1) Improve your matchmaking approach so that it is truly personalized as advertised: 

In my 9 months with BeyondChai, I did not find the service to be personalized. Rather, I found that the matches my matchmaker sent me met surface-level criteria like ethnicity, shared hobbies, and having a "good" job, but the majority did not meet my most important criteria, like Islam being the primary filter through which they live their lives, a demonstration of commitment to self-improvement and growth, and a demonstration of high emotional intelligence. I gave my matchmaker regular feedback over the last 9 months emphasizing the above criteria, but it was not reflected in the majority of prospects that she sent me. As such, I did not feel like my matchmaker was listening to me and taking my feedback seriously to send me quality matches. Rather, it felt like there was a standardized formula for matching that was not being tailored to meet my individual needs. Despite prospects not meeting my criteria, I challenged myself to move forward with them. In all cases, my initial reservations were confirmed after speaking with them, and I communicated the same conclusion to my matchmaker every time. Speaking with prospects who were not right for me contributed to feelings of burn-out. I realized that my matchmaker and I were just not on the same page about what I was looking for in a partner, and that it’s best for me to explore other matchmaking services that can provide more personalized service, or return to online dating platforms. 

2) Ensure the matches you send your clients reflect your company values and are held to the same standards as your clients: 

Many of the profiles of the prospects I received were bare bones; they were incomplete, had very little information, were riddled with spelling errors, and/or had low quality photos. This was a disappointing and frustrating experience. From the client perspective, I'm expecting to be connected with quality prospects more often than not because BeyondChai is advertised as the #1 matchmaking site in the US and Canada with over 90+ alliances. When I received matches like that, it made me question how this service was providing me with something I could not find myself on a dating app. First impressions are everything, so it's a shame that the hard work the BeyondChai team is doing to find outside prospects is being undermined by low-quality presentation. There seems to be a missing step in your process flow where someone takes the information received from outside recruits to clean it up, standardize it, as well as fill in any gaps to ensure the best possible first impression. BeyondChai emphasizes the importance of quality profiles and photos and even provides Image Consulting services, so by that logic, outside prospects that are shared with your clients should meet those very same standards. By not upholding that value, it leads to a double standard that unintentionally erodes your mission and credibility. 

3) Increase transparency and honesty: 

In my last feedback exchange with my matchmaker, she gave me helpful context into why I received so many bare bones/incomplete profiles. She let me know that she has had to look outside of the BeyondChai pool to find people meeting my criteria. She also said that many times the information from outsides services or non-paid recruits is limited and that they just have to work with the information they get (I made the suggestion that BeyondChai should consider introducing a check-point step in the process where someone cleans up and standardizes the information they receive before it’s shared with the client (see paragraph above)). I would have appreciated more transparency about these limitations sooner as it would have cleared up a lot for me. From my perspective, it was confusing to share feedback, but then continue to receive matches that did not reflect that feedback. I felt like I was not being heard and that my feedback was not being taken seriously. Had I known about the above limitations early on, I would've brainstormed ways to navigate this with my matchmaker and/or explored what next steps made the most sense for me. 

4) Expand the size of your matchmaking team: 

I get the sense that matchmakers have a full plate of clients and that they just do not have the bandwidth to provide truly personalized service. Service is surface-level, and I felt like I was just an item to check off of my matchmaker’s checklist. The first ever match she sent me did not meet the criteria we discussed in the consultation. This was disappointing. I gave feedback, and she delivered a quality second match. Thereafter, the quality of service declined to the point where I asked to be paired with a new matchmaker a few months later. I was told the team was at capacity and that I could not switch. My matchmaker made a commitment to improve, and she did for a short while, but unfortunately the quality of service declined yet again. As such, I decided to terminate service. My matchmaker tried to rectify the situation by sending me a quality match meeting all my most important criteria. This made me see that my matchmaker was indeed capable of finding me more quality matches, but it was only when I asked to switch to a new matchmaker or asked to terminate. This was not a great client experience. I recommend that BeyondChai finds a way to grow the team to reduce the number of clients each matchmaker supports. This will ensure matchmakers have the bandwidth to provide quality service to all customers so they receive the service they are paying for. If BeyondChai is resource constrained and cannot hire, then consider reducing the frequency of matches being sent with each package. I would have much rather received higher quality matches less frequently than lower quality matches every other week.