One day, you finally decide to turn things around in your life and download that dating app. You thought of meeting someone new and imagined going on a date, bringing them a bunch of roses, having dinner and wine and spending the evening as a scene pulled from a Bollywood film. But, are you afraid of approaching girls on dating apps? Wondering what to say and how to go from there?

A survey conducted by QuackQuack, India’s popular dating app will answer those questions for you.

Start with something small:

Start the conversation with an opener that does not intimidate her, is an open-ended question and paves the way for further communication. Sounds too much, doesn’t it? It actually is not much. Now you want to begin with an opener that catches her attention and ensures that you are not looking for a platonic relationship. You can use questions such as: ‘What is your most unusual fear?’ or ‘What’s your idea of a perfect day’ or ‘Which personality trait do you appreciate the most in a person?’ or ‘If you could rule over the entire world for a day, what would you do?’ They would not only help you understand the other person better but will definitely gear the discussion towards interesting and creative answers. A whopping 78 per cent of women using QuackQuack responded to the survey agreeing that it is better to avoid sexual messages in the beginning and that they can be more of a turn off than anything else.

Pick words from her profile:

If she likes a web series, ask her how long she took to binge-watch it or better yet, use dialogue from it: ‘Do you not share food like Joey as well?’ or ‘What are the things YOU do for love?’ If she has a favourite band, ask her if she has attended their live concert(s), what it was like and does she have a collection of their albums? If she likes travelling, ask her about the cities and countries she has visited, which one was the most beautiful, which one was the biggest cultural shock and which one(s) held the most life-changing experiences and made for amazing stories? If she is a bibliophile, ask her about her favourite fictional male character and what makes him so? (FYI, all girls love Darcy). 47 per cent of QuackQuack users nodded in the affirmation that beginning the conversation with something from the other person’s profile works and it shows that they have taken the time to read and go through it.

Start with a hello:

You can just say: ‘Hi! How are you? How has your day been?’ or make it more fun such as ‘Helloooo from the other side’ or the classic ‘Hello, is it me you’re looking for?’ in the Lionel Richie way. You can then move it up a notch and talk about what you like or what she likes, what is common between the two of you and what piques her interest. Don’t go for a big entrance if it is not your style and talk about everyday things. It depends on how you take it forward and keep it going. Keep it simple as long as it is engaging and you are both enjoying texting each other back and forth. Ask her little details about her day and what she did on the weekend or likes to do on the weekend. Questions like, ‘What was something that made you smile today?’ or ‘What’s something different you did this weekend?’ break the usual, monotonous chain of messages her inbox is filled with and also guarantee a reply.

Almost half of female QuackQuack users said that a ‘Hi’ would suffice to begin the exchange of messages and while a funny or intriguing message is what they look forward to, most of the men hardly succeed in delivering it and end up copying cliches from the internet.