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Zoosk takes social dating mobile

Zoosk, an online dating site with more than 30 million users has gone mobile, letting millions of daters stay connected even when on the go.

Now with m.zoosk.com, Zoosk's millions of users can keep up with their social network while away from the computer. Mobile Marketer's Chris Harnick interviewed Shayan Zadeh, cofounder and co-CEO of Zoosk.

Here is what he had to say:

What is the strategy behind Zoosk mobile?
Zoosk's strategy from day one has been to bring the best online dating experience to consumers wherever they are. We have followed this strategy with integrating Zoosk into consumers' social network of choice alongside our destination site, http://zoosk.com.

Zoosk Mobile is really the continuation of the same strategy. We know many of our users are on the go and want to have access to the best dating experience on their handsets, so we took it there. Another manifestation of the same strategy is the recent release of Zoosk Desktop. Basically many doors to the same room.

What vendor did Zoosk tap for the creation of the mobile Web site?
Zoosk Mobile was completely built in-house. We felt that in order to deliver the true Zoosk experience we had to develop the product internally. Also, we look at Zoosk Mobile as a strategic addition to the Zoosk family and accordingly we want all that expertise and IP in-house.

How does Zoosk encourage users of the free version to subscribe to the paid version?
Zoosk is a freemium model. Users can use the product for free. We provide additional premium experiences to users to encourage them to upgrade and subscribe.

What extra content and functionality do subscribers get?
Subscribers have unlimited communication abilities. They also get to find out which other singles have looked at their profiles or have favorited them. In addition, our subscribers get premium placement for their profile throughout the community, which results in more interest in them from other singles.

What types of virtual goods does Zoosk offer its users?
Zoosk users (aka Zooskers) can attach virtual gifts such as roses to their messages to their potential love interests. Doing so, they stand out of the crowd and increase their chance of receiving replies from others.

They can also use our virtual currency (Zoosk Coins) to unlock some of the premium features available to subscribers on an a la carte basis.

How is Zoosk getting the word out about its mobile platform?
We are using a combination of tactics to spread the word about Zoosk Mobile. Because Zoosk already has more than 40 million users, many of whom are interested in using the mobile experience, we have been pushing the mobile product to existing Zoosk users with lots of success.

In addition we are starting to use mobile advertising to acquire brand new users directly on Zoosk Mobile.

So far the results of both overall approaches have been phenomenal.