Dating Software vs. White Label Solutions
Let's compare both approaches
When you want to start your own online dating business, there’s a common question rising – which route to take? Join an affiliate (white label) system, or start as an independent business based on online dating software solutions?
How it works
- With white label dating systems, you get your landing page for your website that is connected to the provider’s central database of users. You direct traffic to that landing page, users sign up, and you get a share of revenue they generate by subscribing.
- Using a software solution for dating sites, you set up your own independent dating website, customize it for your niche, build your userbase with a number of methods and retain all lifetime revenue from your users.
How do these approaches compare in various aspects of running an online/mobile dating business? Let’s find out:
User database
Having your website pre-populated with members is a good thing, but you need to be very realistic about the quality of the profiles that you don’t earn. Software providers sometimes offer fake profile databases (which are generally not recommended to use). White labels have existing “active” databases, although they are often criticized for their quality as well.
Price & Revenue
| White label | Software | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront costs: | $0 | Solution cost ($999 with SkaDate) |
| Monthly costs (based on $10,000 revenue)*: | $3,000 - $5,000 | $0 - $100 |
* data taken from data available on the Internet among various online dating business solution providers.
Bottom line: A white label system will claim 30-80% of your ongoing revenue, while software providers do not traditionally take any revenue share.
Mobile Dating Apps
| White label | Software | |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile browser version: | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Generic (non-branded) apps: | Sometimes | ✔︎ |
| Custom (branded as yours) apps: | - | ✔︎ |
With software solutions you can have customized, branded mobile apps with your site name which you can promote to your users and prospects. White labels at most have generic mobile apps (not branded as yours) because of the one-size-fits-all approach. In a generic app users have to enter your site URL for it to work.
Also it should be noted that on iOS (the operating system for iPhone, the world’s most popular mobile phone, with the best converting audience) a generic (non-branded) application can’t accept purchases for you, because it’s not set up with your account.
Customization
| White label | Software | |
|---|---|---|
| Admin settings: | Limited | ✔︎ |
| Custom design: | Limited | ✔︎ |
| Custom development: | - | ✔︎ |
With white label systems your landing page can only be customized so much, and you can’t choose your own features or pricing plans. Basically, it’s a complex system that doesn’t belong to you, so you can’t alter its behavior. Software solutions offer full customization since you are the owner and your website doesn’t depend on anything else.
Niche
| White label | Software | |
|---|---|---|
| Niche choice: | Predetermined | Your own, no restrictions |
When you own your website, you can think of any niche that you want to target and customize the website to appeal to it. On the other hand, white label systems only let you choose what’s available, even if it doesn’t fit your niche 100%.
Example: You want Miami surfing enthusiasts.
Software says: Go for it! White label: Choose casual dating, Florida.
Support
Customer support comes in all shapes and colors depending on the company, and the experience reports vary from client to client. Big white labels or long-standing software providers like SkaDate all have great technical support, as well as tons of well-written documentation and manuals.
The eventual choice between white label and dating software comes down to making a simple decision – If what you need is a quick entry followed by sharing money and traffic – white label can be a solution. However, if you are considering long-term benefits and want to truly own a site, its content, member database, and revenue – online dating software should be your choice.
In short, this is a choice of being CEO of your own website and collecting your own membership base to build revenue upon versus sending traffic to someone else’s database.