How Long Is Too Long To Wait For A First Date?
A study has found anything beyond 23 days is too long to wait for a first date off a dating site. Wait too long and your chances for success drop substantially.
As soon as you fire off your first email to a woman you need to meet as quickly as possible because a countdown begins. There's a "tipping point" that starts after the first time contact is made until the first time you actually meet for a date.
The longer you wait when meeting women on dating sites, the more like you are to disappoint them. The study found you have between 17-23 days to meet before your chances plummet.
Why You Must Act Fast When Meeting Women Online
The study, "When Online Dating Partners Meet Offline: The Effect of Modality Switching on Relational Communication Between Online Daters," examined the dating timeline between initial contact and the first date between two people who met on a dating site.
433 people participated in the study; 265 were women. The participants were asked to evaluate the extent to which their partner's communication behavior, attitudes, and overall impression met or exceeded their expectations based on their initial face to face meeting.
The study found that when you email a woman and initiate contact, she may create a mental representation of you by reading your online dating profile and using that information to "fill-in-the-blanks" regarding other areas of your life which you don't share on your profile. Basically, she's imagining who you might be in the offline, or real world.
The study theorizes that there is a "tipping point" when too much communication before a first date causes a person to idealize someone they're communicating with before actually meeting them face to face. What this means is that if you email and text a lot and take too long to wait for a first date, the woman may build unrealistic expectations of you.
This naturally leads to a letdown when she meets you because you'll fail to meet her lofty expectations. Thus, the longer you wait when meeting women online, the lower your chances of success. The "tipping point" occurs between 17 to 23 days from initial contact.
How The Tipping Point And Profile Pictures Are Related
I always say that you should have 6-8 pictures on your online dating profile to maximize your chances of success. The study backs this up because it showed that the number of photos you have on your dating profile can also be a predictor of success in your dating life as well.
The greater number of photographs you share on your profile, the less likely the woman will seek information about you. The reason is that when you have numerous dating profile pictures on your profile, you are providing information about yourself and reduce her need to question you about your physical characteristics.
Studies show that most people think people lie about their dating profile. You are a stranger after all, so women need to feel safe and assured you are on the up and up. When you display several pictures on your dating profile, you are reducing this fear for women.
Final Thoughts
You don't want to become an email buddy with women. Act fast, but not too fast. Don't be too eager either. If you take too long to wait for a first date, women will paint a mental picture of you with high expectations you'll never measure up to.
Playing it cool actually makes you hotter with women. Studies show if a woman is uncertain about your interest level in her, she'll be more attracted to you. I covered this in a blog post; Why Playing Hard To Get Is Effective With Women Online.
You should shoot for under 17 days when meeting women on dating sites. 17 days seems like a long time but with work, kids, life, and other things you no doubt notice that time can fly by quickly.
You'll experience more positive outcomes when you move toward face to face dates relatively quickly. Get her phone number then aim for setting up the first date sooner than later.