"Go big or go home": It's probably a good life mantra, but it's an especially good online-dating mantra.
That's what I took away from my conversation with Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg, the exec who oversees Match, OKCupid, and Plenty of Fish. I asked Ginsberg about her best recommendation for someone new to online dating.
"You get out of it what you put into it," she told me. "If you just have one photo and two lines in your profile, people don't take you as seriously."
Read: To be more successful at online dating, put more effort into crafting a unique profile.
Match sent me stats to back up that observation. For instance, for each additional photo a straight man includes beyond the first one, he gets about 2.8 times the amount of email a man with just one photo gets. For straight women, that number is 1.9.
Note that this stat doesn't take into account what's pictured in the photos. Simply being willing to reveal more about yourself can be appealing. (It's worth noting, however, that there could be other factors at play. For example, more attractive people might be more willing to share more photos of themselves in the first place.)
This research reminded me of some Plenty of Fish data that I wrote about last year.
POF users spend, on average, about 10 minutes creating their profile, but those who spend about 20 minutes are twice as likely to leave the site in a relationship. And POF users who add detail and photos to their profile are four times more likely to meet someone on the site than users who have minimal detail and no pictures.
Even beyond adding more photos and detail to your profile, Ginsberg said it helps to "give people a real glimpse into your life." Let them know you're a runner or a foodie, Ginsberg said, both so you have a better chance of ruling out people with incompatible lifestyles and attracting people who are similar.
To be fair, the same logic — share more about yourself, get more dates — might not apply on other dating services where the demographic skews younger, and maybe not as interested in a long-term relationship.
If there's one glaring takeaway from Match's research and Ginsberg's observations, it's this: If you're serious about finding a partner, put as much effort as you can into making yourself stand out.
