Should I use emojis in my text messages? If you've asked yourself this question during an SMS campaign, you're far from alone.
Written communication is constantly evolving, and one of the latest additions to this is the so-called emojis. Many of us use them extensively when communicating with our friends and family via SMS and online chat. However, the question is whether the emoji also has its place in professional contexts, such as when your company communicates via SMS.
Together with Luksusbaby.dk, we set out to investigate whether it pays to use emojis in SMS. We take you through the results of the survey in this post.
Where do emojis come from?
Emojis are not a new phenomenon. Most of us know, and have even used, the classic character emoji typically consisting of a colon, a hyphen and a closing parenthesis - also known as ":-)".
But with the advent of the computer came a whole new way of expressing yourself: the image emoji. It's the emoji most of us know and use today. For example, it could look like this: 😊
With the rise in the use of emojis both at home and at work, a question arises in many organisations: should we use emojis when communicating externally in writing?
Should companies use emojis in SMS?
The answer depends on who you ask. Some studies suggest that using emojis as part of your corporate communication is a good idea, as emojis function as the written communication equivalent of body language. An emoji can help make a message more clear and personalised.
Conversely, other studies suggest that using emojis professionally can make the recipient take your message less seriously. Your company may even appear less competent when the emoji becomes part of your written message. On top of that, using emoji in your text messages can actually be expensive.
Does it cost extra to send an SMS with emoji?
If you use emojis as a private person, it doesn't cost extra to send an SMS with emojis, as most subscriptions today include free SMS sending. However, it's a different story when you as a business need to send SMS messages, typically via professional gateways.
The reason can be found in the limited number of characters (also known as characters) in the SMS message. A standard text message can contain up to 160 characters. If you exceed the 160 characters, you are actually sending the equivalent of 2 SMS messages, even if the message is sent as one. It goes on like this every 160 characters or so.
A single character or stroke corresponds to, for example, a letter, a period, a space or similar. An old-fashioned smiley emoji corresponds to three characters: a colon, a hyphen and a closing parenthesis. A modern picture emoji, on the other hand, can range from 1 all the way up to 90 characters depending on the emoji chosen.
At the same time, it is not possible to use emojis in the classic GSM7 format that an SMS message is normally sent in. Therefore, if you use an emoji, your message will switch to the UCS2 format and one SMS will only count for 70 characters instead of the normal 160 characters.
Rating SMS in GSM7 vs. UCS2 format
If you use emojis, you have fewer characters to deal with per SMS and the characters are used up faster. With a quick mental calculation, it's easy to see that the budget quickly increases when you choose to use emojis in corporate SMS messages.
You can read more about the pricing and content of SMS messages in our post: "How many characters can an SMS message contain".
Case: Luksusbaby tested the effect of emojis in text messages
Today, many companies consider emojis a natural part of their communication and marketing strategies and some even as part of their DNA. That's why we at inMobile are often in dialogue with our customers about the use of emojis in corporate SMS communication. Many people question whether using emojis in their text messages is really worth it, considering the extra cost.
At inMobile, we are experts in SMS communication, which is why we naturally set out to investigate the matter further. We have done this in collaboration with Luksusbaby.dk.
1. Purpose
At Luksusbaby.dk, they have long used SMS marketing with great results. They often use emojis in their text messages, but still have doubts about whether sending emojis is really worth the extra cost.
Therefore, the purpose of this case study is to investigate whether it is financially viable for the company to use emojis in their SMS communication when looking at the costs in terms of click-through rate and conversions.
2. How to proceed
To investigate this, we asked Luksusbaby.dk to send the two SMS messages below to two comparable target groups and at the same time.
The messages had the same text and message. The only difference was that one message contained emojis, while the other was a plain text message.
3. The result
The results of the study show that there is minimal difference in the click-through rate between the two messages. As the table below shows, the number of clicks was actually higher in the message without emojis compared to the message with emojis.
At the same time, Luksusbaby.dk found that the message without emojis generated 10% more revenue than the message with emojis. If we look at the increased cost of using emojis in SMS compared to the minimal difference in CTR, we can conclude that using emojis in corporate SMS communication is not economically viable.
