February 11, 2008 - With Valentine’s Day approaching, industry leaders in sampling and market research conducted a recent survey, revealing insight into how today’s "eligibles” are using online dating services and personal ads, as well as their Valentine’s Day shopping habits.

Survey Sampling International LLC (SSI), the premier global provider of sampling solutions, worked with GGP National Survey Network (NSN), a leader in the retail research industry, on a survey that included more than 2,700 respondents. The results show nearly 400 respondents had used an online dating service or personal ads, with 48% of those ending up married, engaged, or in committed relationships. Of those that never used personals, almost 25% personally knew someone who had, and of those people, 50% ended up in a committed relationship or married. People who have used personal ads in the past are slightly younger than non-users (45 years old vs. 48) and on average, better educated — 44% with a college degree or higher vs. 37%.

With users of online dating services and personal ads highly motivated in seeking a committed relationship (42% met only 1 – 3 people before entering a long-term relationship), trends continue to indicate increasing acceptance of the use of these services, with 13% of adults now using personal ads (online and offline) to meet someone.

"The stigma associated with using personals to meet someone is gone,” said Jackie Lorch, vice president, global knowledge management for SSI. "In fact, participating in online dating services and running personal ads work.”

Spending Preferences and the Ideal Date
”The primary objective of the survey was to develop a better understanding of who is using online dating services and personal ads, and their purchasing habits in conjunction with Valentine’s Day,” said Richard Rizzo, director, consumer research for GGP NSN. Questions included anticipated expenditures and types of purchases, where people shop, and even what they themselves expected to receive in the way of Valentine’s Day gifts.

During a three day window, SSI and NSN collaborated on the development of the survey questions, which were then implemented using SSI’s vast consumer respondent community using its proven sampling technology, while GGP National Survey Network focused on the analysis of the results.

Respondents stated that their primary goals for using personal ads to meet people were: for a committed relationship (32%); meeting people and friends (26%); to have fun (14%); and "something more than friendship” (14%). The last one reflected the choice of 26% of men, but only 6% of women. Picking from a list of possible ideal date scenarios, almost half (49%) of all adults chose "casual activities” (that can be done at the mall like shopping, restaurants and movies); another 32% chose "quiet activities” (coffee, a romantic walk, a picnic); 14% chose "public activities” (concert, theater, ball game); while 6% chose active activities such as cycling, tennis and skiing.

As industry leaders in sampling and market research, SSI and GGP National Survey Network are striving both to stay current with as well as anticipate consumer preferences, including data that reflects spending habits around the so-called secondary holidays like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, etc. In this latest survey, the results revealed that although the total adult sample expects to spend an average of $64 on Valentine’s Day, up from $59 last year, actual users of personal ads anticipate spending significantly more on gifts — nearly $100 — than non-users. The top four gifts adults expect to receive are candy/chocolate (24%), cards (22%), dinner (19%) and flowers (16%). And personal ad users are three times as likely to expect jewelry as a gift as are non-users.

"Needless to say, the Internet is widely used for a range of personal services, shopping experiences and information gathering,” said Rizzo. "SSI and NSN formed a strategic relationship to look a bit deeper into the role that personal ads are playing in developing relationships, as well as the link to shopping and gift giving around the Valentine’s Day holiday. This level of insight provides the marketplace with valuable information regarding important buying habits and consumer practices.”

Survey Sampling International
Survey Sampling International is the premier global provider of sampling solutions for survey research. SSI offers access to consumer and business-to-business respondents via Internet, telephone, and mobile. Additional services include survey programming and hosting; data processing, random digit dialing, and sampling consultation. SSI serves more than 1,800 marketing research clients, including nearly three-quarters of the top researchers worldwide.

SSI provides access to more than 3.5 million research respondents in more than 70 countries via proprietary communities and managed affiliate relationships. Founded in 1977, SSI has an international staff of 335 people representing 49 countries and 35 languages. The company is based in Fairfield, Conn. with additional offices in London, Paris, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Madrid, Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and La Quinta, Calif. For more information, visit www.surveysampling.com.

GGP National Survey Network
The GGP National Survey Network is the research unit of General Growth Properties that focuses on the design, execution and analysis of consumer research studies for clients in the retail, advertising and public relations industries. The GGP National Survey Network fields over 250 studies annually encompassing 100,000 shopper insight surveys. For more information, visit www.nationalsurveynetwork.com.