What Do You Say After 'Hi' Over Text? Use My 13 Examples!

You’re starting a new conversation with someone you really like. But there’s one problem. You don’t know what to say after hi.

No worries. After reading this article you’ll always know exactly to say to make a great impression.

In this article:

• Why do some people choose to say ‘Hi’ as their first text?
• What is the best type of reply to ‘Hi’?
• 10 Best replies to ‘Hi’ over text
• The worst replies to ‘Hi’
• 6 Great things to say after ‘hi’, ‘hey’ or ‘hello’ (using the Pendulum Effect)
• 3 Common mistakes after saying ‘hi’
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final thoughts

More...

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Why do some people choose to say ‘Hi’ as their first text?

Some people say “Hi” as a first text because it’s simple and non-committal. It’s an easy way to break the ice without putting too much pressure on the conversation. It also gives the other person the space to either respond with a similar greeting or take the conversation in a completely different direction.

What is the best type of reply to ‘Hi’?

Regardless of what you exactly say, you’re always trying to make the best impression possible. To properly set yourself apart from the competition, you want your reply to ‘Hi’ to meet a few criteria, namely:

• Be playful. Your reply will set the tone for the rest of the interaction. Since you’re on a dating app, you want to spark chemistry and avoid predictable conversations.
• Add personality. Let your uniqueness shine through, whether it’s humor, confidence, or just a touch of attitude
• Make it relevant. Nobody wants to feel like you’ve sent your reply to 100 other matches. So tailor your message to the person you’re chatting with by linking it to their photos, bio, or other profile details.
• It’s chill. Your message shouldn’t seem lazy but it shouldn’t seem like it took you 3 hours to come up with either. 

Read on for 10 examples of what I mean.

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10 Best replies to ‘Hi’ over text

If you’re looking for quick replies when she only said ‘hi’, check out these 10 great lines. For more tips how to open your conversation, check out the tips below.

• Haha oh shit! Not sure if you remember [wait until they reply, then answer with a random but fun trivia fact].
• What’s up? I’m cooking up some yummy burrrrrrrritos.
• Slow down m’lady. I like to be wooed first before we have such lewd conversations.
• Howdy. Just fired up the new Marvel movie. ✨✨
• Sipping on a glass of vino. You more into red or white?
• Waddup, senorita. I’m about to hit the gym.
• I bet you say that to all the guys, playa. 😉
• Yo, quick question: would you rather never be able to do a good smokey eye or never be able to do a good contour?
• You gals are just so creative with your icebreakers. I don’t know how you do it. 🌚
• Are you flirting with me? 😉

For another example, check my next video:

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The worst replies to ‘Hi’

The worst ways to respond to “Hey” are those that either kill the conversation or give off a vibe of disinterest or lack of effort. Here are some examples that can definitely ruin the mood:

1. Boring responses. Something like “Hey, what’s up?” might seem open-ended, but it’s too typical and uninspired to stand out.
2. Corny pickup lines. “Are you from Tennessee? Because you’re the only ten I see” is straight up cringe. It’s way too cheesy. So stay away.
3. Minimal replies. A simple “Hi” or sending a GIF doesn’t add much to the conversation. It just leaves things stagnant and doesn’t move things forward.
4. Over-invested replies. Since “Hi” is a low-effort message, responding with an overly elaborate answer can come off as trying too hard for attention. Don’t fall into the trap of rewarding a casual greeting with a full-blown response.

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6 Great things to say after ‘hi’, ‘hey’ or ‘hello’ (using the Pendulum Effect)

Like talking in real life, conversing over text is an elusive concept. Many people want to be great in conversation, but how many people are actually great conversationalists?

Few.

That’s why I’m about to get REALLY specific and give you 6 ways to win someone over after hi. And they all revolve around what I call, The Pendulum Effect.

Imagine a pendulum that’s powered by your texts. Nice and polite texts swing the pendulum to the left, risky and teasy texts swing it to the right. If you’re too sweet or too challenging, the pendulum will stick to one side, but if you vary between the two the pendulum will go back and forth just like it should.

The more you try to keep the imaginary Pendulum moving by playfully showing interest and disinterest, the more she’ll start to like you. Why? Because you’re keeping the conversation unpredictable and exciting.  The swings of the pendulum are what make a girl like you.

Keep this in mind while reading the tips below. You’ll notice everything adds to the Pendulum Effect.

1.  Build suspense

When most people match with someone and get into a traditional convo, they rush into the next topic.

