What Does a Boost Do on OkCupid?

A Boost makes OkCupid show you in more people's results than you would normally appear in, so more women come across you while it runs. When one of them Likes you during that time, the match carries a small lightning bolt icon. OkCupid says a Boost can multiply your matches, but it cannot promise you a single Like or message. You also cannot Boost while Incognito is turned on.

It changes how many people see you. Nothing else moves.

Your photos, your writing and your answers stay exactly as they were. For as long as the Boost runs, OkCupid adds you to more members' results than you would reach on an ordinary evening. A woman who might never have come across you now sees you while she browses.

That is the whole mechanism. A Boost does not make anyone like you. It gets you looked at, and what she thinks when she looks is still decided by your page.

After a Boost, look through your matches for the lightning bolt. It marks each woman who Liked you while the Boost was running.

That icon tells you two useful things. First, it tells you whether the Boost did anything at all. A Boost that brought in four lightning bolts and one that brought in none are very different results, and you should know which one you paid for.

Second, it tells you who to answer first. A woman who Liked you an hour ago is probably still picking up her phone and checking the app. A woman who Liked you last week may have moved on.

OkCupid does not let you Boost while Incognito is on. If you use Incognito, switch it off before you start a Boost.

The two settings pull in opposite directions. Incognito is about being seen less. A Boost is about being seen by as many people as possible. You have to pick one for the evening.

a dating coach has tested boosts on the apps he uses, and his verdict is that they are worth it. His advice is to find out for yourself: run some weeks with boosts and some without, and compare. It costs little to try, and the difference, if there is one, shows up fast.

He adds one condition that matters more than the cost. Every paid feature multiplies what you already get. If your page brings in a few matches a week for free, a Boost can turn that into a good deal more. If it brings in none, more people see a page that was not working, and you get more of nothing.

So the honest test is this. Are you getting at least some Likes and some conversations without paying? If yes, a Boost is worth an experiment. If no, spend the money later.

A Boost sends more women to the same page, so check that page first.

• Your first photo should show your face clearly, in daylight, with nobody else in the frame.
• Your other photos should show different days and different places, not one afternoon.
• Your written sections should say two or three specific things about your week, not a list of words like "travel" and "food".
• Answer a decent number of the match questions, so the women who see you get a real Match % instead of a guess.

None of this takes long, and all of it decides whether the extra views turn into Likes.

Start a Boost at a time when you will be around to reply.

The women who Like you during a Boost are on the app right then. A short, specific message from you within the hour lands while she still remembers your face. The same message two days later lands with someone who has already had other conversations since.

Keep that first message light and about her. React to one real thing she wrote, add a bit of personality, and give her something easy to answer.

My method from there is to keep every message pulling toward a date. He mentions a drink early, as a casual idea, and asks for her number a few messages later. In his experience it takes about four to seven messages to get from the app to a plan, and none of them need to be clever.

A Boost is easy to fall for, because the lightning bolts feel like progress.

Keep a simple tally instead. How many matches did the Boost bring in? How many of those turned into a real back-and-forth? How many gave you a number, and how many turned into a date?

If the Boost adds matches but the dates stay flat, the Boost did its job and something later did not. That something is usually the messages. Fix those, and every Boost after that is worth more.