Email is an amazingly convenient way to communicate, but it can be easy to slip up and embarrass yourself when connecting with your online dating matches. It’s depressing, really. Such a great tool, but with it comes the ability to completely blow your chances with someone! Here are a few tips for success in emailing those matches of yours.
Personal Info
Be extremely cautious about sharing personal info. It seems like an obvious one, but people sometimes get too comfortable with sharing personal info too soon. This goes for your home address, off-site email address, last name, where you work, etc. Stick with emailing your matches through the online dating site you’re using to keep certain information hidden. If you want, you could also create a Gmail or other online email address solely for contacting your dates outside of an online dating site if the site limits communication.
Rants & Confessions
This one’s a DON’T. It’s fine to write a witty, short line about a pet peeve you have, but avoid composing an essay on that one chick you can’t stand in the next cubicle. Not to mention, these emails shouldn’t serve as your makeshift therapy sessions. Keep your confessions — secrets, insecurities, issues — to yourself, your best friend, and shrink. If you must confess something, make it about your interests or hobbies. At least for now.
A Question
This one is a DO. Ask at least one question per email! It can be tough to figure out what to write in these things, so make it a bit easier on yourself by asking at least one question your match can respond to. This should help carry on the conversation, unless your “match” has the personality of a stick. In which case, it’s good to find out now.
Double-Dipping
Be sure to not double-dip. By this I mean you should send one email per email received. Think of it as calling someone more than once before they can call you back — it’s a no-no. You’ll come across as needy, possibly obsessed, or like you have nothing better to do.
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?
Be sure to wait a little bit to reply. Answering too quickly could indicate that again, you may not have anything better to do with your time, and it could pressure the other person into keeping up with your hectic pace. It doesn’t need to be a whole day of waiting, but for casual conversation it could be an hour or so. Keep in mind, this isn’t a hard rule because you don’t want to ignore your match, especially if he or she is asking a time-sensitive question!