I tend bar

Cool. Do you work in (BLANK) part of town?

But what these people don’t realize, is that they’re not being captivating. If you want someone to listen and engage with you, you must captivate them.

How do you do that?

Suspense.

I tend bar

Hmm… do you know what I find interesting about bartenders?

There’s no way your match will zone out,because you stopped on a cliffhanger. She’d LOVE to hear what you think about bartenders. Why? Because she IS one. Plus, by firing off the suspense text, you keep the conversation rolling while buying yourself some time to think up your answer.

Now, you can also use this principle right from the start. Send her for example a similar question related to her profile or your real-life conversation.

‘Do you know what I find interesting about…’

Holy Tip:

One of the most important aspects of texting is momentum:

Keeping the conversational ball rolling for extended periods of time. If you exchange 1 – 3 texts a day, you’ll eventually lose her interest.

Why?

Because your conversation is staying too superficial. You’re just skimming the surface. Now she can’t get a good idea of what it’s like to hang out with you.

So try to have text exchanges of 10 – 15 minutes so she can feel how fun you are. Because if she doesn’t feel like the convo is fun, she definitely won’t want to meet up.

For more on what to say after the suspense text, check out my Clickbait Opener. It can be used any time to build suspense. Plus, you get 2 lines to reel her in even further.

Check out my Clickbait Opener here.

2. Tease her

Here comes a quick personal story.

A close friend of mine has a buddy called Mike. My bro always speaks really highly of Mike. But for the longest time, I never met him. Until one day the stars aligned and the three of us were going to hang out.

Now what do you imagine would have been the best way to break the ice with Mike? (Yes, this is real life but the same principles apply to texting.)

I could have said:

“Hey, Mike. Nice to meet you. Heard so much about you.”

Not awful. But there’s room for improvement, wouldn’t you agree?

Let’s try something else. I could have also gone with:

“Hey, Mike. My bro always speaks so highly of you.”

Authentic and better than what most people would do. But we can do even better:

“Mike… how much are you paying my bro to say good things about you?”

Jackpot.

Now we’re teasing and putting Mike on the backfoot. But in a fun and playful way.

So: see if you can tease her right off the bat. For example with something in her profile.

Or if you got her phone number in real life, maybe there’s something from your conversation you can tease her on as a starter.

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3. Make her the expert

Everybody has different talents and experiences that we don’t. And it’s worth giving them credit. Does her dating profile say she’s a management consultant? Make her the authority and ask her what that means.

Management consultant, eeeeeh

Does that mean you boss everyone around between 9 to 5?

As you can see, you don’t want to ask her in a boring way. Fill in what you think her job may be. Plus, you earn points by being honest about what you don’t know.

Perhaps you do know what a management consultant is. In that case, earn points by making her the authority.

I could use your advice, dr. consultant

I was just put in charge of the interns at my work

Offer me a good tip to motivate these lemmings, and I may take you out to my favorite bar

Easy breezy.

4. Skip “Hi” and go straight to a good icebreaker

If you’re reading this, you’re completely focused on what to say after hi. So you’ve got tunnel vision. And are unable to see what truly matters. Which is…

Why are you saying Hi in the first place?!

(Perhaps she’s the one saying hi, but please let me finish my rant and get to that later.) Hands down the most received text women get from men on Tinder, Instagram or any other texting platform is:

Hiii

Or one of its countless variations. These are a handful of texts my ex-girlfriend got on her Instagram in one day:

What does that mean?

‘Hi’ triggers ZERO emotions for her. While the text may once have made her feel flattered, now it hurts her soul. This means you should stay away from hi at all times.

“At all times, Louis?”

ALL. TIMES.

Hi earns you a direct trip to her spam folder. And you don’t want that. If you’re going to open a girl on Tinder, slide into a girls DMs, or hit up a girl on Facebook…

You always want to stand out from the rest or else she’ll likely lose interest.

And can you blame her? Hi adds nothing to the conversation, besides starting it. Even if she likes you, she probably won’t reply anything more exciting than:

Hi 🙂

So if that’s the best possible response you can get from Hi, why even bother?

Imagine you could break the ice with an opener that would trigger her to reply with multiple texts. Wouldn’t that be great?

Here’s how: keep it personal.

Suppose the girl you like is a scuba instructor. What’s a simple text you could send her that is miles better than hi?

Honest question and you’re the first one I trust to ask

Do scuba divers go pee pee inside their suits?

For more icebreakers and inspiration for a first text, check out my next article.

