The Secret To Scoring A Last-Minute V-Day Date

The time is near: a day you love or one you love to hate — Valentine’s Day. Some singles will hit up anti-Valentine's day parties, some will go out with their friends for a Galentine's Day, and some may even trying to score a first date on Valentine's Day. But how? If you're having trouble meeting someone IRL, there are lots of let’s-meet-right-now dating apps to try these days — Tinder, Hinge, Happn, The League, Bumble, etc. — but with Feb. 14 just a few days away, how can you get a V-Day date this late in the game?

Lucky for us, dating app Hinge, which connects you with friends of friends or third-degree connections, just revealed some ways to score a last-minute date for Valentine’s Day. Turns out, it's all about the words in your message.

Hinge determined what openers are likely to get you a date in one day, and which you should avoid. This was based on Hinge’s data scientists analyzing 5,000 Hinge users who exchanged numbers within 24 hours of matching. Then, they used a text analysis model to identify common phrases and words. And, thankfully there's also research about what not to say. Pretty cool.

What To Say

1. Get LOL’ing

Hinge found that conversations that included words associated with laughing — like “haha” and “lol” — had a 17 percent increase in phone numbers exchanged. That’s a small price to pay, right, and who doesn’t want to trade witty banter with someone, the kind that gets us ROFL’ing? After all, no one wants to date a robot.

2. Say Something Nice… About Their Name

When Hinge users commented on what a cool name someone had, it increased the likelihood of getting their digits by 12.5 percent. Again, that seems worth the effort, yes? And I'd assume complimenting them on other things is helpful, too, like their picture with R2-D2 or the way they volunteer with kids every week. (Not to mention, those are all great conversation starters, but that's for another article.)

What Not To Say

1. Don’t Say “Sorry”

In dating app speak via Hinge, saying “sorry” is a big no-no. According to Hinge's research, if you use it in your opener, you’re 56 percent less likely to exchange numbers with a match. Fifty-six percent! This includes things like apologizing for not writing someone back sooner. If you get tempted to do so, just remember that it's good you were busy and not waiting by your phone, literally, for someone to write. Not explaining creates mystery, and mystery creates intrigue. So keep 'em guessing and don't apologize!

2. Don’t Be Wishy-Washy

The more specific you can be, the better. Hinge says not to be vague when suggesting time periods to meet up, such as “this weekend” or “next week.” Unspecified times like this showed that users were 40 percent less likely to score a number.

I believe it. I remember one guy who used to write, “Maybe we should meet up this weekend.” He'd write it, but not commit to it. Finally, I asked him if the “maybe” was him wanting to meet up… or not; “maybe” was not too convincing. He said “maybe” meant “yes” and we ended up dating a year. But, had we stayed in “Maybe”Land, I probably would have moved him into “No”Land. So, just choose “Yes” or “No” and make it easier on everyone. If you matched with a certain person, you must like them, so make some specific plans. Right now. After all, Valentine's Day is right around the corner.

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