Why You Are Not Getting Matches on Raya

It is nearly always one of three things: the small number of people Raya shows you, who you are spending your likes on, or what women see when you come up. Raya only makes a match when you both like each other. On a standard membership you also see a capped number of people and can send a capped number of likes each day, so even a good week looks small. But if a couple of weeks of honest effort brings nothing back, the fix is almost always in your photos, the few lines you wrote and your Instagram.

Raya's privacy policy says a match needs a mutual like, and that Raya uses your information to recommend other members to you. You see a set of suggestions, you like or pass, and a match happens only when she likes you too.

PureWow says standard members are shown only so many people a day and can only like so many. Mashable describes what happens at the bottom of the pile: a note that more member suggestions are coming soon, then a fresh batch a few hours later.

So Raya is built to be slow. A man used to the big apps, where he can like hundreds of women on a Sunday, can mistake a normal Raya week for a broken one.

Before you change anything, check whether you are actually short on matches or just short on volume.

Raya shows you a small daily pool, and only some of it will be women you would really want to take out. From a pool that size, a handful of matches a week is a decent result. Compare yourself to what the app can give you, not to what you used to get on apps built for volume.

If you are running out of suggestions every day and getting nothing back from any of them, that is a different problem, and it is one of the next two.

A limited number of likes makes every one of them count.

Some men spend all of theirs on the few women in the feed who are furthest out of reach, and then read the silence as proof the app does not work. Others like almost everyone out of habit, which gives the app little to learn from and leaves them matched with women they are not excited to write to.

Be deliberate instead. Like the women you would actually write to today if she liked you back. Look past her first photo. The detail that made you like her is also your first line when she does.

Raya's privacy policy lists what other members see when your card comes up: your photos, your bio, your city, your hometown and your Instagram username. On Raya the photos play as a slideshow, so they carry most of the decision.

Go through yours honestly. Is the first photo clear, recent and well lit, with your face easy to see? Do the rest show different days, different settings and some people who clearly enjoy your company? Or is it one good photo and then a string of group shots where she cannot pick you out?

a dating coach's photo advice prefers candid, phone-quality shots taken by a friend to anything polished and staged. It also warns against hard displays of status, like the watch close-up or the rented car. Those tend to read as trying too hard.

Then check your Instagram. Members can see your username, and plenty of women tap through before they decide. If your grid looks like a different, sadder man than your slideshow, she will believe the grid.

Women's Health lists more daily recommended people and unlimited likes among Raya+ features. That is worth paying for if you hit the daily cap while there are still women you want to like, and if a fair share of your likes already turn into matches.

If your likes rarely turn into matches, Raya+ only means sending more likes that go nowhere. Sort out the photos before you spend on volume. Pay for volume once you know the volume will turn into something.

Start with the first photo, because it decides whether she watches the rest. Then work down the set, swapping one photo at a time and giving each change a week or two before you judge it. Change the whole set at once and you cannot tell which swap mattered.

Ask someone who does not know you to watch your slideshow and guess what you do on a weekend. If the guess is way off, the set is describing someone else.

And when the matches start coming, answer them the same day. On an app this small, every match is worth more than it would be anywhere else.