While 30% of the U.S. population have used an online dating platform, 1-in-4 of those users, or 22.5M Americans, have never actually gone on a date. Several years ago, Hinge found only 1-in-500 swipes turned into a phone number exchange, and 4-out-of-5 users can’t recall the first name of their last right swipe.
This minimal success contrasts a more recent finding from a sociologist at Stanford University that connecting online has become the most popular way U.S. couples meet today. Roughly half of Americans ages 18-to-28 say they use online dating sites, according to Pew Research.
The online dating industry, bringing in $2B in 2020 and growing 9% YoY, is a collection of companies that we’ve unjustifiably come to expect very little from — despite their ubiquity and importance. While this dearth of satisfaction can be chalked up to one critical variable: other users, such low expectations should not be a reconciliation of “it is what it is.” This sentiment should be reframed as an invitation for developers, marketers and technologists alike to think harder, innovate better and work faster... especially now that these platforms have been dubbed the necessary evil.
Despite widening the pool of potential dates, developing a ludicrously convenient manner to meet, and sparking countless loving relationships, just because a product occasionally works, does not imply that it’s reliable nor an enjoyable experience.
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