• 41 Tinder icebreakers that always get a response

5. Compliment her using the Pendulum-swing

The best opener motivates a woman to:

• Reply (I’m sure you know how important that is).
• Reply with more than one text.
• Reply with positivity.

Pretty damn good.

So how do you write the best opener? Just steal my next template.

I have no idea if we’d get along, but I had to text you after I saw you love (blank)

Next, you fill in the blank.

Maybe a band, videogame, movie, or hobby. Anything that you do truly like.

Besides being relevant, this opener is good because it lets you hold onto your power: you aren’t all-in, you’re still curious if you’d get along.

Since most girls get compliments on their looks, you stand out for trying to build a connection by commenting on her taste and personality.

Here’s another template that just came to me:

Are you crazy? You can’t go outside wearing what you did in your (1st/2nd/etc. photo)

Then you want to hit her with the punchline.

Want to keep it silly? Send this text right after:

I was about to go outside with the same outfit right now ;(

Want to keep it flirty? Go with this:

Your whole city will be one big car pile up

“Louis, aren’t you now doing exactly what you just told us was a bad idea: complimenting her looks.”

Kinda, yeah. But with a twist.

I am combining a negative and a positive. It’s a compliment wrapped up in a tease or challenge. At TextGod we call this the Pendulum effect.

Why is it so good? It solves one huge issue that many guys suffer from: Keeping it too nice/friendly. This way you’ll instantly set the right tone. And because she knows you’re interested in her sexually, she’s more likely to excuse a little boring conversation later.

6. Get her to chase you by being radically authentic

Knowing what to say after hi is good. Knowing how to make her chase you after hi is better. And it’s something all of my clients want to get better at.

Because one of the the biggest complaints I get in my coaching calls and emails is:

“Why do girls always put in so little effort? I’m tired of putting in all the work.”

To which I always reply:

“Have you ever made her feel that she may not be able to get you?”

The answer is almost always no.

Now, I don’t want you to do this as some kind of trick. She will be able to smell the fakery from a mile away.

The best way to do this is by applying what I call: Radical Authenticity.

Because right now you’re NOT being authentic. You’re trying to behave in a way you think she’ll like.

The truth is this: The more radically authentic you are, the more she will like you. Because she will see the real you. And she’ll feel that she has to proof herself to you too.

You’ll call her out on her bullshit. And you won’t treat her differently or extra special.

Suppose the girl you’re chatting with isn’t a great texter and is leaving you to do all the heavy lifting.

Maybe she sent you this.

So tell me more about yourself

The ultimate I like you but I don’t know what to say-text. What’s a playful HIGH-VALUE text that could get her to try a little harder?

You’re not getting me that easy. Figure out a more specific question and try again 😉

Bang!

It’s flirty and forces her to try harder.

Let’s discuss another scenario you’ll run into: the low-invest thank you after you blew her away with your opener.

Let me give you a good example using my own text. Context: she was swinging around the American flag and felt bad because Trump was president.

How did she reply?

As you can see I didn’t reply to the first text she sent, because it was a terribly low investment.

She caught on later and doubletexted me.

But it wasn’t much better.

So what did I say?

Now, please keep in mind: I opened the conversation with a very high-investment text. So I have the ‘right’ to be extra cheeky and call her out for writing generic lines.

Now, to prove that being cheeky works:

Not only did she send me three texts, she even started to prove her worth to me: “I’m pretty far from generic.”

Now for a third and final scenario that you’ll find yourself in: when she goes silent on the day of the date.

Yes, I know. You’re not quite at the stage of setting up the date.

But you will be soon enough.

When that time comes, you want to know what to do if you haven’t texted in a few days. And she’s quiet on the day of the date.

Here’s the high-value and radically authentic response to her silence:

Hey, should I assume we’re on for tonight? I haven’t heard from you and I have other things I’d like to do if not 🙂

You’re speaking your mind, showing you have standards, and keeping it respectful.

Perfect.

3 Common mistakes after saying ‘hi’

1. Being too linear and predictable

For guys, it’s typically easier to think in straight lines, not squiggly lines. But keeping your conversations too structured leads to disaster.

Better known as: boredom. Because when she’s bored, you lose her attention. And probably all chances of meeting up with her.

Bummer.

So what’s the key to good conversation?

Being interesting.

How do you stay interesting? By thinking of conversation as basketball, not tennis.

You see, tennis is very linear. The ball moves from one side of the net to the other, until one guy hits a homerun… or something.

