Email marketing: 6 reasons to integrate emojis

The use of emojis continues to grow, and not just on social media. We find them today even in the subjects of the e-mails we receive. These little colorful icons turn out to be the allies of your e-mail marketing campaigns.

According to several studies, these small emoticons increase the opening rate. A good reason to include them in your marketing emails!

In a previous article, we gave you best practices for integrating them into emails sent to your prospects. But if you’re still unconvinced by their use, consider the other benefits emojis bring to your brand instead.

1. Emojis increase your open rate

This is one of the main reasons to use emoticons in your marketing emails: to increase the open rate. Several studies have looked into the subject and the results are clear.

According to research conducted by Experian , emails with emojis in their subject line have a higher open rate of 56% compared to a text-only subject line.
This trend is also confirmed by a Phrasee study. In 60% of the tests they did, objects with an emoticon inside were more effective.

Leanplum also investigated emojis. After analyzing 300 million messages (emails and push notifications) between 2017 and 2018, it once again shows that the opening rate is higher when the email contains an emoticon.

2. Emojis at the service of deliverability

Emojis aren’t just about opening emails. Adapted to the season, they also ensure placement in your inbox.

For example, in January, inserting a bottle of champagne (🍾) in the subject of your message guarantees you 88% deliverability. Two beers ( 🍻 ) at St Patrick’s Day generate 91% placement in the main box. As for the tool icon (🔨), it offers you a 96% deliverability rate during Father’s Day .

3. Emojis grab attention

Let’s do a little exercise: go to your mailbox and look at the subjects of the different messages you have received. Which ones grab your attention the most? These are obviously the emails containing emojis.

While in 2015 only 2% of B2B emails contained emoticons, this figure has exploded in recent years. Between 2015 and 2016 alone, the growth of email campaigns using emoticons increased by 777% .

4. Emoticons: a seasonal impact

According to research by Return Path, your emotes need to relate to the season or a special day to be effective.

For example, February 14 is the perfect opportunity to insert a heart with a ribbon (💝) or a kiss (😘) to achieve an open rate of at least 20%. At Easter, it is naturally the rabbit (🐰) that arouses curiosity and harvests a 23% reading rate. While summer is the perfect occasion to insert emojis with sunglasses (😎), at the end of the year, icons representing families (👪), a baby (👶) or a gift (🎁) offer a reading rate of more than 20%.

5. Emojis give your brand personality

Today consumers are more receptive to personalized messages . By adding emojis to the subject lines of your emails, you humanize your brand by giving it a real identity.

By defining your personality correctly and staying consistent throughout your campaigns, you will build brand awareness.

6. Emojis save space

An emoji can convey a lot more information with fewer characters. If, for example, you want to write “You will love the sales at XXX! you can replace the word “adore” with a heart. In addition to attracting attention, you save space!

The space saving is significant when you know that more and more e-mails are consulted on mobile and that these do not display more than 40 characters for the subject.

So that your message is not truncated, you must therefore save space, get to the point and save words.

7. Emojis convey emotions

In order for the user to engage with our content, we all want them to feel emotions. This goes through storytelling in content marketing, while in email marketing, we tend to use exclamation points and capital letters.

Anti-spam filters are nevertheless sensitive to these last characters… Abusive use can lead you straight to your subscriber’s Spam folder.

Emojis sound like an alternative to stay visible, while conveying emotions.

8. Emojis are easy to use

After all these good reasons, don’t be afraid to incorporate emojis into your marketing emails. Easy to use, you can integrate them with a simple copy/paste. And if you don’t know where to get them, Emojipedia lists hundreds of emoticons.

Also note that the majority of devices and inboxes support emoticons.

How to use emojis in your emails?

To take advantage of the power of emoticons in the subject of your e-mails, they should be used in a relevant way. We have just seen the impact of seasonality, but it is not the only decisive criterion. Here are 3 tips for using emoticons effectively in your email marketing!

Choose the emoticons adapted to your company

A brand of children’s clothing and a company that markets accounting software will not use the same emojis. The activities are different and the target too.

Let’s take the example of the Beer icon ( 🍻 ) which works well for St Patrick’s Day. The clothing brand has no real interest in using it! Associating alcohol with outfits for the most children risks being frowned upon… She will have to choose clover (☘️) or the Irish flag (🇮🇪) instead. Conversely, the B2B company is aimed at adults and can therefore afford to use this emoji.

Test the impact of emojis

If you’re not sure how your customers will react to an email with emoticons, test your campaign! Divide your file into 2 groups: send a message with an emoji to one and without an icon to the other. Then analyze the fallout. If the group with emoticon has a better opening rate, it means that your target appreciates this kind of initiative!

However, do not rest on your achievements, the world of the web is changing all the time. This passion for emoticons is in danger of fading. Repeat tests regularly to ensure that your emails are still working at their best. Generally speaking, you don’t have to put icons in EVERY email.

Place emojis correctly

Be careful that your emoticons are readable! Place them at the beginning of your subject line to ensure they display directly and catch the recipients’ eye. If so, they risk not seeing it or only seeing part of it, which would tarnish the impact of the message.

Conclusion

Using emojis in your email campaigns can help increase your open rate. Think about it and test their impact on your target now. You could have a pleasant surprise!

If you are not yet convinced of the power of emojis, I let you discover a study on the use of emojis on Instagram . Emojis are a real asset for your emailing strategy. However, be careful to use them correctly! They must be appropriate for your audience and your message; otherwise, you will appear less professional.