How to Make Tinder's Product Strategy Even Better

Those who know me know I like swiping on Tinder. Tinder’s simple user interface as well as its buzz are something to be admired. However, to make Tinder’s product strategy even better, the company should do three things:

1. Establish an infrastructure for self serve advertisements
2. Expand its pricing model for subscribing customers
3. Experiment with more ways, beyond swiping, to make connections
   
   

What is Tinder?

Tinder is a Match Group dating mobile application with 50M+ users. Users can quickly swipe right or left, to like or dislike another user based on his or her profile pictures. If they like someone who also likes them, the users are “matched” and are like prompted to start messaging each other. A very short self written “about me” section for a profile, combined with the capability for users to specify a radius as close as one mile away, has regrettably given the app an overly sexualized reputation. Regardless of its reputation, the company has experienced unprecedented growth for a dating app, here's how to make it even better.

Establish an infrastructure for self serve advertisements

The first source of revenue for the company is display advertising. Display advertisers, mostly with bigger advertising budgets (Anheuser Busch, Universal Studios), appear while a user is swiping. Although major advertisers provide credibility, the ability to capture smaller to medium businesses (SMB) through a self serve platform is key. For instance, according to Reuters, a majority of Facebook advertisers are from SMB customers that purchase on Facebook’s site. Like Facebook, Tinder has access to a user's exact location to influence consumer behavior. If Tinder can build the same scalable infrastructure for approved self serve ads, it can tap into the multi-billion dollar SMB segment.

Expand its pricing model for subscribing customers

The second source of revenue is subscription based through Tinder Plus, priced at $15 per month. The benefits of Tinder Plus compared to the free version include: unlimited likes, the ability to go back to your last swipe, five Superlikes per day (A way to stand out to your likes), and  the user option to choose his or her location anywhere on the planet. These four benefits, while a great start, aren’t strong enough of a value proposition to make meaningful long term revenue growth. Tinder should add a number of features in the chart below, most notably an additional tier of subscribers at $5 per month to better monetize its users. I'm calling it Tinder XO. Tinder Marketing please help. 

*The go back to last swipe, ability to pick location, and unlimited liking features should remain paid features.

Experiment with more ways, beyond swiping, to make connections

Lastly, Tinder should experiment with new ways to make connections. Swiping gets old.  Perhaps adding a scrolling option, utilized by the Instagram Feed, to like users could be interesting. Also, developing more games means new ways for users to interact with ads. The company has to experiment to stay fresh while maintaining its simple interface and most importantly its competitive edge.

Wrap Up

Tinder has created a cutting edge mobile application that has revolutionized online dating. To continue to grow and better monetize its users, it has to allow a scalable way to bring in more advertisers, add another tier for paying customers, and experiment with more ways for people to connect.

- Marcell Hilliard

Since I started blogging, Apple has revamped their streaming music offering, LinkedIn has launched a blogging platform, and Dropbox has developed a deeper integration with Microsoft Office and dropped it’s Carousel product. All of these companies have superior products relative to the competition, but I try to suggest or predict where they’ll go next. I love product and thinking about helping great companies become even better. 

Time to get back to work!