Atheists 'have more success at online dating'

References to "Christian", "Jewish" and "Muslim" boosted a message's success rate only marginally, while mentioning "god" in a first approach actually discouraged people from replying.

The analysis suggests online daters should avoid making personal compliments too early - "sexy" and "beautiful" sent response rates plummeting - and instead express an interest in their target's hobbies.

People who used the words "good taste" or "you mention" in their messages pushed their response rates close to 50 per cent.

Originality is also key to making a good first impression, according to the analysis. Dreary greetings such as "hi", "hey" and "hello" are far less successful than sparkier openings like "how's it going" and "what's up".

Men who use self-effacing terms such as "sorry" and "awkward" are also more likely to get responses, although the words had no magic effect when used by women.

The results of the analysis were published on OkTrends, the dating website's official blog, to help users get the most from the service. OkCupid claims that all the messages it scanned were anonymised, protecting the privacy of customers.

#7 – Consider becoming an atheist.

Mentioning your religion helps you, but, paradoxically, it helps you most if you have no religion. We know that’s going to piss a lot of people off, and we’re more or less tongue-in-cheek with this advice, but it’s what the numbers say.