Emojis, invented in the 1990s, have taken the world by storm. Because of their widespread adoption and popularity, smiley faces and other emoji graphics found their way into email marketing.
Using Emojis in Email Marketing
The use of emojis in emails has increased by 775 percent every year. It’s getting harder to get people’s attention with email marketing.
Promotions, deals, and endless marketing emails have clogged email inboxes. To make your subject line or email stand out, use Emojis.
Marketing with Emojis: Why?
Emojis are hot. So much so that they created World Emoji Day. But that’s not why email marketers use them.
Email experts used emojis in their subject lines to draw attention to their emails. This made them stand out from other word-based messages in the inbox.
It only took a few keystrokes to significantly improve their email marketing efforts. Emojis in email subject lines can increase open rates by up to 29% and click-through rates by 28%!
How to Use Emojis in Emails
The use of emojis grew over time, and so did the number of high-quality emoji characters.
To add an emoji to an email, simply copy and paste it from an emoji database like Emojipedia.
Emojis in Gmail
You can access the emoji keyboard by clicking the smiley face emoji. To see emojis, press Command + Shift + 2.
Using Emojis in Email Subject Lines
Your email subject line can include an emoji (or two), but first, fine-tune your copywriting style to suit your audience. See what tone resonates with them, and then use emojis sparingly to boost the effectiveness of your email subject lines.
Remember that most emojis work best in B2C e-commerce emails and look unprofessional in B2B emails.
Emojis can be used in email subject lines like this:
- Prefix your subject line with one emoji.
- “Wrap” your subject line
- Add it to your subject line.
- Preheader text with an emoji (or two)
- Emoji your Greeting
- End with an emoji salutation
Emojis and Email Deliverability
Emojis should not affect email deliverability. However, if you send marketing emails with lots of emojis, bold all caps, and excessive punctuation, your recipients may mistake it for spam.
This can negatively impact your open rate and future communication with your email subscribers.
So, when deciding whether or not to use an emoji in an email, follow best practices.
1. Don’t Use too much Emojis
It’s best not to overdo this trendy look. Emails with too many or too frequent emojis appear spammy.
When adding an emoji to your email subject lines or messages, don’t use it too often, as it loses impact.
2. Don’t use Emojis to replace words or phrases
Digital marketers should be aware that not all email clients understand emoji.
Emojis aren’t a fixed form of communication and are better suited to eliciting emotions than replacing words. Emojis can be misinterpreted, causing confusion or offense.
3. Use subject line emojis sparingly if your brand is serious
Audience knows best. For example, if you normally communicate with your clients in a scientific, factual manner, it would be inappropriate to use irrelevant emojis. This can tarnish your reputation.
But running an eCommerce business that treats its customers like friends is a different story. Your subscribers may prefer that to text-based messages.
If you find that adding an emoji to your subject line increases open rates, go for it.
Subject Line Split Testing
When sending a campaign, always test it with and without emojis. Split tests (or A/B tests) let you test one variable on a subset of your campaign’s recipients to see which one performs best. The winning variation will be sent to the rest of your segmented email list.
Another reason to test your emails before sending to your entire list is that not every subscriber will see the same thing. Emojis appear differently on different devices, so a global emoji system isn’t feasible. New emojis may appear on one platform but not on another.
Conclusion
If used correctly, emojis can increase email open rates this year. Emojis are great for grabbing attention and personalizing emails.
Emojis have a big impact on the future of email marketing, whether you use them to personalize your subject lines or to draw attention in your subscribers’ inboxes.