Dating website Plenty of Fish analyzed 60,000 messages to see which words were most likely to start a conversation.
Compliments go a long way when flirting over text.
For women messaging men, the top words that led to conversations were "nice," "love," "handsome," and "great."
For men, calling women "beautiful" led to a conversation nearly 20% of the time.
What if there were a proven way to guarantee that the person you have your eye on will text you back?
2017-06-14
Science isn't quite there yet, but a recent analysis from dating website Plenty of Fish offers a few useful insights into how to start a conversation and avoid the dreaded "seen" marker with no reply.
Plenty of Fish randomly selected 60,000 in-app messages from users that led to responses and analyzed their contents (apart from standard words like "hey," "hi," "you," or "me") to determine what words helped ensure that the first message became the first of many.
For men, calling a woman "beautiful" led to a conversation nearly 20% of the time. "Love" was the runner-up at 13%, followed by "nice" (7.4%) and "gorgeous" (6.7%).
The success rates were much lower overall for women messaging men. "Nice" garnered the most responses, but the success rate was just 2%. "Love" came in second with 1.94%, then "handsome" with 1.26% and "great" with 0.91%.
From this analysis, it seems that women respond to messages on dating apps more often than men do, but that leading with a compliment is the best way to go no matter who's reaching out first.
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Talia Lakritz is a Life correspondent at Business Insider covering politics and power through a visual storytelling lens. She has reported from the White House as well as military installations, mansions, and museums across the country, bringing readers inside fascinating places through immersive features.Previously, she wrote for The New York Jewish Week and SciShow Space.Talia holds a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Barnard College of Columbia University and ordination as an interfaith minister from One Spirit Learning Alliance. She hopes to one day visit all 50 states and all 14 public presidential libraries.Politics and power:
