Lots of dating sites promise to find you your perfect match, claiming they have cracked the ultimate equation for calculating compatibility. Well, SingldOut may have taken it to the next level. They are offering DNA dating matches. We spoke with SingldOut co-founder Elle France about this unique approach to dating. Find out how to submit your DNA sample on SingldOut.com and how that will tell you who you’re compatible with in this interview with Elle France.
CraveOnline: Does DNA actually create more compatibility than having the same interests, like liking the same movies and hobbies?
Elle France: Most definitely. There really is a science behind attraction. What we test for with the DNA is we check the immune system and also your serotonin genes. We check how dissimilar your immune systems are with somebody else and the more dissimilar they are, the more compatible you’ll be. With the serotonin gene, it measures how well you handle yourself in emotional situations. The more different you handle yourself than someone you’re interested in, the more unlikely you will be a good match.
It’s definitely in our pheromones why we’re attracted to somebody besides finding someone attractive and the similar interests like you said. It’s that one thing that you’ve probably heard over the years where people have used the word chemistry. “I have great chemistry.” What does that mean? What do they think that meant? We know what it means. It’s actually in your genes, in your DNA, why it is you’re actually attracted to somebody. I was a high end matchmaker before I started SingldOut. There’s different reasons why people fall in love. In areas where the man is the plan, they really fall in love more with the lifestyle than supposedly a person. We’re actually going back to the basics of why two people actually fall in love.
So let’s say I get a DNA match from SingldOut and I’m a huge movie buff. I do it for a living and I watch movies all the time. If she is a sports fan and doesn’t watch movies at all, how is that going to work?
We’re just adding another set of filters when you’re searching for somebody. Say you’re on an online dating site and there’s two people there that you’re equally attracted to. They have the same interests, they’re aesthetically appealing to you and one of them shows a DNA score that shows that you’re going to be more compatible with her. Which one would you choose?
We’re just adding the other set of filters. We’re not choosing anybody for you. You go onto SingldOut just like you do on any online dating site. You fill in everything that you like in a person: blonde, 5’6”, athletic, college degree or whatever. You search that way, and then when you find the person that you’re attracted to, you see a DNA store and your score adjusts to each person you’re looking at. It will show whether or not you are going to have chemistry offline, whether you’re going to be compatible offline. There’s a lot of other things that fall into place with social economics and everything, kids and all these other things that fall into place of two people staying together.
We can’t predict that you’re going to have a marriage. If we could do that, it would be a miracle. Nobody can predict that, but we’re able to add another set of filters in helping you choose someone. We’re helping you save time of going on wasted dates of absolutely not having any chemistry with anybody and your hand’s up saying, “Check please, check please, check please” the whole time.
I see, so we’re adding an element, not taking any away.
When we sign up for SingldOut, how do you gather the DNA?
You sign up and you fill out all your basic stuff on your profile. Once you subscribe, we send you a DNA kit through our partners Instant Chemistry. They’re the scientists behind the test. They’re a team of scientists, 9 Ph.D.s. There’s 20 years of research so this is not just something that was done in a bathroom lab, like, “Ooh, let’s just have this niche of DNA for dating.” This is actual research, actual facts behind the DNA test. Once they send you the kid, you give a saliva sample, you send it back to them. They analyze your DNA and your score is posted up on your profile on SingldOut.
What is the timeframe for that?
A couple weeks. The envelope is prepaid too, so it’s a matter of you just dropping it back off to FedEx. It all depends on how quickly the person gets it and does it.
One inherent frustration on any dating site is a woman will get 100s of responses, so it’s hard for a man to get her attention and I’m sure hard for her to deal with all of those. Does SingldOut have any other system to level the playing field, or help filter those responses?
It’s really unrealistic, the dating pool that’s opened with online dating. All of a sudden you have 300 winks in a day of people that like you. It’s mind boggling what it does to somebody but yeah, our app’s coming out soon. We’re going to be adding filters. We also take a small personality test as well so we’ll be able to add the filters of people you just have particular scores with, like 70% or higher, or DNA match only. That’s definitely going to be added in our filters. That’s in phase two of our site that’s coming out. Our brand new site just launched a few weeks ago. You’re obviously not going to match with everybody because you’re matching with people that you’re going to have chemistry with so it’s definitely going to be more of the quality rather than the quantity that’s going to be coming at you.
But you see what I’m saying, men are more often in the position of the pursuer on these sites. Is that just naturally the way it’s going to be?
