Sep 16 2008
The Boston Bachelor’s Online Dating Challenge: Part II, The Results
BY THEBOSTONBACHELOR.COM / September 16, 2008
Several months ago, I wasted a few hours of my life performing an experiment in online dating. In a nutshell, the objective was to see which headlines and profiles on Match.com attracted the most female responses. Per the rules of the experiment, I was not permitted to initiate any communication; the profiles and headlines had to do all the work in attracting the lonely ladies.
So which profile and headline came out on top? I’ll start off by saying this: I did not receive any emails during the 2 months of the experiment. Yes, boo hoo, tear. There are some things in life I will never get, no matter how much brainpower I put into it. One is physics, the second is computer science, and the third is online dating.
I’d also like to note that only the first two lines of your profile text actually show up in search results. For that reason, I’m only displayed the first two lines of profile text per each headline below.
With the necessary introductions being out of the way, let’s get to it, shall we?
Here are the top 3 headlines/profiles that received the most number of confirmed views:
2nd Runner Up:
Headline: Honesty, Trust, and Respect
Profile: Let me guess… you’re here for the same reason I am. As long as you’re not some spammer in Bombay, then continue reading.
1st Runner Up:
Headline: I Never Judge
Profile: People today are so afraid of being judged in a negative way that they walk through life on eggshells. They hide their true personality and passions and live a life of unfulfillment and unhappiness.
The Winner:
Headline: Apples Oranges Pears Grapes Mangoes Bananas Pineapples Watermelons Cherries Strawberries Lemons Tomatoes Watermelons
Profile: Let me guess… you’re here for the same reason I am. Bars and nightclubs just aren’t the places to go to find someone you can really connect with, much less have a stimulating conversation with.
Which headline/profile performed the worst, and received no confirmed views?
The Worst:
Headline: I Will Never Love You
Profile: Let me guess… you’re here for the same reason I am. As long as you’re not some spammer in Bombay, then continue reading.
Unfortunately, the censors at Match.com prevented me from posting a few headlines that could have made the results more interesting:
”What’s a Clitoris?”
”I Love Sex But Not You”
”I Heart Bondage”
”Looking for Porn Watching Partner”
So there you have it, folks. Now what’s the big lesson to be learned from my online dating experiment? This.
-The Boston Bachelor
Kid,
I just hit the floor. I mean, online dating just sucks. El fin.
Fruit Salad,
~Yummy Yummy
Agreed online dating has its definite downs… and slight peeks at times but im surprised the fruit did it for ya! I wonder if this would work in attracting men… hmmmmMMm
Dunno what you guys are talking about.
When I first joined Lavalive about 4 years ago I was going out on dates twice a week; that quickly sputtered off to about 1 new one a month, until I found my longtime girlfriend. (Went through about 30 women).
I’m an average looking guy. Women rate me as a 7. But I write creatively and am funny and show confidence. That’s how you do it.
You forgot to mention how you gave yourself a high-five and did a fist-pump after you wrote “That’s how you do it.”
All busting aside, the point of the experiment was to see how often women would initiate the first contact (and I’m not talking about Sveta from Moscow who needs a plane ticket) in the online dating world. I intentionally didn’t send any emails, winks, or even view any member profiles. If most of the women you dated during your online dating thing emailed you or messaged you first, then post the profile and headline you used. I’d be more than curious to see it.
I do have friends who have used online dating and entered into relationships as a result. But I’ve yet to know anyone personally who’s met a quality girl or had a quality relationship from it. So I still say it’s a big bowl of mash banana.
About 6 years ago, it was still common to get AOL IMs from random girls and people on AIM that you’ve never met before. I recently read a post on the subject of online dating from a guy who was recalling the good ol’ days back in high school, when he would sneak out of his bedroom at night to hookup with some chick he had only met 30 minutes prior over IM. Nowadays, social networking and online dating sites serve as the primary means of meeting new people on the Internet. Also, the number of people who belong to these site has grown tremendously over the years. This brings up a two-fold problem: communication filters and time.
Online dating is becoming more like direct marketing with every passing minute. A 10% conversion rate means you’re a fucking ace. Women are being deluged with so much email that any plain-Jane can setup a 2 minute profile and get hundreds of responses from lonely men in the first few hours. (If any guy out there doesn’t believe me, create a fake profile with some random girl’s pic on Craigslist and see for yourself.) You can have the world’s greatest profile and email, but if you’re just a few days late you could get lost in the blizzard. Sure a few women might go out there and read every single email they get, but once you’ve seen the first 300 you’ve seen them all, no?
Even if your writes back to your initial email, then you have to go through the whole email follow-up game, then usually an IM chat, then a phone call, and then finally you get to see this person in person. I got bored just typing that.
Yes, online dating can work, if you can take the time to create a very good profile and headline with the right pictures. And if you can spend hours sending lots and lots of individually tailored emails each week. I don’t see why anyone would want to spend so much time on something with such a low response rate. I think there was a time when online dating was a reasonable alternative to dating in the real world, but that time has come and gone. And I hate to say this, but most guys who try online dating usually do so because he has trouble meeting women in the real world. I’ve never met a guy who succeeded with online dating who wasn’t already successful with women to a certain extent. I have, however, met plenty of guys where online dating became just another self-esteem crusher.
There’s a few things that can be done to save online dating:
1) Maintain a strict 50-50 m/f ratio.
2) Set limits to the number of members a person can contact (ex. 10 a week).
3) Revert to IMs and chatrooms (50-50 m/f ratio limited) as the initial mode of communication. Fuck email.
4) Members can only be contacted by as many members as they contact themselves (ie. keep women from playing the sit-and-wait game).
5) Have the system set up the initial contact (keeps the completely clueless guys from having batting .000).
Eh, who am I kidding, online dating is still a big time and money waster. 20 or 30 bucks a month plus several hours of my time is not worth a new date a month; well, at least not for me.
Appreciate the feedback.
I’m with you on the bowl of mash banana kid.
Or you can just outsource your online dating to these guys… http://www.virtualdatingassistants.com
Online dating has an array of positives, like being able to get to know the person better before even meeting them. this gives it an edge over other forms of dating.
Married dating site for those looking for a married affair, or in a relationship,
and looking for a marital affair or married dating.
http://www.marriedaffair.co.uk
Crap