We’ve all been here: You match with that cutie you’ve had your eye on and have waited the appropriate two hours. But you realize: You don’t know what to say to said cutie. Beyond reacting like Liz Lemon and just, you know, inviting yourself over, you’re at a loss. If you don’t have mutual friends or interests, it could be hard to find the right thing to say.
Dating app Hinge, which is looking to brand itself as the more relationship-focused alternative to other dating services, is trying a new approach to driving conversation with their Story Cards. After a limited trial rollout, the cards are now available to every user.
After you swipe through your potential matches for the day, you’ll get a deck of cards to swipe through. The cards ask simple yes-or-no questions about your life experience and come in tiers. For example, if you say you’ve been to Europe the cards will work to find out if you’ve been to a specific city or museum.
Justin McLeod, Hinge founder and CEO, tells us that he sees the cards as acting like a good host at a house party: They don’t just introduce you by name, they let you know that you have something in common. The questions seem to be a success at driving higher chat rates and deeper engagement, although the data is obviously a little limited.
Hinge plans to add more questions moving forward. McLeod says that people answer about 100 of the questions on average, and that they swipe through the questions in the first day.
Below, we’ve included the answers most and least likely to help you bond with a match. What do you think? Any surprises?
People are most likely to bond over:
1) Being suspended from school
2) Southeast Asia
3) Partying to Mardi Gras
4) Being a cyclist
5) Being a lefty
6) Middle East
7) Golf
8) Fishing
9) Helicopter
10) Farmers People are least likely to bond over: 1) Interest in board games
2) Sea Creature attack
3) Love of cooking
4) Interest in comics
5) Having tattoos
6) Art Basel
7) Africa
8) College Athletes
9) Water Sports
10) Artists
2) Southeast Asia
3) Partying to Mardi Gras
4) Being a cyclist
5) Being a lefty
6) Middle East
7) Golf
8) Fishing
9) Helicopter
10) Farmers People are least likely to bond over: 1) Interest in board games
2) Sea Creature attack
3) Love of cooking
4) Interest in comics
5) Having tattoos
6) Art Basel
7) Africa
8) College Athletes
9) Water Sports
10) Artists