As I’m sure you’re frustratedly aware, a 50th-percentile man on Tinder gets next to no likes, 0-4 per day, depending on the size of the city they live in. But as explained in my previous article, I believe this is due to 2 primary factors…

• Bad Photos (Selfies, bad lighting, awkward posing, making ugly faces, not showing you’re face at all)

• Poor Self-Care (High body-fat percentage, poor choice of hair cut, and poor choice of glasses were the most common offenders)

This led me to the obvious question, how many likes could an average man get with maxed-out looks and an optimized profile?

The Experiment

This is my friend Eric(not his real name), and he’s a pretty average-looking guy.

Ok. He’s probably a little above average. To his credit though, I believe this is mostly due to maxing out his appearance (nothing you couldn’t do).

• He’s low bodyfat(~10%ish)

• He has a solid haircut for his hair-type and level of hair-loss

• He has clear skin thanks to taking the proper medication

I believe if these factors weren’t in-check, his looks would be below average, and with them in-check, he’s a little above average. So overall, he’s a good representation of an average guy from a looks-genetics standpoint and a great test subject to find out what a maxed-out average man can do on Tinder in 2024.

How The Experiment Worked

For this experiment, I took him out and took what I consider to be 3 great photos, 1 good photo, and used 1 ok photo he already had, then edited them a little so they’d pop (nothing that makes him look like a different person or anything).

I then created a profile with the pictures shown, in the order shown, and using Tinder Gold I placed him in Chicago, a diverse North American city with a population of 2.7 million (admittedly pretty large).

I then let the profile run for 48 hours, using a boost at 12pm on the second day (keep reading to see how effective it was), after the 48 hours were up I liked all the profiles and waited for another 48hours to see how many messages he received, and then tracked all the data.

I listed his height at 5’10” (he’s 5’9” the average North American height, but as mentioned in a previous article I recommend listing your in-shoe height if you’re below 6’2”) and listed his real age of 19.

The bio was a simple witty one-liner (which I recommend).

“POV: We’re on a date at my favourite niche coffee shop🫣”— referencing Starbucks shown in the first picture.

The Results

126 likes in 48 hours (Yeah, mogs 98% of profiles)

As you know, all likes aren’t created equal though (baddies > fatties), so I also tracked the attractiveness of the women who swiped on him.

High - 11 – 8.7% - Someone who stands out in a group as particularly attractive

Mid - 67 – 53.2% - Someone most men would be happy to date but doesn’t particularly standout

Low - 48 – 38.1% - Someone only a minority of men would be happy to date (not necessarily undateable though)

Women in general are more conscious of their appearance than men so unsurprisingly over half of the women would widely be considered dateable.

Keep in mind everyone has their types though, so realistically, you’d probably be happy to date 25-45% of the women who swiped on him from a purely looks perspective, depending on how picky you are.

As far as messages that came in (women who message first generally are willing to go out with you if you seem normal and have a good converting text funnel) he received 15.

Messages Received from
Mid – 8 (1 bordering on high)
Low – 7

Not bad.

The boost was used at 12PM on the second day of the profile and generated an additional 22 likes following a similar quality distribution to the likes from the rest of the experiment, proving they are absolutely worth it if you have an already good profile.

Boost Likes
High - 3 – 13.6%
Mid - 9 – 40.9%
Low - 10 – 45.4%

Assuming he swiped on 30% of the women (on the pickier side), ran a good text funnel or had me run it for him (convert matches to dates at 10-20%), he’d of found himself on around 4-8 dates on 48 hours worth of matches on one singular dating app (I’d put money that’s more than you went on last week).

Conclusion

Dating apps aren’t broken you probably just suck at using them (not you’re fault by the way, you’ve never been taught how to use them). Dating apps are absolutely the most efficient way to meet women in 2024 (and have been for over a decade now).

Admittedly the process of succeeding on them as a non-chad is a little complex, but that’s why you have me (I promise you won’t die alone if you follow my advice).

It’s felt like the culture has pushed back against dating apps in the last few years, with men abandoning them left and right due to them not being a walk in the park. But that’s just less competition for you. Statistically speaking they are still by far the best way to meet women.

Plus who said finding your life partner was going to be a walk in the park anyways?

Regardless. This article came out longer than I was expecting so I’ll save how to take great photos that get matches for next week, but I hope you found this interesting, it took a ton of work.

As usual, leave your thoughts on the poll below, I read every comment.

Move me to your primary inbox if I’m not there already, reply “hi” if you want to show support (tells Gmail I’m not a spammer), and I’ll see you next Thursday.