Anyone seen real ROI on dating traffic?

So here’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while, and maybe others here have too: what’s the actual ROI you can expect when running paid dating traffic campaigns?I’ve seen people throw around wild numbers – some claiming huge profits, others saying it’s all a money drain. Personally, I’ve found it really hard to pin down what’s realistic versus what’s just hype. Most of the time when you search for info, you get either broad marketing advice or people trying to sell you traffic packages. That’s not really helpful when you just want a peer-to-peer conversation about what actually happens when you put money into dating ads.For me, the pain point was simple: I didn’t know what a “good” ROI even looked like in this niche. Was I supposed to be happy if I broke even at first? Should I expect 20%, 50%, or more? I’ve run other traffic campaigns in different verticals where the benchmarks were easier to find, but with dating traffic it felt like I was shooting in the dark.When I first dipped into it, I tried a couple of mainstream traffic sources and set up campaigns with fairly broad targeting. The results were… mixed. CTR was fine, conversions were okay, but the money coming back in didn’t look worth it. In fact, at first I was losing money – nothing dramatic, but enough to make me think “maybe this isn’t the right place to be spending my budget.”Then I realised something. Dating traffic isn’t like general e-commerce or app installs. The audience behaves differently. They’re more impulsive in some ways, but also more sceptical in others. People sign up fast but don’t always stick around. So what worked for me in other campaigns – like optimising for volume and hoping to scale – just didn’t translate here.I made a few mistakes too. For example, I spent too much on traffic sources that looked like a bargain at first but didn’t convert well. I also underestimated how important creatives were in this space. A bland ad just sinks instantly. When I tested more personalised, curiosity-driven creatives, I noticed conversion rates improving. But here’s the kicker: even with better ads, my ROI was still shaky until I started focusing on quality over quantity in traffic sources.That was probably my biggest insight. It’s tempting to buy cheap traffic and hope to squeeze conversions out of it, but in dating it almost never pays off long term. Once I started trimming down to fewer but better-performing sources, I saw my ROI start to stabilise. Nothing crazy – I wasn’t doubling my money overnight – but it was moving from negative to break-even, and eventually to a modest profit.The other thing I had to accept is that ROI benchmarks in dating aren’t one-size-fits-all. It depends massively on the offer type (CPL, CPA, rev share), the geo you’re targeting, and how long you’re willing to optimise before judging results. I’ve seen some peers say they’re happy with 10–20% ROI on dating traffic campaigns, while others push higher. For me, even small positive ROI felt like a win because it meant I was learning what worked and could slowly scale.If you’re in the same boat, I’d say don’t fall into the trap of chasing unrealistic numbers or assuming you’ll get rich quickly. Think of it more like a slow grind – test, cut what doesn’t work, lean into what does, and accept that dating traffic ROI benchmarks aren’t as flashy as people make them sound.If you’re curious to see some actual figures and comparisons, I found this breakdown useful:  ROI Benchmarks for Paid Dating Traffic . It gave me a clearer idea of what’s “normal” in this niche and reassured me that my early struggles weren’t unusual at all.So yeah, that’s been my take on it. I’d love to hear what others here have actually seen in terms of ROI. Are you hitting steady profits, or still figuring it out like me?