Sign-Up & Login Process

                                                                                                                               
Signing up for Zoosk is simple, requiring you do so with either an email address, Facebook account, or Google Plus account. If you choose the social connects, you can begin the registration process immediately. Alternatively if you go with the email route, you’ll need to also enter your sexual orientation and the sexual orientation of the match you are seeking along with your birthday, email address, and password. After you select the signup option of your preference, you’ll begin the short 3-step registration process prompting you to enter your location, in the form of your zip code, upload a photo, enter your body type, education level, ethnicity, and answer if you have kids, and finally enter your height and religion. If you signed up via email, you’ll need to confirm your email address to proceed to the site. 

Zoosk has an intuitive step-by-step instructional guide you will be taken through the first time you enter the site, explaining how to view profiles and send messages to others. After sending one practice massage in the explainer you’re free to use the site in it’s full capacity. Your profile will be somewhat filled out with basic information from the registration process, but to get the most out of the site you’ll want to more thoroughly complete it by adding additional photos, answering open ended questions about romance, adding interests, and/or filling out a My Story bio section about yourself. Completing the remaining profile fields requires only a few minutes of your time and is well worth it as the more you fill out your profile, the better the site is able to match you. Additionally you may choose to verify your account my connecting additional social accounts and/or verifying your account over the phone or with a photo.

There are a few different options for logging in to Zoosk. You can enter your email address and password, which is the traditional login option, or, if you have Facebook or Google+, you can log in using your either accounts. For Facebook, simply click on the "login with Facebook" option; the site will then redirect you to Facebook, where you can log in using your account details. Once you've completed that procedure, you'll be returned to Zoosk, all logged in. These steps are virtually the same for Google+ users. While this may seem like an unnecessary step, it does mean one fewer password and user name to keep track of for you.   

Members/Interactions:

                                                                                                             

Zoosk mainly revolves around browsing profiles in various ways, but one of the main highlights of the dating site is that it shows you only one profile at a time. From the search section you can choose to go forward or backwards swiping through different profiles. The basic search is built upon standard features of gender, age range, and location, although you may select Advanced Search to further filter by features such ethnicity, religion, and body type. Full profiles are presented in the search section, including the ability to browse all member photos in a pop-up. From the search section you’re not exactly passing or liking, rather you’re simply going from profile to profile and engaging with those you find intriguing. To show interest in any profile you may add the member, send a wink, send a gift (which costs points), or begin chatting by sending a message if that member is online.

Outside of the search section there’s an additional carousel section with the option to meet or view matches. Meeting is essentially playing a hot or not swiping game, however instead of just liking or passing you may also choose ‘maybe’ as an option. All members you mutually match with will be listed in the match section from which you can view their entire profile. Member profiles are displayed in the meet section with the member’s main profile picture, age, and the number of photos they have uploaded. This again is another area where the more time you put into it the better matches you’ll get. After over 200 responses to member’s displayed, the site does its magic and selects a member you’re most compatible with, based on your previous responses of like, pass, or maybe. 

Other sections include an area to browse members who are online now, view your connections, view who has viewed your profile, view insights into your site activity, or going through your smart match section. The smart match sections helps the site better match you with members based on answers to various questions such as would you date a smoker or would you date someone with a child? From these answers your search results are further refined to accommodate your dating preferences. Overtime, the smart matches section will single out individual profiles you would likely match best with on a daily basis. Your smart matches are based on your interests - another reason you’ll want to complete your profile - and answers to smart match questions. 

Throughout the site there are various prompts to promote your profile and increase your chances of finding a match. One option is to send a mega flirt, which allows you to select a question from a preset list and mass send it to members. Mega flirts can be sent every 15 hours and although you don’t know exactly who your mega flirts are sent to, the site does give you a preview showing a sample of 6 members (out of many) who received your latest mega flirt. Alternatively you can boost your profile, which highlights your profile to other members. To boost you’ll need to purchase coins - 150 coins per boost - and coins are available in packages of 180 for $19.95, 480 for $39.95, or 1800 for $99.95 (a 50% savings compared to the other packages). Once you buy a coin package it will auto-renew once you get down to 20 remaining points, but if you don’t want this you can read the fine text and disable the feature. Beyond boosting your profile, coins can also be used to send virtual gifts to other members, which are available at various price points, and to browse invisibly, which will set you back 30 coins for 30 minutes.