It turns out the way to a woman’s heart might actually be through her stomach, at least according to a new report. The dating app Hinge, which introduces users through friends of friends on Facebook, claims “women are 40% more likely than men to respond to openers that are food-related,” after a month-long experiment that focused on finding the most effective conversation starter. Men were more responsive when asked out directly, meaning messages such as “free this week?” or “drinks soon?”
Twenty-two percent of Hinge users in the U.S. received a selection of “original openers” that they could send to their matches. The company’s copywriters and data analysts composed more than 100 “conversation starters” for this experiment.
Most of the report does not say anything particularly new — it’s only natural that personalized openers would get more responses. There is also one section that highlights the conversation starters that were most effective in several major U.S. cities. For example, food-related ones got the most responses in Washington D.C., while 90s-themed ones were most effective in Chicago. A full map is below:
Hinge works in 34 U.S. cities and four cities abroad.
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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com