By Arpana
New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) After playing cupid for a decade, shaadi.com, India’s oldest and most popular matrimonial website, is now charting a new course in social responsibility. It is tying up with the Foundation for Blood Ailments (FBA) and the Delhi Foundation for Deaf Women (DFDW). While DFDW has been providing matrimonial assistance to those with hearing impairments since 1991, FBA creates awareness about thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder, and helps prevent it since there is no real cure for the ailment.

“We tied up with DFDW for the first time in 2007 and helped them organise their annual swayamvar (mass marriage). The response was phenomenal and we plan to continue supporting them in their future endeavours as well,” said Vibhas Mehta, business head of shaadi.com.

“As far as shaadi.com is concerned, we have had listing categories for special cases from the time we launched in 1997,” Mehta said.

The tie up with FBA was flaunted in a special section called “We Care” on the site where other social initiatives were also highlighted.

“The tie-up with FBA is to create awareness about thalassemia and encourage couples to go for blood tests before their marriage to determine their thalessemia status. We have prominently displayed banners of FBA in the section, along with a link-back to the FBA site,” he added.

Asked kind of response he gets from special clients, Mehta said: “Almost three percent of our members are from the differently-disabled category, which is an encouraging sign. It means that nearly 300,000 people are active on our site and are using online matrimonial portals to find their life-partners.”

What sets shaadi.com apart from its competitors is the fact it has been constantly innovating itself, said Mehta.

“We are constantly in touch with our customer and understand their changing needs. We have a special 24 X 7 customer care division, which is accessible to our customers round the clock. Our customer care executives interact with members on a regular basis. We value our customer feedback, as it helps us understand their needs and design product enhancements and offerings accordingly.

“All the new features and services we have offered to our customers in the past have been a result of diligent research and analysis of our customer feedback.”