Pros and cons of emoji communication?
When it comes to using emojis in your business SMS communication, there are both pros and cons to consider. Below we have listed some of the most important ones.
Potential benefits of emojis in SMS marketing
#1 Emojis make it easier to convey a mood through text
When you communicate in writing, there aren't the same non-verbal opportunities to express yourself as when you talk to someone face-to-face. This includes hand signs, body language, facial expressions and more. This is where emojis can sometimes step in and clarify the mood or humour intended by your text message.
#2 Your text messages are perceived more positively
Severalstudies suggest that the use of emojis has a positive effect on how written messages are perceived by the reader. For example, an analysis from Cambridge University shows that individuals who use emojis on social media also tend to be more popular and influential on those same platforms. Another study from the Journal of Language and Social Psychology describes how the use of emojis in written communication can help create positive relationships between sender and receiver.
#3 You make your message more personalised
A lotof people use emojis when communicating in writing with their private social circle. When you as a company use emojis, it can help make your message less corporate and rigid, and instead make the message more personalised and at eye level with the recipient, who is used to using and receiving emojis in private.
#4 Emojis work as excellent eye-catchers
Weknow. A wall of text is rarely very appealing, and most of us quickly scroll on when we're greeted by one. The same applies to SMS. An emoji can help to create eye-catching text and break up the text to grab your recipient's attention.
Potential drawbacks of emojis in SMS marketing
#1 Emojis are not universal and this can create dangerous misunderstandings
An emoji is not necessarily interpreted in the same way by two different individuals. When we interpret an emoji's meaning, it's based on who we are, where we come from and in what social contexts we use that emoji. Therefore, there is a risk that your recipient may not have the same understanding of an emoji as you intended.
#2 Your message can come across as frivolous and less competent
Althoughmost of us use emojis and smileys to symbolise trust and friendliness, you risk your audience taking your message less seriously when you use emojis. So says a study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, which concludes that a smiling emoji does not have the same effect in writing as a smile does in real life. According to the study, using emoji in your work emails can make you appear less competent. The same risks apply when you use emojis in your business SMS communication.
#3 Emojis in text messages can be expensive
Notonly can emojis be difficult to use for communication purposes because they are often perceived differently from person to person. As mentioned, emojis can also be expensive if you want to use them in your company SMS. As the case from Luksusbaby.dk showed, there is not necessarily a higher conversion or revenue to be gained by using emojis. In this case, the increased cost of using emojis is not worth it.
Summary: Is it worth using emojis in SMS?
The short answer is: No, it doesn't pay to use emojis in corporate SMS communication. At least not if we take the case from Luksusbaby.dk as a starting point. However, it's important to emphasise that the results of such a survey can vary greatly depending on who your company is - and not least who your target audience(s) are.
You also need to consider whether increasing revenue per SMS is your purpose for using emojis in your SMS messages in the first place. However, if your purpose is purely branding, the answer might be different.
Bonus section: Our top 3 tips for those considering using emojis in SMS
#1 Test, test, test
While emojis may not perform well with certain audiences and messages, the story is likely to be different in other cases.
Therefore, our best advice for anyone considering using emojis in SMS is to try it out in your own organisation. A good idea is to do 5-6 tests in a row where you randomly divide your audience into two equal parts and send the same message with and without emojis to each group.
The results will reveal whether or not you should use emojis in SMS.
#2 Know your target audience
Your recipient is crucial to whether or not emojis in your company's SMS marketing will have a positive effect. If you choose to use emojis in your company's text messages, it is therefore important that you are extremely aware of who you are communicating with and how your emojis will be perceived by the recipient. You only have this knowledge if you understand who your target audience is and how they approach emojis.
#3 Only use emojis that cannot be misunderstood
If you decide to use emojis in text messages, it's usually a good idea to follow the premise "everything in moderation". Don't use five emojis in each message if you haven't used emojis before, as this will only confuse the recipient more than it will help. Also, make sure to use emojis where the meaning is as clear and unmistakable as possible.