Like so:

Hi. How are you?

Not bad. You?

Awesome. I just came back from work. You?

I had a day off 🙂

And so on.

Basketball is much more free and unpredictable. When you get the ball, you can: dribble, shoot, pass, do layups, dunks, tricks… Plus, you can move into all directions.

Suppose she sends you a boring question:

What do you do for work?

You could answer her question and smack it right back. Or you could think in terms of basketball:

omg. Let me tell you something better. Just had my first jiu-jitsu class

It was awesome. I’m now shaped like a pretzel

You recognized she didn’t have anything fun to say. So you did her a favor and answered a ‘hidden’ question that you thought was worthwhile and interesting.

2. Not editing your life

Life tosses stuff at you 24 hours a day. So you’re always dealing with new events, experiences, and feelings.

Where’s the texting mistake?

Most people don’t know how to edit the boring stuff out of their lives.

So when a girl asks:

How was your week?

These people don’t have an immediate answer ready.

It was okay. I did eh… stuff

(That line was an exaggeration.) Or perhaps you have a holiday photo on your Tinder and a girl asks about your trip to Hong Kong. To which you answer:

It was amazing. The food was good. You know, so much great stuff. It was busy and we went out a lot. The people were polite

This is boring because it’s more or less the answer you’d expect!

Plus, it’s such a general description of a trip that it could apply to any other big city.

What you ought to do is relive the experience in your mind and edit out the boring. Or even easier, pick out the good.

Hong Kong had the craziest bar district. 4 Streets with 100s of bars. The best thing? Every bar only has like 5 seats. So if you visit a bar with friends, you take every seat in the house. And basically get your own personal bartender

See the difference?

Edit your memories and take out the highlights.

3. Not sharing your highlights

Most people are stuck in a routine. And have been stuck in that routine for weeks, months… perhaps even years.

If you do the same things over and over again, you kind of get stuck.

At least, conversationally.

If you’re bored of your own life, you won’t ever talk about it with excitement.

What do you do for work?

I’m an accountant

Those are the words of someone who doesn’t like his job. Or is a terrible storyteller.

If you’re able to look at your life with excitement, you’ll become excited. And let me tell you, an excited person is almost always interesting to listen to.

What do you do for work?

I’m a math nerd who helps people get more money

I’m basically Robin Hood

“But Louis, I don’t like my job and I don’t have the money to do exciting stuff like sky-diving and traveling the world.”

Fair enough.

But I’m not asking you to do anything crazy expensive. Heck, you could even pick up a good book.

Did you know that giant, 20 feet high (6 meters) sloths once roamed the earth? These sloths weighed 4.4 tons! A full-grown grizzly bear only weighs 500 pounds.

I didn’t know anything about giant sloths either until I read about it in Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. So when someone asks me what I’ve been up to lately, I talk about giant sloths. And have some pretty fun conversations.

So find the excitement in your life by stimulating yourself. (Hehehe, masturbation jokes.)

Whether that stimulation comes from books, work, sports, tv shows, you name it.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. I sent a girl from IRL a text and she said ‘Hi’. What do  I say?

If you met her in real life, you want to start your conversation right where you left off in real life. Never say anything like “Do you remember me?” If she exchanged numbers with you, she liked you enough to stay in touch and almost certainly remembers you. So remind her of your real-life conversation and continue over text where you left off.

2. We matched on an online dating app and she said ‘Hi’. What do I say?

If you matched her on a dating app you don’t have any history together. But she did choose to match you, so there is some level of interest. In this case, you want to look at her profile for something that stands out to you and write her a personalized message. Preferably something teasy.

3. I slid into her DMs and she said ‘Hi’. What do I say now?

If you slid into her DM’s on social media, you’re complete strangers to each other. Unlike matching on a dating app, she hasn’t decided to talk to you. You could say that the connection is ‘cold’ rather than ‘warm’. What do you do now? You send her a text that shows you see her as an equal. Most guys who have the guts to randomly slide into her DMs will put her on a pedestal and act like a fanboy. You want to do the opposite.

Final thoughts

That almost marks the end of what to say after hi. Before I sign off, one last thing.

You obviously want to apply the tips and tricks from this article, which means you need more matches.

Let me help you out by giving you the Dating Profile Checklist.

A tool that’ll help you find and fix all the weaknesses in your dating profile. Whether it’s Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, or whatever.

Enjoy your new matches, bro.

Blessings, Louis Farfields

And don't forget your download below ;)