The Scoop: Many singles are tired of scrolling through apps or websites only to find users who aren’t looking for serious relationships. GoMarry flips the script by catering to users who are searching for lasting love and marriage. Every GoMarry member is interested in finding a long-term partner and wants to move past the hookups and dating games. That’s why GoMarry designed features that encourage users to decide early on if they are compatible with someone in the long run.
In a 2019 study, 3 in 10 American respondents said they had used a dating site or app. People aged 18 to 49 and those who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual more often said they had visited dating platforms. People over 50 said they had tried online dating as well, but substantially less often than their younger counterparts.
Finding serious relationships on those platforms, however, is another story. In the same study, only about 1 in 10 adults said they developed a long-term relationship with someone they had met online.
The majority of dating apps and sites seem to cater to people looking for flirtations and hookups, which can frustrate marriage-minded singles. Some of that has to do with the number of millennials putting off marriage or forgoing it altogether. While marriage rates in the U.S. have dropped overall, the marriage rate for millennials is predicted to drop to 70%. That’s significantly lower than the marriage rate of their parents’ generation (91%), and the rate for Gen Xers (82%). One in 4 of today’s young adults are projected to reach their mid 40s to mid 50s without ever having married, according to the Pew Research Center.
Azad Chaiwala saw that downward marriage trend in his native United Kingdom. He responded by creating GoMarry, a platform designed to be the opposite of quick-swipe dating culture.
“Being of Asian and Muslim origin has given me a really deep insight into how valuable family is, and I want everyone to experience that. The ever-growing loneliness that is created by broken families really pains me,” he said.
Every member on GoMarry is interested in settling down with a long-term partner and starting a family. And the platform offers features that help singles ensure they have a deep connection with a potential partner.
Azad links the deteriorating state of searching for love in the UK to what he calls “quick-swipe date culture.” Dating apps attract some singles who are always looking for the next best thing and don’t have the interest — or the tools — to make long-term relationships work.
“Easy access to everything leads to long-term relationships breaking down,” said Azad.
GoMarry connects those who seek long-term relationships with like-minded singles so members can take their time knowing anyone on the platform could be “the one.”
The Platform Differentiates Itself From Hookup Sites
Azad didn’t set out to create a site for marriage-minded singles. He started with a successful run in the gaming industry before gaining experience with online platforms for building families, including SecondWife.com and Polygamy.com.
After his gaming career, Azad turned his attention to family-building websites because he saw the effect mainstream dating apps and sites had on younger singles. Part of the problem he discovered was that singles who seek to marry and start a family and those looking for hookups were using the same dating platforms to find compatible partners.
On GoMarry, Azad said he sees two types of people. The first are people who want to dedicate themselves to one person and enjoy the stability a family can bring into their lives. The other type are people who used to be interested in hookup culture and dating around but are now ready to settle down.
“They are now yearning for stability but have surrounded themselves with people who are still in it for the momentary thrill,” Azad told us.
GoMarry has started to attract singles worldwide, though most are from the UK, the Philippines, and the United States. Currently, the platform’s gender breakdown skews toward women, who represent 70% of members, as opposed to men, who make up 30% of the member base.
“There have been certain days where we have seen up to 97% female sign-ups,” Azad said.
Helping Singles Build Honest Connections
With marriage in mind, GoMarry only incorporates features that help couples get to know one another.
One of these is the site’s Practical Marriage Questionnaire that includes more than 170 questions to help singles determine if they are compatible with another member.
“Questions range from how many children would you like to have and when, to levels of faith, to long-term illnesses, income, cooking, and dreams,” Azad told us. “We want to eliminate as many things as possible now before they become an issue further down the road in a relationship.”
Other interesting questions include, “What core characteristics are important to you in a spouse?” and “What would you do if you had only 10 days to live?”
Once users fill out the questionnaire, the platform matches them with others who answered similarly.
When users decide they want to meet up, they don’t go on dates. Instead, they agree to hold Marriage Meetings.
A Marriage Meeting includes the two singles who want to meet and each brings a friend or family member. The friends or family members ask the potential significant other questions, so the single person is not swayed only by good looks or superficial personality alone when he or she answers.
The objective of both the questionnaire and the Marriage Meetings is simple; to ensure two people don’t have deep-rooted issues that would cause their relationship to fail in the long term.
“Most relationships fail gradually. Over time, you learn new things about your partner, some of which are not to your liking. Negativity and regret may start to build up, eventually leading to the failure of that relationship. Marriage Meetings allow you to get all the skeletons/demons out of the closet before they make any commitments,” said a post on the GoMarry site.
GoMarry Offers Marriage Meetings for Serious Singles
Recent statistics in the United States suggest that 40% to 50% of first marriages end in divorce. One of the biggest reasons those percentages are so high is a lack of compatibility, according to Psychology Today.
“Divorcing couples may have different values, such as in parenting or religion, or even diverging political views. Or it might be that there are no common interests, and the relationship has stagnated, leaving one or both partners bored,” wrote Ann Gold Buscho, Ph.D.
Other reasons for divorce may include constant conflict, lack of communication, and money issues, among others. GoMarry encourages singles to address those concerns early in the relationship — and talk about their incompatibilities — so fewer issues arise later down the line.
The platform also weeds out singles who aren’t serious about forming long-term relationships by consistently focusing on marriage. Rather than worrying that a potential partner may not be interested in a long-term relationship, GoMarry users know that they’re meeting members with the same goals.
Recently, GoMarry rolled out Android and iOS versions of its app so that even more users can connect with singles like themselves.
As a marriage and family-oriented person, Azad is glad to help relationship-focused singles find what they’re looking for.
“I have made my fortune, and now my focus is only on projects that help make the world a better place. I believe we are the app that people don’t want but need,” he said.
