Christian Connection Review September 2019

All new users are given free 3 days as a trial. This trial will give more access to the site compared to a standard user. On the registration page, you only have to provide your basic information. Name, email address, gender, birthday, and location. After that, your account is created. Following that, you just have to choose between different options as you describe "The Basics" and then your "Life & Work". The basics consist of your physical characteristics, church group, what you're looking for, etc., while "Life & Work" is pretty self-explanatory. Not all of the fields are mandatory. The fields aren't heteronormative since Christian Connections welcomes LGBT members. You can start using the site even with your profile still half complete, so always remember to complete your profile details first. Once you have signed up, you're going to keep seeing a reminder to verify your email, since it is mandatory.

Upon starting to use the site as a free trial member, you will observe that you can send as many waves to anyone as many times you like. However, you can only send 5 messages per day. Once your trial runs out, if you don't pay for a subscription, you won't be able to send messages. If you receive messages, you can only reply through "preset replies", a set of pre-written messages. They read:

• Thank you for taking the time to contact me, however I don't wish to take things further. All the best with your search.
• Thanks for your message. I'm not in a position to offer more than friendship, but it would be nice to get to know you better. Message me or wave at me if you're interested.
• Thanks for your message. I like your profile, however I'm in a bit of a hurry, so this is just a quick "Hi". I'll be in touch as soon as I can.

As you can see, the gist of these messages is pretty limited. The first is a rejection, the second is a more subtle rejection, while the last is a TTYL (Talk to you later). None of them convey "I'm sorry I can't reply right now, I'm not a paying user. Would you mind chatting on a different platform?" which would be very useful for standard users. You can still send waves though. Messaging (both sending and receiving) is unlimited for paying users.

Profiles on Christian Connection are more detailed than most websites. It also helps that the Edit Profile page is very easy to fill in while maximising the amount of information that can be provided. The first part describes the user's basic details, mostly focusing on physical characteristics. Apart from the given fields, users also have the option to write their own descriptions about themselves. Fortunately, most of Christian Connection members write very detailed self-summaries. Following that, there is a section titled "Life and Work". This is where users can provide facts about their occupation, education, political views, and financial situation. Then, the "Faith" section, which is the basis of the whole site. Members state their faith's importance in their lives, their church involvement, and inspirations. It also includes a description. Pop culture makes an entrance in the Interests section. Here, people can include everything they like about TV, Films, Music, Reading, Sports, and Dream Holidays.

There are three types of memberships on Christian Connection: Free trial, Standard, and Fully Paid. The Free Trial is offered to all new users, and it lasts for 3 days. The only difference between its benefits and those of a Standard membership is the ability to view who's online, send 5 messages per day, and have unlimited posting in the discussion boards. If your trial expires and you don't pay for a subscription, you won't be able to view who's online, you can only reply using "preset replies" (pre-written messages), post on discussion boards once every 24 hours. Fully Paid members, on the other hand, have unlimited access to the website, and get priority customer support.

Since the site is founded on Christian faith, they offer some of the easiest and most transparent premium transactions we've seen. Users can cancel their subscription anytime, straight through the website, and still get to use the remaining duration of their membership. They allow refunds on a case-to-case basis (usually your most recent payment, if it hasn't been used to send or receive messages). They even discourage users from issuing a cancellation through their bank in fear of a "chargeback". Deleting your account, if you still have subscription time remaining, forfeits the rest of that time. Additionally, it automatically cancels your premium subscription.