In a new context of technoscience and its practices, people (Tinderers) and technology (Tindering) appear to be attractive things, visible with a new material lens as creators of successful connections to the world full of opportunities to play with.
People and technology become inseparable. Within ‘intra-activity’, the human (users) and the non-human (smartphones/ software) are not two distinct entities determining each other anymore. Now, humans are not just the users of an app, they are the app itself. Without users there would be no Tinder, no profiles to swipe through, no people to connect with.
But who is responsible for having people move from swiping and chatting to dating and, eventually, to long-term relationships? How many things are in play? And who is to bring them together to achieve a win-win result?
The choice is not random. Also, it is not about the dualism of subject and object — the seeker and the sought-for target. Concepts of technoscience, cybernetics and artificial intelligence, closely related to the data collection and analysis, have stepped to the fore with the times, intruded into the process to make the ‘shots’ more precise.
How the Cutting-Edge AI Technologies and Data Science Can Help You Improve Your Dating App
Similar to many other industries, digital dating industry is not immune to the rapid advances of the Artificial Intelligence technologies. Moreover, this is just where AI is bound to make a major dent shortly.
There are several ways in which the arrival and the rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence can help you improve your dating app’s functionality, UX, and performance:
- A better matching algorithm
One of the more logical and straightforward uses of the AI technologies of Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning in relation to your dating site would be to enhance your matching algorithm by allowing it to take into account not only the user-indicated preferences, but also the user’s posts in their profile’s feed, comments, “likes” of various events, and, perhaps, even, the info from their social network profiles.
Machine Learning can also be harnessed to analyze the vast variety of historical data amassed by your system with a view to calculating a more precise compatibility score.
In plain language, ML can analyze the matches made in the application across several dozen diverse parameters, uncover any hidden dependencies, and then enrich your app’s matching algorithm with this knowledge.
If you are not too familiar with Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, you can hardly ever imagine how sophisticated the whole thing can get and how appealing to your target audience it can be.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Aussie most trusted dating site RSVP has been able to hike up their number of accepted conversation requests by some 80% by shifting from profile-based matching to behavior-based matching.
In theory, you can give the users of your app data-driven insights into things that range from the odds of them having sex on the first date to them getting married to their different matches. That’s a game-changer, don’t you think so?
- Better control over user conduct
Another great application of AI can be safeguarding your users against anything that is off-limits, including comments and obscenities that would then be immediately discovered and eliminated by your moderators.
- Enhanced security
It’s not just good to allow your users to be led down the garden path by someone using somebody else’s pics if you can prevent this from happening. You know full well not all jokes turn out to be funny on the receiving end and this is just the case in point.
The AI technology of Computer Vision and, in particular, the technique called facial recognition, can allow you to identify the same photos used in more than one user profile and inform the user accordingly.
- Better enforcement of nudity-related regulations
Computer vision can also help you enforce your site’s nudity-related policy and identify all occurrences of indecent exposure as soon as they start taking place.
- A gift of gab for your dating app
Ultimately, AI can give your app a voice. An AI-driven conversational chatbot can become your user’s reliable guide in finding the relationship they need. There’s hardly anything more efficient if you want to make a dating app more engaging and retentive.
How to Monetize Your Dating App
While being, actually, an interesting business to do, digital matchmaking is also a bit of a lucrative trade. According to Statisticbrain, the online digital industry’s annual revenue constitutes some $ 1 935 000 000, while the average annual spend of an online dating site customer is $ 243.
How can you get your share of the cake? How to make a dating app profitable?
There are several ways in which you can monetize your online dating services:
- Paid subscription
- Advertising
- Sale of in-app gifts
- Premium profiles with additional features
- Sale of the right to access information on the profiles of the user’s matches/ prospective dates
- Sale of the right to make a date in a location (for apps that provide “on-demand” online dating services)
- Sale of a specified number of prospective dates (for apps that provide “on-demand” online dating services)
Why is Design in Tinder-Like Apps so Important?
Tinder is an evermoving target with an evolving interface designed for enhanced user experience and appeal: it is a business generating profit from our most intimate relations of all. Messy and muddled, Tinder is completely inseparable from the people who use it. We do not just use Tinder, we are Tinder itself. So, does aesthetically pleasing design equals pleasant experiences?
As a rule, it is the off hours that users spend in search of new matches. Taking a break from whatever they are busy with, ladies and gentlemen expect the app’s design to demand no extra thinking and be intuitive.
However, to make it intuitive, you should take care that everything is very calculated. A dating app is not supposed to create any new experiences. It must follow the real-life pattern. No complications. When you see someone, you notice their face first. If the appearance appeals to you, the next step is to find out what you two have in common. The dialog starts. In the Tinder-like apps, the process should be about the same if simplified. The design must help users concentrate on their screen for liking or disliking and focus their attention on a person they see, not on how fancy the app itself looks.
Conclusion
The number of the companies in the online dating industry continues to grow. The heightened interest of millions of users motivates fresh investors to take action exponentially multiplying revenue. The developers’ job, in turn, is to make the product viable and to create the right dating app where people could find a perfect match easily. As you can see, allowing for the AI technologies, the opportunities for dating app development are aplenty, you are to choose!
© 2018, Vilmate LLC
