Sending or receiving a first message on an online dating site can be a very nerve wracking experience. Especially if you’ve sent the message and you’ve found yourself attracted to this person for whatever reason, your hands may get sweaty as you go to open the message and your heart may beat in anticipation of what the person will say. Or maybe you’re the one sending the first message to someone you’re interested in. What do you say? To help make the first message experience a little easier to handle and to increase your chances of engaging the person in an actual back-and-forth conversation, here are five online dating tips for the first message experience.
1. Message Them When They Are Online Right Now
You’ve seen that beautiful woman or handsome man and now you’d like to send the person a message. Before you do, check to make sure the person is online. Your open and response rates will always be higher if the person is currently online. Most online dating sites have indicators that show you when someone is currently on. Choose those times to shoot your message over and you’ll have much greater success.
2. Unique Subject Line
Subject lines like ‘Hey there’, ‘Hey beautiful’, or ‘My name is Blank’ are so common they are likely to get passed over altogether. If you are a man sending a message to a hot woman, you must assume that her inbox is pretty full nearly all the time. Even if you’re a woman sending it to a hot guy, you must stand out. Go off-the-wall with it. Subject lines like, “Knock knock,” “Can I ask you a question?,” or “I bet I know what your favorite color is,” tend to work well. Think outside of the box and intrigue the other person into opening and responding to your first online dating message.
3. Humor Always Works
You don’t have to be a famous comedian to rift on an online dating site. You just need to think of something off-the-wall that the person may crack a smile at. Read the person’s profile and think of a subject you can rift on. Make a joke about their intro. If you’re not naturally a funny person and you wouldn’t know funny if it came and slapped you in the face, just write something off-the-wall and out of left field and hope the person has a great sense of humor.
4. Keep Content Short And Sweet
Your first message should only be long enough to say what you want to say, nothing more. Don’t make the person feel as though you agonized over this message. Save it for the actual conversation. This is the time to get a response out of the person. Just ask them how they’re doing, ask them a question about something you read on their profile or send them a joke. Don’t agonize over it, just type it out and hit submit.
5. Get The Phone Number Or Facebook
The ultimate goal with these online dating tips for the first message experience are designed to get you the phone number or Facebook address, anything you can use to contact the person in a more intimate setting. This will allow you to take the conversation to the phone and ultimately to the restaurant or coffee shop for your first offline date.
These online dating tips for the first message experience should give you more opportunities to find the love of your life. Read these over carefully and apply them to your own messages for great open and response rates and better online dating success.
Do you have any questions regarding online dating first messages? Leave them in the comments section and we’ll do our best to answer them.