success and we’re persuaded that it’s probably the best site to use if you want to meet like-minded elite singles in South Africa, and maybe even your life partner.
3. ELITSINGLES functions and ELITESINGLES profiles
ELITESINGLES is a dating site based on science and detailed testing by way of searching questionnaire. However, there are other features which are worth mentioning.
Communication features:
The site offers a clear and accessible variety of means to make contact with other singles.
Send a message:
Sounds obvious, but it probably is the best way to make initial contact. Read your potential matches profile, then read it again. What do you have in common? In your reply, make mention of why you chose this profile. Be honest, be yourself and be interested and you will come across well in your message.
Send a smile
A great feature - you can send a smile. An expression of friendly interest that may or may not be reciprocated. A more tentative approach, but it might be right sometimes.
Send 5 questions
Another great feature on ELITESINGLES is the option to pick 5 out of 50 pre-written questions, to put to your potential match. It’s a good way to find out more, and a gentle way to open up a conversation.
Here are some examples:
- „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?“
Like & comment
Another interesting feature is the option to like and comment on someone’s profile. If you see someone with an interest that you share, then you can comment on their page, and again, it’s a soft way of getting that all important first ‘real’ conversation started! It also builds a kind of sense of community and friendliness, to say hi and a nod to shared interest.
Increase your chances with a verified profile
ID verification is a big deal on many sites, and on a dating site, it’s extremely reassuring to see. The deal is that you are awarded an icon on your profile if you are ID verified. To get that verification, then you must send a high quality photo of both sides of your ID to ELITESINGLES customer services, and then your icon is displayed.
Unsurprisingly, you are likely to get many more responses by verified, than if you are not. When we road-tested the site, we opted to contact women with verified identities. A big plus here is that someone’s age and name are real, if they have the icon displayed.
Meet more people with the „Have you met...“ feature
On most dating websites, there is a limit to how many introductions can be made per day. On ELITESINGLES, you do have the option of signing up for a premium plus membership, which gives – among other benefits – up to 20 more suggested matches per day.
Whilst your matches of singles based on the answers to your comprehensive psychological profiling will be made daily, there is a great feature added on – ‘Have you met…?’ This introduces you to singles who didn’t fall within the results of your criteria, but might possibly be a good match, despite that. Just like in the wider world, sometimes you can’t put your finger on why someone is right for you when on paper, they’re not an obvious match! The heart has not yet been improved upon, not even by a computer!
Personality dimensions
Once the questionnaire is completed, a lot of data is made available, and this can be shown on members’ profiles in the form of a graph indicating where each member is in terms of the five major personality dimensions.
The five personality dimensions are:
- Conscientiousness
- Agreeableness
- Openness
- Extraversion
- Neuroticism
Picture: EliteSingles ZA analysis of th personality test
The graphs are fascinating, and you can look at all kinds of data, such as where your potential match is on the graph, compared to say, the general population of the site.
4. Customer friendliness
To consider this section, we look at the usability of the service, customer care, and finally, the cancellation procedure.
Usability of the website
ELITESINGLES is a breeze to use. It’s very easy to navigate, and everything works as it should. There are no technical frustrations and we have no negatives to report here.
ELITESINGLES would do themselves a big favour if they could resolve the only niggle – that there is no telephone number to reach the customer care team. Template emails are not always popular, and it can be off-putting to use. However, to their credit, their customer service is first class and speedy replies were the norm when asking questions via the template. So the lack of phone line is an academic minus, rather than an actual one, as the customer service doesn’t suffer as a result.
Cancellation of ELITESINGLES is easy
If you sign up for a premium version of ELITESINGLES, it is automatically renewed. If you don’t want it to be, then you have to get in touch with customer services and tell them.
The termination has to be in writing by fax, e-mail or plain old pen and paper. The cancellation period is 24 hours – not immediate. Bear this in mind if you want to cancel and leave yourself enough time to do so, or your membership will be renewed.
You termination letter should include:
- Full name
- E-mail address
- Security code (to be found under the Member Account tab of your ELITESINGLES dashboard)
Give the customer care team as much information as you can to help process the cancellation as quickly as possible.
Contact ELITESINGLES
Affinitas GmbH
- ELITESINGLES ZA -
Customer Care
Kohlfurter Straße 41/43
10999 Berlin
Germany
Fax
+49 (0)1805 - 777 449
E-Mail
support@elitesingles.com
5. Value-for-money ratio
There’s no disguising the fact that ELITESINGLES is more expensive than other dating sites. However, they are advanced in their methods, professional and they get praise-worthy results. They can justify their charges, as they deliver excellent results and service.
A premium ELITESINGLES subscription will you give you two options: a regular premium subscription, or a premium plus subscription. The differences are indicated below.
Picture: Premium options on EliteSingles in South Africa
The price for the regular premium subscription is as follows:
- 1 month: R229
- 3 months: R149
- 6 months: R119
- 12 months: R89
Prices for a premium plus subscription are slightly higher:
- 1 month: R249
- 3 months: R169
- 6 months: R129
- 12 months: R99
Love ranking
EliteSingles summary
Evaluated by: Dating-Navigator.co.za
Last update:
Overall rating: 10 / 10
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