8 Plenty of Fish Dating App Tips
Learn tips and tricks for successfully navigating POF!
How to Use Plenty of Fish: The Best POF Tips
For those who are single and looking for a companion, the Plenty of Fish dating app, one of the oldest out there, is a good way to meet new people for dating and relationships, but as a guy who's used the app many times in the past, meeting people online can also be a frustrating experience if you go about it all wrong.
On POF, which has a massive member base, women get dozens, if not hundreds, of messages from men on a daily basis. In order to get replies that actually lead to dates, both your profile quality and how you interact with women on the app are really important.
I'll share some POF dating tips that have worked well for me in the past when I was actively using the app. Whether you're simply looking for a hookup or a meaningful relationship, these tips will help save you time and get more dates.
8 Tips for Plenty of Fish Online Dating Success
- Choose Profile Photos Wisely
- Ask for the Date Sooner Rather Than Later
- Message Multiple People
- Stay Positive
- Write a Funny Plenty of Fish Headline
- Sort Profiles by Last Visit
- Don't Ask for a Coffee Date
- Write Your Messages Wisely
1. Choose Profile Photos Wisely
If your profile photos are of poor quality, I guarantee your inbox will remain empty, regardless of the dating site. Even with a well-written "About Me" section, it won't get you anywhere without a good selection of photos in your profile.
Your photos should be in-focus, cropped, and recent. Include dates in each photo caption and keep the photos fresh. The photo uploading tool on POF isn't the greatest, so you might have to edit your pictures and the sizing to make sure they don't appear blurry when uploaded.
You should include at least two, preferably three, full-body pictures. Keep the photos recent. Include up-close photos of your face and smile. Selfies are alright, but keep them to a minimum. If you're a guy, avoid posting shirtless pictures. Most women don't like that.
2. Ask for the Date Sooner Rather Than Later
What some guys do is message back and forth for way too long with way too many questions. If you make this mistake, you will end up wasting a lot of time and miss out on dates you could have had. For one, not all girls on Plenty of Fish are even motivated enough to meet in person, so unless you're fine with having a texting buddy, why do this if your goal is to get dates?
Secondly, women who are actually motivated to meet in person are expecting you to be confident and ask for the date sooner than later. Usually what happens when you wait too long is the woman simply stops responding to your messages because she assumes you have no interest in meeting, since you're not asking for a date.
What you should do is ask for the date in the third or fourth message if the conversation is going well. By doing this, you will weed out the people who waste your time and focus instead on women who are actually motivated to meet in person.
If the person is completely new to online dating, though, the conversation might have to carry on a little longer before the person feels comfortable meeting you. I wouldn't wait any longer than the fifth or sixth message to ask for a date. Be patient, but if she gives you the runaround and doesn't acknowledge your invite, move on.
3. Message Multiple People
Online dating is a numbers game for both women and men. Women get bombarded with messages from dozens of guys on a daily basis, many of which get deleted or never even read. You need to make your message stand out so she doesn't press the delete button. Not only do you need to craft a clever message, but you also need to message multiple people on a daily basis to increase your reply rate. Again, it's a numbers game.
Sending only one message per day really isn't enough. You should message as many people as possible. When I used the app in the past, there were times I would message ten to twenty different women in one day. The messages should be interesting and mention something from their profile to prove you read it. In addition to sending lots of well-written messages, you should also use more than one dating app. Two of my favorites are the Facebook dating app and Bumble.
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On the actual Plenty of Fish dating website, not the app, I noticed in the past when I'd send lots of messages, my profile seemed to get more views too. I believe this has something to do with their algorithm. The more active you are on the app, the more your profile is viewed. The time of day you send messages is important too. The best time of day to send messages is in the evening when people are home from work and less busy.
4. Stay Positive
Online dating can be frustrating and disappointing at times. There are days where you'll get a lot of replies and other times nothing at all. The rejection can damage your confidence, but it's important not to take it personally or let your frustration be known in your profile and messages to women. Keep things positive in your profile and photos too.
When sending messages and interacting with women in general, staying positive goes a long way. If you sound negative and unpleasant, you will be ignored, or even blocked. Even if things don't work out, keep it positive from start to finish. There were a couple of times on POF where girls I had brief but positive interactions with in the past would come back around and send me a message out of the blue.
5. Write a Funny Plenty of Fish Headline
POF is one of the only dating apps that lets you include a profile headline. It's easy to blow it off and not put much thought into it, but if your headline is funny, you'll get more profile views and messages from girls commenting on it.
You should definitely avoid writing anything negative for the headline or anything boring like "Hi." Writing something funny and clever works really well. Using tasteful humor in messages works well too.
6. Sort Profiles by Last Visit
The search filter allows you to sort profiles by "last visit" or "newest users." Searching by last visit puts the most recently logged in profiles at the top of the page. These are the people you want to be messaging first because they're freshly logged in and active, in most cases.
Avoid messaging anyone with "online in the last thirty days" noted next to their profile. Focus on messaging people who are online now to increase your chances of a reply. Alternatively, if you've already messaged most of the "last visit" profiles, you can try searching the newest users too. The only problem I've encountered with this is that newer users are more likely to be new to online dating, so they might be hesitant to meet. Newbies want to take their time, but not always. It's worth experimenting with both search criteria.
7. Don't Ask for a Coffee Date
I experimented with this once on the Plenty of Fish dating app and found that most girls either wouldn't respond to a coffee date invite, they would decline, or they would cancel plans. I think it's because coffee is considered too cheap of a date, or people don't want to drink coffee at night unless you meet during the day, but then it's a day date.
Unless you or your date doesn't drink alcohol, meeting in the evening for a couple of drinks is a great first date idea, but don't get drunk. Pair the drinks with some live music at a local bar. Now, of course, this doesn't mean coffee is a bad idea, but it didn't work well for me when I tried it, at least not on POF. More women agreed to evening drink dates than coffee dates.
Avoid expensive first dates too. Spending a lot of money on a first date is unnecessary and can work against you. Dinner dates can be very expensive and awkward. You don't know her, and she doesn't know you. I never meet for dinner on a first date or even a second date. With the drink date, it's casual, and if things go bad, you can quickly finish your drink and vacate, instead of being stuck in an awkward and expensive dinner.
8. Write Your Messages Wisely
Writing a good message that is less likely to get deleted, or ignored, is a skill that's critical for getting replies and dates on Plenty of Fish and other dating apps. The biggest mistake you can make is writing boring messages like "Hi," or "How are you?" Don't do this. I remember receiving boring messages like that from women a lot, and it was very annoying. Women receive lame and boring messages by the dozens, so make your message stand out from the rest.
When you send messages, always mention something from their profile or comment on a photo or an interest you both share to show you actually read their profile. Writing a message too short, or even too long, can work against you. Two to three sentences works well for a first message. Don't write a story. Using humor in your messages works great too, but keep it clean.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2017 Matt G.
