Improving success rate on modern dating apps

viking22

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It seems in the modern world they are the only way to meet anyone. Women are far less approachable in the real world and when they go out it tends to be to spend time with their girlfriends (brunches, girls nights out, gym classes etc) rather than to meet men.

I am not movie star good looking. But I am a decent looking guy in his late 30s (I look younger so tend to put my age as 35 to get around age filters My photos are decent and I took a lot of time to select them and asked the opinion of friends and family. I have a good job and some cool interests which give women potential conversation starters. But it is still a pretty joyless struggle.

Generally if I swipe right on a few hundred women I will get a couple dozen matches. Maybe half of these will be attractive the other half average (I am convinced that the apps match you with women you didn't swipe right on). While it is a pretty poor percentage rate I gather a lot of men hardly get any matches at all let alone with attractive women.

But I quickly discovered matches mean very little. To the extent matches message you it will generally be generic conversation starters, generic questions about my photos or interests, and generally little work with and a lot of the time after a few messages they just stop replying and I have had limited success trying to restart conversations. So unless something really resonates with them from my profile or they really like my photos it generally goes nowhere.

And of course the design features encourage flaky ADHD behaviour. Every girl and her friends know how to take good photos. So even average looking girls with make up/filters/the right lighting/the right angles/flattering clothing can look attractive and get hundreds of matches. they also put little work into the content of their profiles giving you little to work with in terms of asking questions etc. And most men out of laziness or frustration just play a numbers game swiping right on as many photos as they can.

Generally the women on these apps also seem to be very picky, narcissistic, entitled, demanding and it quickly becomes apparent they have been single for years and are serial daters. The rare ones that seem genuine and normal are usually either average looking or boring.

The whole thing is frustrating especially as I am over serial dating and hook ups and would like a meaningful relationship.

Do any guys have any good tips?
 

Bingo-Player

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If dating apps are your only source of women in 2023 then you're in big trouble

If your profile is generic and "nice" you are in even bigger trouble

You need some sort of edge to cut through the bullsh1t on them

In some ways they force you to level up your text game you have to get creative and I do a lot of A/B split testing on them to see what sort of bites I get to different material

because you will never meet a lot of these girls you can really let your tongue loose with all kinds of random sh1t , it really doesn't matter wether they bite or not and sometimes you will get valuable insights

Thing is the vast majority of women on these apps will either be looking for something unrealistic that they can't find in reality or they will just be looking to get fvcked

Neither group are really taking the process seriously so why should you just have fun on them
 

BillyPilgrim

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Thing is the vast majority of women on these apps will either be looking for something unrealistic that they can't find in reality or they will just be looking to get fvcked

Neither group are really taking the process seriously so why should you just have fun on them
A lot of times it's both

OP don't ask the opinion of your friends and fam for your pics, imo that is where you messed up right there. As BP said you need an edge, and preferably a unique vibe/presentation on top of that.

As tips you can aim for younger women (yes, lie about your age to get your foot in the door) or learn to read their pics and bios so you can identify and weed out the hopeless romantics and serial daters (the two flavors of "unrealistic"). You want the ones who 1) don't have a resting b1tch face, 2) don't have crazy eyes and 3) don't have completely prude pics. There are some worthwhile women on there, but you have to spot them first.
 

Captain Redbeard

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Apps are far from the only way to meet women and your beliefs about approaching in person are a large limiting factor.

To echo Bingo, start experimenting with some different messages. And keep in mind why you are messaging them in the first place. It's not to learn about how their day was and have another boring generic conversation, it is to screen and advance the interaction towards an in person meet.
 

BillyPilgrim

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it is to screen and advance the interaction towards an in person meet.
I would add an intermediate step in there - raising their buying temperature before setting meet logistics. So in addition to experimenting with the openers, you also want to experiment with conversational templates to increase her attraction (while also not ignoring comfort-building).
 
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