With over 10 million daily active users, Tinder is one of the most popular and successful dating apps. It’s all about first impressions because people have no choice but to judge you by your photos and the limited information you provide on your bio. Undeniably, Tinder is driven by appearances - as superficial, it may sound.
It is worth noting that Tinder is different for men and women. An interesting Tinder experiment conducted by the Youtube channel ‘whatever’ clearly illustrates this gender disparity. They created two profiles using photos of attractive male and female models. Further, their information was identical regarding age, location and number of pictures. After 1,000 swipes, they discovered that a female profile matched 70% of the time, while a male profile only received 27% of matches. Additionally, the female profile received almost 400 messages in a short period while the male profile only received 28 messages in his inbox.
While the tinder game is different for men and women, the fundamentals of a good tinder profile are the same. Here they are:
A few words are fine - Words that display who you really are. Don’t try to go overboard with your quirkiness and don’t try to be funny. Most importantly, be yourself and do not leave this section blank.
Choose three to six photos that clearly represent your personality and everyday lifestyle. Make sure there is a mix of head shots, body shots and if you are adventurous, include an active photo - But in all, do not include selfies. Research shows that outdoorsy photos get 19% more swipes, and selfies get 8% fewer swipes. Mainly, you want to highlight your best features. Remember, you main Tinder profile picture can make all the difference.
Avoid any blurry, poorly cropped, highly edited photos and heavily filtered photos. You should show what you really look like. Making it highly edited and heavily filtered will make it look like you are hiding something and insecure.
Your prospective matches are not going to waste time analysing ten different images, trying to decipher which one out of the group photo is you. In saying this, avoid photos involving you with your ex partners or people from the opposite sex. In general. In fact, 96% of these photos receive a negative reaction. Although having group photos show you are social, you don’t want your potential match to play ‘Where’s Wally?’, now do you?
According to OkCupid data, women who flirt directly into the camera receive the most messages. On the other hand, men that look away and not smiling receive more attention. Maybe it's because it gives a sense of mysteriousness about them. But don’t go deleting all your non-smiling pictures. Choosing what photo you want as your main is an important choice. Smiling is attractive for both genders and will make you look for genuine and inviting.
Let’s be honest - This is Tinder. If you have a good body, don’t be afraid to accentuate it - don’t make it too obvious though! In saying this, it is best for someone to take it for you. However, as aforementioned, have a mix of photos and not just photos of your body. Although these photos will get you messages, it may not potentially lead to an ‘actual conversation’, well not in comparison with other photos anyways. This is why you should display photos that represent you to receive more meaningful messages.
Get your friends to choose their favourite photos and rank them from best to worse. Once you find some consistency, you would be able to have an idea on what kind of photos you want to display.
Most of the time, an iPhone just isn’t going to cut it. So unless your bestie or roommate has a DSLR camera and some time to lend you, getting an affordable professional is a good idea. A professional will direct your shoot to ensure that all of the above eight points are covered, as well as ensuring that all of the technical details like lighting are met. You can book a Snappr shoot from $59. Book here.
