Finding love in the digital age.
Cupid Media attracts millions of singles around the world to niche dating websites using Adobe Advertising Cloud.
12%
decrease in cost per new member while increasing membership by 17%
Objectives
Reach individuals from a variety of niche audiences
Use search to attract members with targeted messaging
Streamline marketing by using a single platform for both advertising and marketing
Results
12% decrease in cost per new member while increasing membership by 17%
Optimises spend on millions of keywords using artificial intelligence
200M personalised emails delivered monthly for dozens of languages and markets
Standardised on one platform for top partner support for advertising and marketing
“Adobe was the only solution provider that delivered a full marketing stack that could handle our needs.”
Jason Johnson
Marketing Manager, Cupid Media
Achieving a global reach with a small team
More and more people are looking for love online. One of the biggest advantages to using a dating website is that people can cast their net into a massive dating pool. For those searching for a partner based on nationality, religion or lifestyle, niche dating websites often offer a better chance of finding love.
Cupid Media is a leader in online dating, operating 35 niche dating websites. The company was founded by a couple who set up an online email exchange to help their friends find the right match. Today, Cupid Media has helped more than 30 million people look for love around the world.
Search is the main way that the company reaches new audiences and attracts new members to its dating sites. Cupid operates in 205 countries and 24 languages, which requires the company’s marketing team to manage a complex search marketing strategy. Not only does the team bid for millions of keywords for dozens of sites, languages and markets, it also adjusts its strategy depending on location, device, search engine or even time of day.
Once people sign up to join Cupid Media websites, email marketing campaigns are crucial for providing members with important information and keeping them engaged. Cupid Media manages email communications on a massive scale, sending over 200 million emails a month, from welcome and onboarding emails for new members to alerts when someone views their profile.
Finding the right partner
Cupid Media needed an advertising tool that could handle complex and high-volume advertising across channels, including search and video. The marketing team also wanted to find a solution that would deliver both advertising and marketing capabilities, providing a single, integrated platform. The team looked at tools available on the market and decided Adobe was the right match.
“Adobe was the only solution provider that delivered a full marketing stack that could handle our needs,” says Jason Johnson, Marketing Manager at Cupid Media.
Adobe Advertising Cloud, part of Adobe Experience Cloud, delivers end-to-end advertising management across channels. By adding in other solutions from Adobe Experience Cloud, including Adobe Target and Adobe Campaign in Adobe Marketing Cloud, Cupid Media can create a single platform to deliver advertising and marketing messaging for all audiences.
“We’re a small team, so support from our technology partner is critical,” says Matthew Gatley, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist at Cupid Media. “Adobe understands our needs and helps us to operate as efficiently as possible. We appreciate that instead of dealing with a handful of partners, we just have a relationship with one company that supports all of our advertising and marketing needs.”
“Adobe Sensei drives efficiencies that help us stretch our advertising budget with smarter bidding.”
Jason Johnson
Marketing Manager, Cupid Media
Making better decisions with artificial intelligence
Cupid Media bids on millions of search keywords to attract new members to the right site based on their dating preferences. In addition to Google and Bing, advertisers work with search providers that are more popular in local markets, such as Yandex, Naver and Baidu. With such a high-volume and complex search programme, Cupid needed to use proven tools.
The marketing team relies on Performance Optimisation within Adobe Advertising Cloud Search, powered by Adobe Sensei, Adobe’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, to analyse search keywords to determine how effectively the keywords drive traffic and encourage membership. Marketers can also use Spend Recommendations powered by Adobe Sensei to see how to most efficiently allocate their budgets based on their goals.
“When dealing with millions of keywords, it’s impossible for people to spot patterns and make timely decisions about which search terms perform the best,” says Johnson. “That’s what makes machine learning in Adobe Advertising Cloud Search so valuable. Adobe Sensei drives efficiencies that help us stretch our advertising budget with smarter bidding.”
In the past year, Cupid Media dramatically expanded its global advertising to reach more countries, languages and audiences. Although spend across search advertising increased by only 1%, the returns have been significant.
“Since Adobe Advertising Cloud took over bidding, we decreased the cost of attracting new members by an average of 12% across all sites while increasing the total number of new memberships by 17%,” says Johnson. “Growing our membership numbers isn’t just good for the company—it’s good for our members who are looking for their ideal partners.”
Connecting with audiences across media
In addition to using Adobe Advertising Cloud Search, Cupid Media uses Adobe Advertising Cloud Demand Side Platform (DSP) to power advertising across other channels, including on-demand television. As a company operating in niche markets, Cupid Media generally doesn’t have the volume for traditional media buys, but it can do targeted advertising on catch-up or on-demand television programming effectively. With Advertising Cloud DSP, the marketing team can target advertising to reach audiences based on specific criteria such as by gender, age or ethnicity.
“Adobe Advertising Cloud DSP gives us the ability to pull together both first-party and third-party data to gain better insights and influence how we try to connect with people,” says Gatley.
Engaging with millions every day
With Adobe Experience Cloud, Cupid Media now has a unified environment to deliver targeted advertising and marketing at scale. In addition to using Adobe Advertising Cloud, the company has started using Adobe Campaign and Adobe Target to deliver millions of emails to customers.
Cupid Media onboards 40,000 new members every day, sending each one a series of welcome emails to encourage them to complete their dating profiles and start interacting with other people on Cupid sites. Every day, millions of active members receive lists of daily recommended matches or alerts that someone has looked at their profiles. Adobe Campaign helps deliver these personalised emails in the local language of a member. Adobe Target then allows marketers to test performance of campaigns to better reach people with information that engages them and leads them to further actions.
“We’re just starting to invest in more formal analytics and data science apps to grow our business,” says Johnson. “Working with Adobe Experience Cloud allows us to bring all of these pieces together into a central platform to get customers engaged so they can find the right person for them.”
“Adobe Advertising Cloud DSP gives us the ability to pull together both first-party and third-party data to gain better insights and influence how we try to connect with people.”
Matthew Gatley
Senior Digital Marketing Specialist, Cupid Media
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