Dating Sunday 2020 – Everything You Need to Know
New Year’s Resolutions. Who needs them? When you’re single and desire to change your relationship status, finding love in the New Year is usually on your list, and there’s no better time to get started than Sunday, January 5th.
Call it being hopeful about the future, call it kicking 2019 and the entire decade to the curb, or chalk it up to a lackluster holiday, any way you dice it, Sunday, January 5th will be the world’s largest digital singles party, and you’re invited to join in on the fun.
What is Dating Sunday?
Dating Sunday is an annual tradition in the dating industry, as we get ready for the enormous surge of singles joining dating apps on the first Sunday of the New Year, and if you’d like to fill your date card, you won’t want to miss this.
Related: Dating Sunday Survival Guide
Julie Spira on ABC News – Dating Sunday 2018
Dating Sunday by the Numbers
Match, who initially coined Dating Sunday, expects to see the biggest day in history on their app, with 80% of new singles joining the app on Dating Sunday (up 90% from last year).
They predict the peak minute to be logged will be at 9:15 pm/EST, and during Peak Season, December 26th through February 14th, 60 million will be messages sent, which is 1.5 million messages per day!
Additionally, Match will see more than 600,000 dates taking place across the US. That’s over half a billion dates, everyone.
Dating app Inner Circle expects new signups to peak around 7 pm, with the highest activity to spike around 9 pm. Inner Circle predicts a 33% increase in number of matches on Dating Sunday.
David Vermeulen, Inner Circle’s CEO and founder said, “We see a huge spike in activity on the first Sunday of the year as singles start to set new year resolutions and contemplate being single on Valentine’s Day.”
According to dating app Coffee Meets Bagel, over 1 million messages were sent on Dating Sunday in 2019, with January being their most popular month of the year.
Bumble, where Sharon Stone is now a new member, defines peak season as the time from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day and tells the New York Post they expect to see more than 3 million new users join and over 20 million messages sent on their app during this time.
How Can You Make the Most of Dating Sunday?
At Cyber-Dating Expert, we’re busy getting singles profiles perfected in time for Dating Sunday and expect it to be a busy month of matching and dating in January.
In an interview with USA Today, I provided some suggestions on what to do now to get ready for Dating Sunday.
Start the Decade with a Clean Digital Slate
Since it’s a new year and decade, chances are your photos are making your profile stale. I recommend starting with a clean digital palette, and that means your pictures posted 5+ years ago just won’t cut it.
Dawoon Kang, CEO of the Coffee Meets Bagel dating app, reports that 80% of singles pass on a profile because of bad photos, and recommends uploading at least three pictures to your profile. By doing so, she says it will increase your chances of being liked by more than 30%!
To make it easy, I suggest going through your camera roll and find some photos that were insta-worthy or ones that you’ve sent via text to friends and loved ones.
Grab a friend and take new photos with five different looks, or if your budget permits, hire a photographer and a dating coach. Since Pew Research reports that 30% of women have asked for help with their profiles, you want to make sure you make the best impression.
Remember, you’re only as good as your worst photo, so the blurry shots, selfies, and group photos need to go.
As I told BBC radio in a recent interview, wearing sunglasses in your photos gives the impression that you’re hiding something, so let’s look into those gorgeous eyes to capture the essence of the person you’d like to meet.
Caption Your Photos
Singles are still leery of meeting someone in person who won’t look like their photos, so make sure you caption your photos with the year and location, especially the travel shots, as everyone has a dream trip on their bucket list. It’s one of the easiest conversations to start with, when you need to say more than, “hey.”
Update Your Bio
Photos aside, if you’re talking about something you did in 2017, it sends the message that you’ve been online for a long time, and you haven’t had anything exciting happen in your life in a few years.
If you went to a great concert last year, or you’re planning a trip to Macchu Picchu in 2020, add it to your profile. If there’s an interesting art exhibition opening in 2020 that you’d like to see, put it in your bio, as it gives the person reading your profile an easy way to ask you out on a date, over your shared love of art.
Use Multiple Apps
You need to cast a wide net, and with thousands of dating apps available at your fingertips, I recommend starting with three, as it’s the most manageable number. Remember to log on at least twice a day, so the magic dating algorithms have a chance to show your profile more often
For the best and easiest way to fill your date card, stay active for at least one hour every day, with Sunday nights still being the most active time for swiping and matching.
Get Organized
Having the ability to make every conversation and date feel special, starts with being organized and doing your homework before you hop on the phone or meet IRL.We create a spreadsheet at Cyber-Dating Expert for each client, called the signature Date Card. The Date Card keeps you organized and makes sure that someone great doesn’t fall through the cracks.
There’s nothing worse than calling “Danny,” “Jimmy,” or asking your date where they went to medical school when they’re a practicing attorney.
Don’t Play Hard to Get
Now is not the time to be coy and invisible. Communicate with people, exchange phone numbers, and start setting dates to meet. I can’t stress enough how many people played the waiting game, and by the time they responded to someone they really liked, they found out that person met someone on an app and decided to become exclusive.
CMB’s Dawoon Kang agrees, and says to strike while the iron’s hot. Kang says you’re 52% more likely to get a response if you initiate a chat within three hours of matching.
Answer Questions to Make Better Matches
I’ve always been intrigued by the match percentages on a profile, and answering thought-provoking questions on OkCupid is not only just fun to do, but helps you determine compatibility, and makes it easy to start a conversation.
Melissa Hobley, OkCupid’s CMO told The Hill that climate change teen activist Greta Thunberg, who was named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year,” actually helped make more matches on their app. OkCupid saw an 800% increase in mentions of Thunberg on profiles in 2019!
“Climate change and your feelings about that show up in your life in so many ways,” Hobley told The Hill. She added, “Climate change and how you feel about that can really help for compatibility.”
It’s a Numbers Game and You Need to Play to Win
When you have millions of messages sent on dating apps, it can be both exciting and overwhelming. The only way that Dating Sunday will work for you is if you commit to chatting online, and then scheduling a date to meet someone offline, and the sooner, the better.
Wishing you much love and joy in cyberspace, or wherever you may swipe or roam.
Julie Spira is America’s Top Online Dating Expert and Digital Matchmaker. She was an early adopter of Internet dating, and has been coaching singles on finding love online for 25 years.
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Julie Spira is the Digital Matchmaker® and America’s Top Online Dating Expert. She’s an award-winning certified dating coach who’s been helping singles find their perfect match for over three decades. Follow @JulieSpira on IG and @digitalmatchmaker on TikTok.
