GuardianSoulmates

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Guardian Soulmates is an online dating site launched in 2004. The name itself shows that the website is run by the newspaper Guardian. So it is no surprise that almost 80% of its members are Guardian readers. Since its creation, Guardian Soulmates has helped to connect thousands of like-minded people (mainly people who read the Guardian) and helped them find long-lasting and happy relationships.

The Guardian succeeded in developing Soulmates into an easy to use dating site that has excellent customer service that is taking good care of its members. It has over 300,000 members throughout the UK and USA, of all ages, sexual orientation, financial status, education, etc. You are given the opportunity to look through the profiles before paying the subscription. If the results interest you, you can join and become a member by creating your profile for free. To message other members and use all available features of Soulmates you have to become a subscriber by purchasing a subscription.

Guardian Soulmates won Daters’ Favourite Website in the 2014 UK Dating Awards, and it is a member of the Online Dating Association.

Number of members: 300,000
Members activity: 100 new members per month
Average age of members: Between 30 to 55 years old
Gender Proportion (Men to Women): 60% – 40%
Most Popular Subscription: 6 months

Since most of Soulmates members are Guardian readers, then without wishing to stereo-type we can general idea about what kind of people the site attracts. Soulmates members, much like The Guardian readers, tend to be degree educated, politically left of centre with traveling experience and a steady financial status. Members age starts from 18 till 85, but most of the members are between 30 to 55 years old. Guardian Soulmates has members from the United Kingdom and beyond, and even though the site is based in the United Kingdom, the number of US members exceed the UK members by only a slight margin.

In comparison to other dating websites, Guardian Soulmates is competitive in its pricing particularly when longer subscriptions are taken out. The website and apps have a bit different prices. Also, through the apps, the user can join for 1 week.

Payment can be made through both the website and apps by credit or debit card. You will get an email for confirmation after the payment is processed. Soulmates subscriptions automatically renew after the paid period expires. You can cancel your subscription any time you want through “your account” page, unlike other dating websites which require a certain number of days as notice.

Pricing for Guardian Soulmates

Guardian Soulmates Subscription Average Price per month
1 week £9.99
1 Month £32
3 Months £21.33
6 months £16

Even if you don’t have an account, Guardian Soulmates give you an opportunity to browse through the profiles. This allows the users to have a preview of the members that are currently on the platform.

The profile photos of every member are available to be viewed for free. Photo, name, age, and location are the prime details of a Soulmates profile. Other information that needs to be filled while creating the profile includes: relationship status, with or without children, looking for, etc. Also on the profile, there is a tab that shows when the user was last online, and if you’ve crossed your paths before on the site.

Two text boxes let you describe yourself “in your own words,” and describe “who you’re looking for.” On the users’ profile, there is a number that states how many gallery pictures a member has and only Soulmates subscribers can see them. You can give permission to who can view your gallery pictures.

At a glance compatibility feature
On every member profile, there is a tab titled “At a glance” which offer a percentage of your compatibility with that user. It shows whether the prime characteristics like your and their height, age, education, smoking preference, location, want children, and more match each other’s preferences. In other words, this dating site offers you matches who fit your prime preferences.

Unfortunately, the option to send and receive messages is only available to the subscribers. Standard members have the option just to send a “like” to someone who might be a possible match and then upgrade their subscription to send a message to that person.

Basic features for non-subscribers
Liking is the only feature that you don’t have to pay the monthly fee for on Guardian Soulmates. Beside messaging and liking, the other two available features are blocking and reporting. Even though Soulmates doesn’t have many features, their search feature is excellent.

Once you create your profile, you are able to search profiles using different filters and search types. The site also aims to recommend you people that might interest you, based on the preference that you add during the sign-up process. You can change your search preferences from the search results page anytime. All members, standard and paying ones, can search by gender, age, location, and whether someone has a photo.

