Holy Emojis! Believe it or not… they work!
Or we should say: they can be extremely effective in increasing your email and Facebook ad open and click rate. But, there are definitely some things to remember. Read on to see some dos, don’ts and guiding principles.
Don’t use emojis if they don’t make sense or add value to the post, and to pull back even more, make sure they make sense for your brand. eCommerce brands are great candidates for emoji use but that doesn’t mean they work everywhere.
Do use emojis on social ads… if they make sense for the product! This is an opportunity to create visual disruption outside posted images and to modify your brand’s tone and tenor in a fun direction.
Don’t use emojis on ads… if they don’t make sense for the product. Yes, I just said the opposite of my previous point. This is for the organizations that have the appropriate tone and tenor to utilize emojis. It’s important to remember that sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. Don’t get caught using them in every post just because they work in some posts. Diesel tried! Shoes on your hands? High five shoes? This one has more questions than answers!
Do A/B test your audience — testing a post with emojis and a post without emojis will give you real world data to use directly from your audience. If you are not sure how it will resonate… test!
Do use emojis to enhance emotion regardless of your stance on technology and the evolution of cell phones over the last decade. There are generations that feel emotion in emojis… I mean, that was their purpose to begin with. Leverage this! Use emojis to convey the emotion in your post or product.
Don’t go overboard… CHEVY! In a world of extremes, it is important to remember that there is a time and place, and emojis are not the place! Use emojis sparingly to enhance your post or message via the strategies listed above but don’t go overboard.
Don’t use the wrong emojis. I guess you could say that there is a “counter-culture” in the emoji world, and an emoji can have a far-reaching meaning beyond the image itself! Make sure that you look into the emojis that you are using before you post — the message could be skewed far from your intent with an improperly placed emoji.
And remember…
A little goes a long way
Including too many emojis will make your email come across as spammy, tacky or just plain goofy. There’s no reason to have two smileys when one clearly does the job.
Consider your audience
Whether emojis help or harm your email marketing depends largely on who is opening your email. You probably already have an idea of how your audience will respond to emojis. For example, let’s say your business is focused on selling software to doctors or lawyers… emojis may not resonate with your audience. But there are some other factors to consider, as well.
As you might suspect, the younger the audience, the better they will respond to emojis. Studies have found that millennials and Gen Zers will view the use of emojis nearly twice as positively as those over 65.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t use emojis if your audience tends to be on the older end of the scale. However, the older your audience is, the more you should consider whether using an emoji is appropriate. And when you do use them, be more conservative with your choice of emoji.
So, with that, we give emojis a smiley face and even a thumbs up (but only once we’ve carefully thought it through, and only one at a time). ☺️
Some of our favorites!
