A 20-year old male research confederate, who was chosen for being physically attractive, was trained to carry out two versions of a study.

In both versions, he approached women in a pedestrian-friendly urban area, complimented them, and asked for their phone numbers.

The “User” box shows the number of active paying customers (or accounts) of the selected market (market segment, region) in millions for each year.

The “Penetration Rate” box shows the share of active paying customers (or accounts) from the total population (adults aged 16 and older) of the selected market (market segment, region) for each year.

The percentage of women who agreed to his request jumped from 9.2 percent to when the dog was present. Women, it turns out, perceive men who are walking dogs more favorably than they do men who aren't walking dogs.

Women see dog-walking men as having more long-term romantic potential (as well as short-term potential) than the same men who aren't walking dogs. The researchers suggest that when you're walking a dog, people often assume you're the owner of that dog—i.e., that you're able to make the sacrifices necessary to take good care of a dog.

“This is a total virgin science,” Brooks quips with a restrained laugh from his deck in Malta.

The stigma of meeting your soulmate through a website is dwindling by the day, experts say, especially for millennials and Generation Z.You’ve always had a knack for matchmaking at dinner parties, so why not offer your talent to a wider market by launching an online dating site?When done right, these sites can be lucrative and require minimal effort to maintain. Just ask Mark Brooks, who has worked in and around the industry for two decades. It's estimated that 15% of Americans have used dating websites or apps, with numbers expected to rise in the next many years. Marketers have played a huge role in helping this industry grow from simple online personals to complex platforms with millions of users. New innovations and a growing user base now give marketers more data than ever to play with in online dating. No website has found the magic method of creating a love connection.As a general rule, asking women for their phone numbers without any real interaction preceding such a request doesn't yield a lot of positive responses.That said, the confederate had much more success when he was walking the dog. A recent lab experiment in Israel pursued this question (Tifferet, Kruger, Bar-Lev, & Zeller, 2013).A great diversity of online dating services currently exists.Some have a broad membership base of diverse users looking for many different types of relationships.Such companies offer a wide variety of unmoderated matchmaking services, most of which are profile-based.Online dating services allow users to become "members" by creating a profile and uploading personal information including (but not limited to) age, gender, sexual orientation, location, and appearance.Most services offer digital messaging, while others provide additional services such as webcasts, online chat, telephone chat (VOIP), and message boards.Members can constrain their interactions to the online space, or they can arrange a date to meet in person.Markus Frind, founder and CEO of Plenty Of Fish, says he brings in more than million a year (at least half is pure profit) working for just an hour a day.If you want to start your own moneymaking site for love connections, try these five strategies.