Improving Match Rates in Dating Markets Through Assortment Optimization

58 Pages Posted: 27 Nov 2020 Last revised: 13 Dec 2021

See all articles by Ignacio Ríos

Ignacio Ríos

University of Texas at Dallas - Department of Information Systems & Operations Management

Daniela Saban

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Fanyin Zheng

Columbia University - Columbia Business School

Date Written: September 24, 2020

Abstract

Problem definition: We study how online platforms can leverage the behavioral considerations of their users to improve their assortment decisions. Motivated by our collaboration with a dating company, we study how a platform should select the assortments to show to each user in each period to maximize the expected number of matches in a time horizon, considering that a match is formed if two users like each other, possibly on different periods.

Academic/Practical Relevance: Increasing match rates is one of the most common objectives among many online platforms. We provide insights on how to leverage users’ behavior towards this end. Methodology: We model the platform’s problem and we use econometric tools to estimate the main inputs of our model, namely, the like and log in probabilities, using our partner’s data. We exploit a change in our partner’s algorithm to estimate the causal effect of previous matches on the like behavior of users. Based on this finding, we propose a family of heuristics to solve for the platform’s problem, and we use simulations and a field experiment to assess the benefits of our algorithm.

Results: First, we find that the number of matches obtained in the recent past has a negative effect on the like behavior of users. Leveraging this finding, we propose a family of heuristics that decide the assortment to show to each user on each day. Finally, using simulations and a field experiment we show that our algorithm can yield 40% more matches relative to our partner’s algorithm.

Managerial Implications: Our results highlight the importance of correctly accounting for the behavior of users on both ends of a transaction to improve the operational efficiency of matching platforms. In addition, we identify and measure the effect of previous matches in the users’ preferences, which is also leveraged by our algorithm. Our methodology can also be applied to online matching platforms in other settings.

Keywords: assortment optimization, online platforms, matching, dating markets, behavioral operations.

JEL Classification: D47

Suggested Citation

Ríos, Ignacio and Saban, Daniela and Zheng, Fanyin, Improving Match Rates in Dating Markets Through Assortment Optimization (September 24, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3698751 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3698751

Ignacio Ríos (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Dallas - Department of Information Systems & Operations Management ( email )

P.O. Box 830688
Richardson, TX 75083-0688
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://iriosu.github.io

Daniela Saban

Stanford Graduate School of Business ( email )

655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94305-5015
United States

Fanyin Zheng

Columbia University - Columbia Business School ( email )

3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.fanyinzheng.com

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