I read the article and thought "awesome", so if someone is already doing it, great! But I clicked through to your site, and I've now closed it without subscribing. Some feedback:
- "Live like a power couple": worst feature ever. I struggle to see how this could be a good feature, and offering this makes me believe you couldn't possibly offer something I want
- $199 a month, for 1 date. Well, one date a month is a bit crap, and $199 is a lot to spend for it. A "nice dinner" date night comes to maybe $120 including taxis, and I could add another $25 to have Exec arrange it if I needed to. (As a startup person, I realize your value is not limited to the value of the date, but you've managed to present the product in a way that I automatically equate "1 date == $199", so this may be a positioning problem)
- I realize your dates are a bit cooler than most, but I want to spend time with the wife, not talking to Chefs and stuff, and not being social with new couples.
- becouply.com is terrible. Becouplydates.com is a much better site, but why are there both? Are you making many becouplys (and so not focussing on the product I want)? Also, becouply.com says you arent launched, it has a twitter feed that has zero relevance to the product ("come see us at #launch", "well done on your acquisition") and has a different price ($149) to the becouplydates.com.
A "nice dinner" date night comes to maybe $120 including taxis
Regarding pricing and value, it turns out that different people have very different ideas of what constitutes "a nice date" and that's perfectly OK. Every date we send couples on includes drinks, a multi-course dinner, a fun activity, and round trip black car. Our customers love the service and the price point, but there are other types of dates out there too and we'll probably add more of them.
[T]his may be a positioning problem
We can always work on our copy, thanks for the feeback.
I want to spend time with the wife, not talking to Chefs and stuff, and not being social with new couples
Great point regarding what's important for your dates. Some dates have a group component and some don't. All of our dates have some sort of exclusive activity. Different couples have different preferences about this sort of thing and, again, that's ok.
Are you making many becouplys (and so not focussing on the product I want)?
Thanks for your feedback on the sites. We're integrating the two right now.
[it] has a different price ($149) to the becouplydates.com
I'm not seeing the pricing typo you've mentioned, but I'd love to correct it.
[it] has a twitter feed that has zero relevance to the product
It's just not the case that our Twitter account has "zero relevance" to the product. We regularly send our Twitter followers on cool dates with their partners. For example, we worked with Motley Crue to send a couple backstage to their Valentine's Day performance at the Hard Rock in Vegas. It's a Twitter account, so we use it to interact with people. It's not just a PR wire, so yes, you'll see something other than our press releases on it at times. :)
I'm sure the twitter feed is relevant in general, but right now it shows startupy things, not couply things. Filtering would help.
I looked for $149, and it was actually in the Techcrunch article. Not much you can do about that. Though it might be better to order your links differently.
- "Live like a power couple": worst feature ever. I struggle to see how this could be a good feature, and offering this makes me believe you couldn't possibly offer something I want
- $199 a month, for 1 date. Well, one date a month is a bit crap, and $199 is a lot to spend for it. A "nice dinner" date night comes to maybe $120 including taxis, and I could add another $25 to have Exec arrange it if I needed to. (As a startup person, I realize your value is not limited to the value of the date, but you've managed to present the product in a way that I automatically equate "1 date == $199", so this may be a positioning problem)
- I realize your dates are a bit cooler than most, but I want to spend time with the wife, not talking to Chefs and stuff, and not being social with new couples.
- becouply.com is terrible. Becouplydates.com is a much better site, but why are there both? Are you making many becouplys (and so not focussing on the product I want)? Also, becouply.com says you arent launched, it has a twitter feed that has zero relevance to the product ("come see us at #launch", "well done on your acquisition") and has a different price ($149) to the becouplydates.com.