Whoa. Double texting might actually get your matches to respond.

On the surface, sending multiple messages on a dating app if they haven’t replied to your first one seems like a bad idea, but what if it actually works?

Double texting, as it is known, is the process of hitting someone up a second time if you don’t hear back after your initial contact. It may sound desperate, and there are plenty of people who recoil from it, but according to data from Hinge, it is also an effective strategy.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Over a two-week period, they analyzed 300,000 conversations that included two initial messages sent at separate times (thus they weren’t just two line openers). What they found is that if the second text came at least three hours and 52 minutes after the first, the recipient was more likely to respond than to ignore it. Iiiiiiinteresting.

But the effect lasted longer than that. Even if there was a week between the two messages, the second one got a response about one in three cases. That compares to about one in 500 odds in conversations where someone didn’t send a double text.

This may fly in the face of all you hold dear, but it does make a certain amount of sense. A delayed second message can serve as a “Hey, just checking in” that bumps you back to the top of your match’s mind. But clearly the key here is moderation, since pinging the person with a bunch of texts right in a row could make you seem, well, a little nuts.

This particular data obviously only applies to Hinge, though the principle could hold for other dating apps as well. Sadly, there's no evidence yet that it applies to regular texting. So maybe don't use this information as license to start firing off messages to your crush at all hours.