We are working with Yelp and Spotify to make your first date a success!
Coffee Meets Bagel (CMB) is expanding our service beyond helping people discover others online to include ways to actually drive offline dates. Why? The majority of singles use dating apps because they actually want to go on dates or be in a relationship (78% of surveyed CMB users!), but current online/mobile dating services are completely lacking in servicing this part of the dating funnel. As CMB’s focus has always been to make more meaningful relationships happen, the natural next step for us was to expand into what happens after two people connect online. So with this in mind, we’re launching a series of web apps geared at facilitating successful offline dates. The first two, called Mixtape (makeamixtape.com) and DateSpots (datespots.co), are powered by Spotify and Yelp, respectively.
- Mixtape: Powered by Spotify, Mixtape lets you create a playlist of songs you and your date have in common so you can get the conversation started on your dates. Through Spotify’s API, Mixtape is able to query users’ public playlists, top songs, and add the created mixtape as a Spotify playlist. Finding common ground is the key to having a fun first date. The idea came from one of our engineers, Brian Fang, who built this tool and used it to break the ice on his own dates.
- DateSpots: Powered by Yelp, DateSpots helps singles find a great place for their first date. The site uses the latest Yelp Fusion API. First, you specify your first date spot preferences (type of venue – coffee house, bar, restaurant; price; and location). The site then queries Yelp’s database for the best matches and only returns venues that are rated 4 stars or above, have classy, intimate, romantic or trendy ambiance, and quiet or average noise level. With DateSpots.co, picking the first date spot is no longer a stressful event. We are excited to be Yelp’s first set of partners for their Fusion API. These kinds of granular queries (query by rating, price, and business attributes like atmosphere and noise level) from Yelp have not been possible until now. A survey we conducted among CMB users found that 84% of them check online review sites like Yelp when selecting first date locations, so we know that there’s a need for this kind of service.
Why are we launching this now? January is THE BEST time for online dating because it’s on top of a lot of people’s mind. Online dating is like the fitness category when it comes to New Year’s Resolutions. Many singles are thinking about how to find a new beginning and a new relationship in 2017. I call it cuffing season in full effect. In January 2016, we saw a whopping 62% increase in the number of matches on Coffee Meets Bagel vs. December 2015.
Click here for screenshots for the two web apps
Click here for full press kit
About Coffee Meets Bagel: Coffee Meets Bagel is a highly curated dating service where women call the final shot on who gets to talk to them among guys who expressed interest. We help singles find meaningful relationships by providing an experience that reflects the different ways men and women approach dating. Globally, we have generated more than one million dates and thousands of lasting relationships. Visit https://coffeemeetsbagel.com to find out more.
