Customer Behavior in Online Dating

Online dating platforms have become an accepted way to find a partner and developed into successful business models. On online dating platforms, a user has different roles: individual with preferences searching for a partner, sender and receiver of messages, and customer being in a contractual relationship with the platform provider. This dissertation examines all these roles of an individual that engages in online dating. The key objective of this dissertation that comprises four research articles is to provide a deeper understanding of customer behavior on online dating platforms by taking a business-related point of view.

With this dissertation, Andrea Dechant addresses diverse target groups. Foremost, the findings of this dissertation provide relevant managerial implications for managers of online and mobile dating platforms that are interested in customer retention, customer preferences, and customer behavior. As the results can be transferred to other industries that face churn independent of dissatisfaction, e.g., health or fitness companies, and social networks, this dissertation is also of interest for practitioners and researchers in these fields. Finally, this dissertation provides scientific insights from a researcher's perspective into a topic of great public interest.