I think online dating is not going anywhere. It’s just the mass amount of people because it’s right at their fingertips, there’s not really any stopping that. We are adding the extra set of filters, like I said, for you to be able to search. You’ll be able to narrow it down as far as “Let me search for somebody that has a score of 70% and higher.” You’re going to be able to search like any other site, but as far as how many guys search for you, that’s just something that’s not controlled with any online dating site. Once you put your profile up there, you’re free for people to look at. What we are doing is we’re having people sign in with Linkedin. So we’re eliminating just anybody. We’re getting likeminded people, professional singles. That’s really our goal, to cater to professional singles that are short on time. That’s one way we’re eliminating having all social media outlets, like Facebook.
I’ve been focusing on men and women because that’s me, but are DNA matches different for gay couples?
That’s been in the studies right now with the scientists. It’s a question that’s come up before and we have a disclaimer on our site that we don’t have enough research behind it. There’s no issue with gay couples signing up to the site. As far as having the accuracy of the DNA test, we don’t have that at our fingertips right yet, but it is something that’s come up.
Why is that?
I’m not sure. Maybe just the research isn’t there. I’m not the scientist behind it but I think it’s something that they’re working on because it is something that a lot of people have been asking about and wanting, so it’s in the works. We just don’t have access to it right yet.
I imagine gay couples might not have been out long enough for the research to have caught up. It’s been decades but that’s compared to centuries of heterosexual studies.
Right. There’s 20 years of research. In the U.K. they have a lot of pheromone parties or sweaty T-shirt parties where actually men would wear white T-shirts around for a week with no deodorant and no shower. Then they would take the T-shirts off, put them in a plastic bag and women would go to these and smell the T-shirt. The person that they were most attracted to just from smell only was the person they had the most dissimilar immune system, and that’s how they ranked the people. That’s where the basic study comes from, that it’s in our pheromones. Why we’re attracted to somebody, it’s that unspoken thing. It’s not really that tangible to be able to explain what it is about somebody that you have chemistry with.
Day to day, would you still recommend men shower daily?
Yeah, I think that’s probably important to get a date. Shower daily. [Laughs]
And who knows, the gay people who sign up for SingldOut might pave the way for the research.
Like I said, this question has come up a lot so I know that Instant Chemistry is aware of it and working on it. With stuff like this, there really needs to be a lot of research and data behind it to actually be able to find the genes that do this. I think they went through this one step, and now they have to go through the gay and lesbian community as well.
Do you find that ethnicity matters in DNA matches? There are so many mixed race couples now.
That’s come up too and we really haven’t found that it matters. We’re just offering an extra set of filters to take away that first date awkwardness. Typically why people have so many problems with online dating is people lie on their profiles and their pictures are different. Then they go meet the person and they’re nothing like they thought they were going to be. We offer a personality test but we have a comprehensive solution with the DNA analysis.
That’s a good point. DNA doesn’t lie.
DNA doesn’t lie. Look what it’s done for criminology, not just for “The Jerry Springer Show” and these talk shows of who’s your daddy. Look what it’s done for criminology, how it’s freed people from finding DNA samples years and years later. Everything is really in our biology. It’s all in our genes, really how we are as human being and how you respond to another person. It’s like that animal instinct in us of why we’re attracted to somebody else.
If you’re doing DNA tests too, are you tied into a criminal database? That’s better than a background check!
We only test for the four genes. We do no medical or any of that besides the four genes that test for compatibility or attraction. Instant Chemistry is strictly about compatibility. As far as anything going beyond medical or criminal justice, we have nothing to do with any of that.
How much is a membership to SingldOut?
It’s $149 for three months, $199 for six and $249 a year. Right now since we’ve just relaunched we are offering a 50% off coupon special. It’s throughout our social media. Go to Facebook and Twitter.
And those rates are comparable to eHarmony or Chemistry.com.
Yeah, once they break down monthly, they’re very comparable. Plus, you get a DNA kit. The thing is, even if you never leave the site, most people belong to Match, eHarmony, Christian Mingle, even if you’re not Christian you’re in Christian Mingle. It’s a numbers game for people with dating. They’re just on every site out there to find somebody. Once you leave the site, your DNA score never changes, so if you come back, it’s not something you’d have to take over again. Your DNA doesn’t change from one year to the next. It is what it is.
What cities are you in?
We’re based in San Diego, California. We’re open for anybody to go sign up but we’re focusing on Boston back east. They love us back east. L.A., San Diego. We have people from all over but obviously you need to have one city really saturated for people to be able to find people within a certain amount of miles for them to date someone near them. We’re focusing right now back east on Boston and San Diego. Like I said, this site is open to everybody.
So L.A. and Boston have the most concentrated dating pools for starters.
Yeah, L.A. and southern California, and back east.
