Mutual Blog

Before I absolutely blow your minds and go super-nerd, I want you to go on a quick detour with me.

Imagine you’re asked to speak at stake conference.

Now imagine it’s a Single Adult stake, and 600 members of the opposite sex, many of whom you’d love to date, will be watching you.

One burning question:

Would you take a shower before giving that talk?

Would you comb your hair?
Iron your shirt?
Maybe even buy a new one if your current rotation looks like it survived your mission in Brazil?

Of course you would.

Here’s the not-so-obvious reality:

On average, 600 people will see your dating profile in the first week you create it.

That’s more people than can fit in a chapel at stake conference.

Make that first impression count.

Effort Shows

One of the biggest surprises for me early in marriage was realizing how much more time and intention my wife put into getting ready for church than I did.

I used to pride myself on getting from pajamas to church clothes in under 120 seconds. It’s a skill many returned missionaries perfect.

Meanwhile, my wife might try on three dresses before choosing one. Add hair and makeup, and we’re looking at 15 minutes or more of preparation. And that’s before kids enter the equation.

I’ve over time learned from her that intention and presentation matter. Effort communicates value.

The Data Doesn’t Lie

I’ve had my share of spiritual posts on here. This one, I’m going full nerd. While preparing this article, I pulled some juicy internal data.

Over the last decade at Mutual, I’ve reviewed tens of thousands of profiles. I had a hypothesis about who puts more effort into building their profile.

The data confirmed it.

Women spend 35-40 percent more time selecting photos and writing their bios than men.

That said, I was impressed. Men are putting in more effort than I had assumed, taking over 3 minutes on average during photo selection.

But there’s still room to improve.

Don’t Save the Best for Last

The single biggest upgrade you can make to your profile is choosing an outstanding first photo.

One picture will never capture the full depth of who you are. But first impressions matter. Your first photo is where curiosity either sparks… or fades.

It signals:

• The effort you’re willing to put in
  
• The care you take with presentation
  
• The seriousness of your intent
  

Give someone the best chance to see your potential.

I’ll Be Honest, This Is Hard

Creating a great profile is difficult.

Most of us didn’t study marketing. Many of us don’t love taking pictures of ourselves. Some of us barely have recent photos at all.

That’s okay.

But just like you’d dress your best for a date you’re excited about, or polish your resume before applying for a job, your dating profile deserves intention.

It’s an investment with eternal upside.

Get Outside Perspective

Choosing the right photo is harder than it seems.

The picture you think is your best may not be the one others respond to.

One of the most consistent pieces of advice I give is this:

Show your profile to a friend of the opposite gender, ideally someone similar to the type of person you’re hoping to attract.

Pro tip: Mom is wonderful. She is not your target demographic.

Let the Data Help You

At the Utah YSA Conference last year, we built a simple test tool to measure which photos received the highest like rate.

We quickly realized something important.

Our opinions were helpful, but the data was better.

So we built it into the app.

You can now:

• See which photos are getting the most likes
  
• See which are underperforming
  
• Automatically reorder your photos based on popularity
  

Sometimes one photo dramatically outperforms the rest. Sometimes one quietly drags your profile down.

Now you don’t have to guess.

The Camera Roll Problem

Here’s something we discovered during a team hackathon.

We asked several of our male team members to screenshot their recent camera rolls.

The results were enlightening.

Plenty of pictures of… stuff
Very few profile-worthy photos.

If most of us tried to build a profile from our current camera roll, we’d struggle to practice what we preach.

A New Tool to Help

Because we understand how hard this is, we built something to help.

Our new Smart Photo Finder scans your photo library and suggests images where:

• You’re clearly visible
  
• Lighting is strong
  
• Framing is clean
  
• Other secret magic 😉
  

It helps surface the gems buried in your camera roll. Remember how my camera roll looked before? Check this out:

The tool is currently available via TestFlight, and we’re working to integrate it directly into the app soon. If you’d like to help us test it, click here to download the iOS beta.

Don’t think you have any great photos? Start collecting them over the next couple of months in cool places that you love. Bring a friend along and ask them to take your photo, or even work with a photographer. Then, once you have the photos ready, we’ll help you pick your best ones.