I've genuinely been curious for a long time since men try to impress other women. And maybe some little bits help here and there. But... in the absence of physical attraction, does anything actually work?

Women who are used to attractive guys (hence good looking themselves) probably won't look much into anything if the guy doesn't meet a certain threshold in looks. But if he does, they may suddenly look at everything else. At least that's been my observation in western culture.