Tinder Case Study Personal Project, 2019
This case study was shared on Medium. If you want to see the original article click here.
Why Online Dating?
Have you ever used Tinder or Bumble? If yes, it’s normal as dating apps are a common way to meet people nowadays as we’re living in the digital era. I use dating apps and most of my friends and colleagues do as well. I think it allows us to find any relationship in an easy and efficient way.
However, I do find that Tinder is a bit annoying to use sometimes. When swiping, I find myself overwhelmed as there are so many profiles that I have to individually swipe through to get the right match. I was able to easily find many others who complain about the same problem I faced and want to solve that problem.
Goals
1. Help people find what they are looking for.
2. Incentivize people to use Tinder amongst the sea of dating apps.
Understanding Users
I interviewed people about their experiences using online dating apps. My goal was to learn about how users feel about dating apps. Majority of the interviewees are expats in Singapore and have stable professions. I reached out to friends and matches on Tinder — 28 people in total.
Interesting Results
-
Tinder seems the most used online dating app (25 of 28 users). Besides the implication that it’s a commonly used application, this also suggests that Tinder has a wide range of profiles to select from.
-
90% of interviewees have met someone in person via online dating apps.
-
Women are more interested in a serious relationship than men.
-
Men often initiate conversations. Women almost never bother.
-
36% of interviewees think they could meet the right person via dating apps. We never know how things work out.
-
The important parts that people prioritize when viewing someone else’s are:
Affinity Mapping
Main Pain Points
Pain point #01: No detailed filter for profiles
The current discovery filter only supports location, distance, gender and age range.
Thus, users themselves have to initiate profile questions to find out what they are curious about — which might be awkward sometimes. What if a user is a devout Christian and is only looking to meet Christians? Personally, I’m not really keen on meeting someone just traveling the city I reside in. Swiping already takes time and we’re all busy people. Tinder should offer more filters such as current residing, religion, race, height, etc.
Pain point #02: Lack of transparency in why someone is using Tinder
We don’t actually know why someone is on Tinder unless their bio clearly states so or people are upfront about it during converstations. I think exerting energy on a Tinder match without understanding what they are looking for can possibly create unnecessary drama — and needless to say, it’s a waste of time that we can never get back.
There are many reasons as to why someone would be on Tinder — and these reasons change from time to time. Sometimes due to predictable causes, sometimes completely unexpected. I’d thus suggest having a tag filter on the Match screen to find out one’s current purpose of using Tinder. It could be anything. For instance #sports #coffee #drinks. It could give a reason to initiate a conversation too.
Idea and Sketch
Wireframe & User Flow
Note: I only focused on new features not interface design, so suggested screens below look almost the same with the current Tinder interface.
Suggestion #01: Detailed filter for profile
Provide a new service called Tinder Ideal which allows users to find more specific matches based on user needs. Give more control to the users!
Tinder Ideal has a “Required” feature that allows you to select a mandatory condition other users must fit to be shown as a featured Tinder Ideal to you. Another feature is “Matching Targeting”. It enables users to discover profiles that meet one’s indicated percentage of Matching Targeting — for instance, if you are not very picky and you indicate 30% for “Matching Targeting”, Tinder Ideal will suggest profiles that meet 30% of your selected ideals.
Suggestion #02: Increase transparency in one’s using purpose
Instead of having to ask awkward questions or sift through the sea of biographies/profiles, we should let users search and filter through matches in a fuss-free manner.
This feature allows you to search for tags amongst your Tinder matches. Not only will this be easy to better understand your matches’ purpose for using Tinder, this will also allow you to discover your matches’ interests — users could then better spot hobbies/interests they have in common. When having something in common, you can easily have a nice chat with others.
Takeaway
These features would minimize the noise coming out of Tinder. But also, on a business standpoint, what if Tinder intentionally refrains from building this kind of feature so people will keep on swiping (because he/she haven’t found the right match yet)? It’s also a good business opportunity if Tinder launches something like this people need to pay extra, like Tinder Plus or Tinder Gold.
Even though I just share my humble experiences and suggestions I hope it brings ideas that help experiences of online dating apps at least a little.
This case study was shared on Medium. If you want to see the original article click here.