The New Formula For Finding Love

By now you're familiar with the idea that a formula can help you find love.

Except the formula you're thinking of is an online dating site's algorithm, and the formula I'm talking about is something you can do all on your own.

Rebounding from a bad breakup with a long-term boyfriend, Amy Webb decided to give online dating a try. Her first two dates left something to be desired. The first didn't offer to cover or split the bill, then lit up a joint on a public park bench. The other lied about being a surgeon.

Online dating horror stories are nothing new, but here's what is new about Amy's story: instead of blaming online dating, she realized the problem was her approach to it. Online dating algorithms rely entirely on user-generated data, which means bad data in, bad data out. Even the best algorithms can't match accurately if the profiles they're working with are bad.

Looking at her own profile, much of which was copied from her resume, Amy knew there was significant room for improvement. She designed an experiment to determine exactly what her profile needed to stand out.

First, she created a list of 72 "ideal husband" characteristics. Then, she assigned a weighted score to each characteristic and designed a system to evaluate potential dates based on their scores. Unless a man earned at least 700 points, the date was a no-go.

But that wasn't enough. Amy also wanted to see what life was like on the other side, so she created profiles based on 10 male archetypes and interacted with nearly 100 women over the course of a month. What she found, she wrote for CNN.com, was "astonishing."

For example, although lying about physical characteristics proved to be just as common as you think, most online daters aren't lying about the characteristics you expect them to. 96% of the women Amy interacted with claimed to be 5'1" - 5'3", in spite of the fact that the average height of an American woman is 5'4". Is it possible that everyone was telling the truth? Of course, but it's almost a statistical impossibility.

Amy also found that the most successful women were not afraid to be a little assertive. They responded to her messages with a casual "Hey" or "Hi there," followed by a small detail from her profile.

Armed with the findings from her experiment, Amy revamped her profile and gave online dating another try. More than 60 men responded to her optimized profile, but none earned the minimum score of 700 points. Finally, she met Brian - the man she went on to marry.

Stay tuned for Amy's new formula for finding love...