Hinge CEO Aims To Eliminate Dating Dead Ends

As dissatisfaction with online dating grows, Hinge CEO Justin McLeod is addressing common user complaints to improve the app’s experience. Despite the rising trend of people moving away from dating apps, Hinge has seen a 50% increase in revenue over the past year, making it one of the more obvious success stories within an industry that is finding it harder to grow with “conventional” online dating features.

In a radio interview on NPR, McLeod acknowledged that issues like dead-end conversations, an overwhelming number of matches for some users, and uncertainty around the app’s algorithm are common concerns. Hinge’s own “Your Turn Limits” feature, which encourages users to respond to existing matches before seeking out new ones, was a direct attempt to fix this – the feature restricts further browsing until users engage with eight matches, and led to a 20% increase in matches that become actual dates.

The current major problem, both within Hinge and the dating industry at large, is users getting comfortable chatting with matches and never progressing to the point where they ask for a date. McLeod is developing an upcoming feature to offer personalized guidance, prompting users if they interact with another account far too much and never actually arrange a date – with the goal of pushing this “matches to dates” ratio even higher.

While Hinge obviously has its own specific ways of combating these problems, pushing users to actually commit to their matches may become an increasingly more important part of the industry. As more users look for other ways to meet potential partners, dating apps may have to pivot towards actively pushing users to commit to dates, rather than letting them fall into dead-ends through inaction.