How did Tinder secure its dominant position in the online dating world?
Sex sells. Always has done. And it probably always will.
Tinder is smart. It makes you think it’s selling sex, but it’s really only offering you the possibility of it. It’s a bit of an illusion, but a clever one. This suggestiveness appeals to our penchant for titillation more than full-blown exposure. Consider how lingerie or a suit can be more attractive than nakedness.
Sometimes it’s good to leave something to the imagination. But why has Tinder been such a phenomenal success where Match.com, PlentyofFish, and Cupid.com tried and failed? Since it launched in 2012, Tinder has acquired 57 million users and can be found in 190 countries, translated into 40 languages.
Like what you see? Swipe right
Primarily, it’s so easy to use. Setting up a profile involves less hassle than other online sites, and all you have to do if you like someone is to swipe right on their profile. Swiping left or right has become so popular, it’s even entered the vernacular around the world for whether we like or dislike something. Great marketing.
The developers at SuperOne, along with the company’s design partners at Fantasy, really love this most definable aspect of the Tinder experience. In fact, they love it so much that they have made the swipe right/swipe left feature an integral component in terms of answering questions.
For example, an image of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is posted alongside the question “Is this Cristiano Ronaldo?” Swipe right for YES, Swipe right for left. And so on. (By the way, the questions will be a LOT harder than that!)
Self-confidence boost locked in
Tinder uses the swipe right/swipe left component to cement its impressive active user base by boosting people’s self-confidence. How? you may ask. Well, looking for love can be, at the best of times, a minefield of hurt or confused feelings. People want to feel confident. Rejection doesn’t sell. But the most astute element of Tinder is it instantly eliminates rejection.
You can only send a message to someone whose profile you like if BOTH OF YOU swipe right on each other’s profile. That way, users avoid insecurity from the off. If you’re chatting to someone, they already like how you look. It appeals to the value we place in exterior beauty in accordance with our own selfworth. What’s more, by implementing this double-door matching system in which men could only contact women who liked them back, Tinder cut out the unsolicited messages women on other dating apps often receive.
Fun experience central for female engagement
This has been a real pain point for other platforms, which are often populated by men who harass women with uncomfortable messages. Tinder made all that a thing of the past. All the messages you receive are because you’ve already swiped right.
Tinder also offered some other neat features, like a “proximity filter” for you to search for hook-ups in your local vicinity, sometimes even within a one-mile radius. Not looking for the ‘one’ just yet? Have some fun first. What it really understood was that it was a particular idea to emphasize the fun aspect for women rather than make them feel they are entering a quest for a suitable man. It figured that if the majority of women are on one dating app, then men have no choice but to flock there themselves.
Being astute, and using phraseology like “keep playing?”, made dating for women seem more like a game for the first time. And, whenever you find a game you like playing, you’ll invite everyone else to play too. Can you spot another link to SuperOne there? You probably can.
Find a game — like a game — tell others about it. That’s one of the key aspects to SuperOne’s growth projections. One day people could be talking about this new platform in the same breath as Tinder, and that’s something to strive for.