There are 7 things you might want to know before starting to date online (according to the OKCupid’s statistics):
1. Never start a dialogue with a simple “hey”
The statistic shows that a message that just says “hey” has a whopping 84% chance of being ignored. Break the ice with something that calls for a more-than-one-word response. Even “how was your day” is a better call than “hey.”
2. Handcuffs and whips
It’s not a secret that the number of users who “have a desire to participate in bondage” increases year over year: 58% of all users showed interest in handcuffs and whips!
3. Stop using the smiley face
The most-used emojis are different types of smiley face, so if you don’t want to bore your flirting partner, choose one of the “emotional emojis” instead because they have the highest reply rate of all. Messages with the sweat emoji, the distressed face or the sleeping emoji were successful at eliciting a response 40% of the time.
4. Don’t be racist
Important questions like “Would you consider dating someone who has vocalized a strong negative bias toward a certain race of people?” and “Is interracial marriage a bad idea?” reveal that most users of dating sites like their romance with a side of tolerance. More than any other questions, people said an answer other than “no” to either of those two inquiries was a deal breaker.
5. It’s not a matter of religion
Only 76% of online daters identify themselves as neither atheist nor agnostic (comparing to 93% of people in the United States according to the 2015 Pew Religious Landscape survey). So if you’re looking for someone to not go to church with on Sundays, you might want to put some extra time into your online dating profiles.
6. Keep it clean
Questions of health and hygiene are very important when it comes to online dating. And it’s not only about clean T-shirts and fresh breath: the number-three question most often marked as important, “What’s your deal with harder drugs (stuff beyond pot)?” reveals that most of the site’s visitors want a significant other who can say “I never do drugs.”
7. Know what’s popular
The top five movies referenced on the site this year, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, Mad Max: Fury Road and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, were all reboots or sequels, meaning making sure you’re up on your mega-movie franchises ensures you’ll have something to talk about on the first date.