8 min read

In today’s world, incorporating emojis in your messages helps add character, humor, and emotions to your content. They have become widely used in messaging apps, social platforms, emails, and more.

Recent studies show that a tweet with an emoji can increase engagement by over 25 percent. If emojis have helped social platforms increase engagement rates, then shouldn’t brands look to use these in their mobile messaging campaigns?

What are emojis?

Emojis are small digital images or icons that are used to express emotions, ideas, or concepts in electronic communication. They are often used in text messaging, social media posts, and other forms of online communication. Emojis originated in Japan in the late 1990s and have since become increasingly popular worldwide.

They can represent a wide range of emotions, such as happiness, sadness, anger, and surprise, as well as objects, animals, and activities. Emojis are often used to add depth and nuance to written communication, as they can convey tone and emotion in a way that plain text alone cannot. Additionally, they can help to make communication more engaging and fun.

What are the benefits of using emojis in business messaging?

Below are three reasons why brands should incorporate emojis in their messaging.

1. Emojis are a Part of Day to Day Messaging

Smartphones and messaging apps all offer emojis and are probably one of the most common ways to communicate.

According to the emoji report,[1] the largest set of mobile messaging app users incorporates emojis into 56% of their messages, with 86% of this group wanting more variety in their emojis.

The use of emojis has continued to increase in recent years. As of March 2019, there were 3,019 emojis[2] in the Unicode Standards.

Leanplum reports[3] that push notifications with emojis have 85% more opens compared to push notifications without emojis.

If you want your brand to stand out, look to incorporate emojis in your SMS or Push messaging.

Tip: Using emoji’s in SMS messaging can also help save space, using fewer characters

2. New Generations Love to Engage with Pictures

The use of emojis can enrich your customer conversations, as it offers visual representation to your mobile messaging. People love to use emojis every day as it helps inject personality to something that might be just plain text.

However, it does need to be used in the right way.

A survey by Zipwhip[4] found that the use of emojis is welcome from businesses and by all age groups. The Gen Y (24-41-year-olds) were the most receptive ranking 80%, and this was closely followed by Gen Z (18-23 year-olds) at 76%.

Emojis are a great way of condensing plain text into a colourful engaging image that gets the same message across. It’s important to note that we’re not suggesting you turn a whole sentence into a sequence of emojis leaving your customers confused and trying to understand what all the emojis mean; instead, we recommend strategically placing some emojis through your mobile messaging.

Tip: Use suitable emojis for your audience and/or message.

3. Increase Engagement Rates with Emojis

Consumers are more responsive to messages when they feel that they are designed to be personal and engaging, and emojis are an easy way to do this. According to Quintly,[5] the use of emojis can increase engagement by 48% on Instagram posts.

Emojis are a great way to enhance the customer experience as well as gather customer feedback. You can use smiley faces or sad faces to receive customer feedback on a product or service quickly.

Visually it’s easier to grasp and faster for the end user to respond. The use of emojis can also help increase response rates. 

Tip: They are great at capturing attention, so don’t forget to use emojis that are relevant for your content.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some commonly asked questions related to Emojis.

How do I choose the right emojis for my business messaging

Choosing the right emojis for your business messaging can help you convey your message more effectively and make it more engaging. Here are some tips to help you choose the right emojis:

Know your audience: Consider your target audience, their demographics, and their preferences before choosing emojis. Different age groups, cultures, and regions may have different interpretations of certain emojis.

Keep it professional: While emojis can add personality to your messaging, be careful not to use too many or inappropriate ones. Choose emojis that align with your brand’s tone and voice.

Be relevant: Use emojis that are relevant to the message or topic at hand. For example, if you’re promoting a summer sale, you could use emojis that represent the beach, sun, or ice cream.

Don’t overdo it: Use emojis sparingly and strategically. Too many emojis can make your message look cluttered and unprofessional.

Test it out: Before using emojis in your business messaging, test them out with a small group of customers or colleagues to see how they respond. This can help you determine the effectiveness of using emojis in your messaging.

Follow trends: Keep up with the latest emoji trends and consider incorporating them into your messaging. However, be mindful of their relevance and appropriateness for your brand.

What are some examples of the successful use of emojis in business messaging?

There have been many successful uses of emojis in business messaging. Here are a couple of examples:

Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola launched a summer campaign where they replaced the logo on their cans with 24 different emojis. The campaign was a huge success and generated a lot of social media buzz.

Chevrolet: In a tweet promoting their latest electric vehicle, the Chevrolet Bolt, the car manufacturer used the ⚡️emoji to represent lightning-fast acceleration.

By using emojis strategically and creatively, businesses can increase engagement and connect with their audiences in a more authentic and relatable way.

Summary

Emojis have become a big part of our everyday communication; therefore, brands should be encouraged to incorporate these into their customer communication.

Many platforms have found that combining this into the communication strategy has helped increase engagement rates, so if you’re using mobile messaging, then why not look to give this a try? If you want to find out more about Kaleyra’s emoji feature with the campaign management platform, then please contact us today.