Fun little investigation on what gets the best and worse response rates with first messages on online dating sites:
OKCupid online dating advice
"Ok, here’s the experiment.We analyzed over 500,000 first contacts on our dating site, OkCupid. Our program looked at keywords and phrases, how they affected reply rates"
In summary:
#1 – Be literate. Netspeak, bad grammar, and bad spelling are huge turn-offs.
#2 – Avoid physical compliments.
#3 – Use an unusual greeting.
#4 – Don’t try to take it outside (e.g. chat, phone).
#5 – Bring up specific interests.
#6 – If you’re a guy, be self-effacing.
#7 – Consider becoming an atheist (mentioning God got the lowest response rate)
See the
article for some easy chart details of what words work and don't.
What do you think?
What are your pet peeves or joys when reading a first message from someone? I think my number one dislike is when you get just 'hi' and nothing else in the message. My fav. is probably someone using 'awesome'. :D