Digitalization of Indian Shaadi Sites and How it has Revolutionized Traditional Matchmaking
India being a culturally rich country and a country with traditions, for decades when it comes to prospects for Shaadi, Indians were solely dependent on contacts within the society, particularly through contacts in their family. Traditionally extended family, friends, marriage brokers and newspaper advertisements helped in finding a potential match for wedding. The selection of matches was governed by factors like caste, sub-caste, economic background, education level, character of an individual, horoscopes, etc.
The adoption of internet, however, revolutionized the matrimonial industry giving rise to an entirely new business model of online matrimonial portals. During 1990s the internet penetration was poor in India and even the conservative Indian society was not ready to let go of the traditional arranged marriage process. However, as the internet adoption increased in India, the acceptance of the matrimonial companies increased. Matchmaking companies gained popularity because of their huge database of potential matches and convenient and secured services. Today apart from matchmaking services matrimonial companies also provide services like wedding planning and honeymoon packages.
Matrimony companies use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategies to drive traffic to their websites, thereby increasing visibility. These strategies help in improving the ranking of websites on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.
Online matrimonial companies revolutionized the traditional marriage concept and created an amalgamation of traditional and modern marriage concept. The rise of online matrimonial websites gave young Indians the decision-making power in choosing their life partners. The development of social media apps made companies to lean towards social media marketing strategies. The matrimonial companies now use various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to acquire new customers.
The authors would like to suggest that matchmaking companies should focus on blog marketing which is a growing trend in the matrimony industry which has potential to increase the user base of the matrimonial websites. Companies with marketing budgets should opt for SEM strategies rather SEO strategies as SEM strategies help to acquire leads instantly. This will prevent deterioration of their ranking in primary search results.
Introduction
Matrimonial websites primarily begin for non-resident Indians as the internet adoption was poor in India during the 90s. Also, the conservative Indian society was skeptical about the matrimonial companies. The companies identified the gap in the traditional marriage process and the changing mindset of Indian society which gave birth to matrimonial portals in India. By 2000s the matrimonial portals started gaining popularity. The complex process of arranged marriages was simplified by the introduction of these portals. Such websites blended the traditional arranged marriages and love marriages with the help of technology.
Online matrimonial sites are user friendly and have a huge database of prospective brides and grooms at one click. These websites offer security to the users and hence even elders prefer their children explore such websites. Traditionally matrimonial sites have marketed themselves to the prospective brides and their families only. The advertisements of various portals like Matrimonyindians.com, JeevanSaathi.com, Shaadi.com and BharatMatrimony.com have targeted females and revolve around the existing fear of marriages and finding a suitable partner. These marketing strategies were stereotypical representation of marriages.
Today, companies are shifting their focus towards digital marketing strategies. Many companies are focusing on social media marketing, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, blog writing, etc. Companies have recognized the increased usage of mobile phones and various apps thereby opting for digital marketing strategies. Thus the boom of the internet not only revolutionized the matrimony industry, but also changed the way the industry marketed itself.
Major Competitors In Online Matrimony Sector:
The online matrimonial industry is highly competitive and is dominated by below some competitors.
Matrimonyindians.com – We are a Indians matrimony service provider. Our experienced and highly dedicated team is committed to provide best solutions to all prospective Indian brides & grooms. Our company providing the best platform to those who are genuinely looking for their life partner. We have a long list of Happy Clients, who are pleased with our end-to-end services.
Shaadi.com – Shaadi.com is one of the oldest matrimonial portals in India. It was founded in July, 1996. The company has around 250 centers across India with more than 10 million registered users. Shaadi.com is known to use big data analytics to analyze the user behavior on the website and calculate the compatibility of the couples and provide recommendations to users. The unique features such as regional registration, shaadi live messenger, customized ringtones, smart search option etc. are provided by Shaadi.com.
JeevanSaathi.com – JeevanSaathi.com is popular in Northern and Western India. It was founded in December, 1998. The members can opt for different packages by paying a varying amount of fees with respect to the service they want.
BharatMatrimony.com – BharatMatrimony.com was found in December, 1999. It is well known for its regional portals across India and these portals operate in 15 different languages. The services provided include wedding directory, pre-marriage counseling, blood testing services etc.
SimplyMarry.com – SimplyMarry.com was established in December, 2006. This portal is the most technologically advanced site and users can register on the website for 3 – 12 months. This website provides various interaction options like profile linking, personal chatting, etc. Company has launched TimesSoulmate.com and TimesAssistedMatrimony.com in 2017.
Online Process As A Preferred Choice
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process of driving traffic and increasing visibility of a website or a web page from search results on search engines. These are the unpaid results which are often referred as free, natural, organic, editorial or earned results. All major search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing, which show web pages and other content on the basis of the relevance to users.
Matrimonial companies are known to carry out SEO activity to drive traffic to their websites, thereby increasing visibility. Matrimonial websites are performing a SEO activity to improve their ranking on Google. Companies carry out on On-page SEO wherein five keywords related to companies are searched on Google, which is followed by clicking on company page and spending 30 seconds on the website each time.
Following is the result of SEO activity performed by one of the matrimonial company, Ultra Rich Match during the months, May & June of 2018 which helped to improve the website’s ranking on Google.
| Position in Google Search | |||
| Keywords | On 22nd May, 2018 | On 30th June, 2018 | On 10th February, 2019 |
| Matrimony for Rich | Page 1, 1st position | Page 1, 1st position | Page 1, 1st position |
| Matrimony for Business Families | Page 4 | Page 1, 5th position | Page 1, 2nd position |
| Matrimony for Business Class | Page 1, 7th position | Page 1, 3rd position | Page 1, 2nd position |
| Match making for Elite Business Class | Page 1, 4th position | Page 1, 1st position | Page 1, 1st position |
| Matrimony for Elite Class | Page 8 | Page 1, 4th position | Page 1, 1st position |
Source: Researcher’s own data
Suggestions
- Matchmaking companies should focus on blog marketing which is a growing trend in the matrimony industry, which has potential to increase the user base of the matrimonial websites.
- Companies with marketing budgets should opt for SEM strategies rather SEO strategies as SEM strategies help to acquire leads instantly. This will prevent deterioration of their ranking in primary search results.
- Companies also need to perform a social media audit wherein the companies review on what’s working, what’s failing and what can be improved to get more target audience.
- Social media analytics tools like Google analytics can be used to perform the audit. Companies can perform an audit quarterly and even in some cases monthly.
- Companies should not rely only on online marketing strategy, but use both, online and offline marketing strategies where offline marketing strategy is complementary to online marketing strategy
Conclusion
- Digitalization of many industries occurred with the boom of the internet, but the digitalization of the Indian marriage process was an unexpected outcome.
- Online matrimonial companies revolutionized the traditional marriage concept and created an amalgamation of traditional and modern marriage concept.
- The rise of online matrimonial websites gave young Indians the decision-making power in choosing their life partners.
- Earlier companies focused only on providing a perfect match for their clients, but today the companies are aiming towards becoming a one shop stop for wedding solutions.
- The development of social media apps made companies to lean towards social media marketing strategies. The matrimonial companies now use various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to acquire new customers.
- Matrimonial companies use SEO strategy to keep up the ranking on major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.
- The higher the rank on primary search results, the more visitors the matrimonial website will have and these visitors may get converted to customers.
- These strategies help in creating a brand name and drive traffic on the matrimonial site which may convert into lead generations
Source: https://www.rset.edu.in/download/dsims/5_A_Study_on_Digitalization_of_Matchmaking_for_Marriages_in_India-new.pdf