Advanced searching
Guardian Soulmates gives an option to save your searches, by simply clicking on the yellow bar with a link to ‘Save this search’ that appears after you have performed a basic or advanced search. You can save up to 10 searches.

You can search members manually using the search feature or use the service that the site if providing it for automatically generating matches that best fit your preferences. Another way to filter the matches is by the option ‘near me’ or percentage of compatibility, also the time when some particular member joined Soulmates, then when have they been online or updated their profile.

Additionally, on your profile, there’s a tab that shows you the members divided according to the following categories: members who liked you or you liked them, members who checked out your profile, members who you have hidden or blocked. There are almost 20 matches presented to you at any given time.

App Users
Guardian Soulmates, besides being available for the Apple users, now is available on Android devices and can be downloaded from Google Play store. The apps allow members to have exact features as the site from on the go access to instant messaging, advanced profile filtering and many more.

The Soulmates website being run by the Guardian has the same fonts and structure. The design is clean, the pastel colors complement each other and aren’t glaring to the eyes. All this contributes to the Guardian Soulmates platform being sleek and professional, and intuitively easy for using.

The sign-up process is quick, and you can get access to other members and search profiles before completing your profile or answering any questions. At this point, even though your account is only 20% complete, you can start using the site as a standard member. You can always complete the remaining fields at another convenient time.

You will, however, be getting a pop up on top of the page to remind you to complete your profile. You’ll also have better chances of meeting someone if you allocate some time to filling out the answers and write a bit about yourself, and what you’re looking for. The more you share, the more you’re likely to be connected with other Soulmates users.

The main landing page is filled with recently joined members, with separate tabs for those who joined just this week or this month. This page also has sections where you can see your matches, likes, and views. Besides that, there’s the search option and messages. These are the only main functions on the site. Since there are no special features offered, navigating through them is pretty easy.

Keep an eye out for the box-ticking when signing up that asks you if you are happy for your face to be used when Guardian Soulmates is advertised across the internet.

According to Guardian Soulmates, an experienced team reviews all profiles and vet all new users. Also, the site has never enabled mass messaging from one user to thousands of others.

On top of this, like many other dating sites, you have the option to block people or report any weird behavior on support@guardiansoulmates.co.uk

Guardian Soulmates does not share its members’ profiles with any other dating service. Also, they are asking the members if they want to be featured on the landing page.

You can contact customer services using the contact form on their site. As a plus, Soulmates’ blog offers numerous dating tips and advice regarding writing your first message, date location or preparing you for your first date and lots of advice that will give you inspiration on how to have a successful date.

Contact Information
GUARDIAN NEWS & MEDIA LIMITED
Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1P 2AP
020 3353 2000
Support@guardiansoulmates.co.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GuardianSoulmates/
Twitter: @guardian_SM

Members are mainly readers of the Guardian
Very well designed and intuitive website
Straightforward and trustworthy
Plenty of success stories
Subscriptions can be cancelled anytime
The site is optimized for both Android and Apple mobile devices
Large membership base
Limited features
Automated membership renewals
Messaging is only for premium members

Guardian Soulmates is not the only dating site that targets educated professionals. eHarmony also falls into this category as does EliteSingles. Another dating site that is a competitor to Guardian Soulmates is Match.com.

Guardian Soulmates membership is primarily composed of Guardian readers, so members are quite likely to have a similar broad outlook on life and share political views. It’s unique as there is no other national newspapers that has an ‘in-house’ dating site service. One or two use a white label service and tap into an external membership base operated by a third party. The Guardian, however, has established its own offering.

There is a restricted ‘free to browse’ sign-up option. You do, however, have to become a subscriber to be able to message other members or to see their full gallery of photos, as well as the hobbies, interests and other things they’ve shared on their profile.

If you want to spend your time with like-minded people of broadly the same outlook, then Guardian Soulmates is an excellent site that has much to commend it.

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    Nick Evans

    Features Editor
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    8.2 /10