Bad spelling in post-date texts can ruin your potential relationship

This is because texting has become a vital part in the new era of dating, with almost a third of singles surveyed admitting that they would be put off by their potential partners based on the content of their post-date text, the Daily Mail reported.

The biggest text turn-off was bad spelling, closely followed by abbreviations (such as gr8 and l8r) and then acronyms such as LOL, ROFL or LMAO, revealed the survey, carried out by match.com for their upcoming LoveGeist report.

‘Double texting' (not waiting for a reply before sending another text), one word messages and using smiley faces were all also cited as major faux pas for the discerning dater.

The survey also found that single men are 60 per cent more likely than women to get a friend to check their post-date texts before sending them.

But the burden of post-date ‘textiquette' is borne mainly by men, with over half of the single women surveyed saying that the first text after a first date is the responsibility of their date.

In fact only 16 per cent of women believe they should take it upon themselves to send the first message.

"In recent years the way we use technology to communicate after a date has made the post-date follow-up more important than ever. Not only do you now need to perform well on the date itself, if your follow-up message isn't up to scratch, then you might be out of contention for a second meeting," the paper quoted Kate Taylor, Match.com's resident relationship expert as saying.

Good news for single guys, Taylor has offered some tips to boost your ‘Textual Chemistry'.

First she said texts should be light-hearted and tantalising.

According to her, you shouldn't use texts for outpouring emotion, whether positive or negative. A cute message such as ‘great to meet you' may help.

Guys! Be mysterious. Taylor says you shouldn't feel obliged to answer every text.

In fact, it's better if you don't, as they will likely just come running back for more, she said.

You shouldn't treat texts like your Facebook status.

According to Taylor, sending texts and picture texts of all the fun stuff you're doing all the time won't make you look busy and popular, instead it'll make you look like you're thinking of messages you can send all the time, even when you're out doing fun stuff. And it's not healthy.

Send one text at a time and don't worry if you don't get a reply straight away. And never send a ‘Did you get my message?' text because they already got it. So forget you sent it and get on with your day.

Keep the text humorous, says Taylor, as mushy message written in a funny way is 100 times more appealing than one written seriously. And it would be less embarrassing if they were to show it to their friends.