Emojis in Business Communication

Guest Writer

Content Writer

⏱ Reading Time: 4 minutes

Using images in communication is one of the primal ways of exchanging ideas. There is a popular saying that „An image is worth a thousand words“ – apart from merely transmitting a certain message, an image can set the tone of the communication and express the mood and feelings of the speaker, which is not visible from a plain text.

🚀Read: Customer Experience Guide: How to Put your Customers First? 🚀

For many years emojis were considered to be rather juvenile. Not many businesses opted for using emojis in their official communication because they didn’t want to appear unprofessional in any way. But with computer-mediated communication becoming a standard in many businesses, it has become utterly important to convey the message in the most accurate way, including the tone. Recent research shows that 61% of employees use emojis at work. According to this trend report, emojis help users to communicate their thoughts and feelings better and to connect to people they routinely text or online message.

With that said, is there an opportunity for your business in this trend? Here is what using emoticons can bring to the image if your brand.

What Benefits do Emoticons Offer to Your Business?

There’s plenty of reasons a business uses emoticons when communicating with customers and partners. Let’s explore some of the benefits your brand gains from such an approach.

Picture 1. Popular emojis

1. A More Personal Approach

We are all human beings with feelings, however, you probably rarely express emotions in the business world. People can act stiff and drive away potential customers. Appealing to the human side of things brings customers much closer to you and gives your relationship a chance to grow.

2. Honesty

Emojis are honest in their expression. The essence of emojis is to connect you with your audience. Taking the relationship a step further will show your customers that you are honest and approachable. Be sure your expression comes across as honest, showing users you care about them. There’s no easier way of doing this than with a smile(y).

3. Getting Users’ Attention

Emojis are a great way to “break” a certain text into chunks, emphasize something important and add a bit of spirit to the whole thing. Using them properly to support your message can enhance the story of your brand.

4. Showing What the Words Can’t

A picture is worth a thousand words, you know the proverb, right? According to research, a “smiley face” can trigger the same parts of the brain as seeing a real human face smiling. So there’s no doubt that emojis give that extra tone that a sole text can’t convey.

Emoticon Demography

Whether the use of emoji is appreciated or not depends on the other person, the one you are interacting with. There is a reason to advise caution, as not everyone understands emojis in the same way.

It greatly depends on the age, gender and culture of a person. All of us understand emojis differently. For example, a person from Japan can find closed eyes emoji attractive, while others define it as the sleepy ones. Be sure you know who your audience is before using emojis in any kind of business correspondence.

To be on the safe side, you can always use social mimicry. That involves using emoji in your business communication only when another person does so. If their tone is formal, it could be wise to exclude emojis and save them until you’ve become more familiar with that person.

How to Use Emojis in Business Communication

Emojis aren’t just fun little characters to add to your social posts. They can be used to humanize your brand when words can’t. That means they’re not meant to be overused, so it’s important you use them wisely and only when it’s appropriate.

In order to ensure that emojis are properly used in your content, pay attention to the following.

1. Use Them Casually.

Do not force the use of emojis, sometimes a clean text is what’s needed. Depending on a message tone and the environment, evaluate if it is the proper time to use them while communicating.

2. Don’t Overuse Them.

Trying to force emojis where they don’t belong is a bad idea. You can confuse your customers or even drive them away. It’s important you don’t spam or overuse them. Use a maximum of two per correspondence. More than two implies a more personal relationship, according to relevant emoji statistics.

3. Adapt to the Channel.

Don’t just go smiling at people. You need a way to reach them – emoji color and carefully picked out mimics may change the focus of your content. To look more professional and clean, put a cap on your emoji so it doesn’t affect your professional proficiency. If you have already established a relationship with a user, make sure you use a personalized approach. Also take the communication channel into concern. Some channels are more emoji-friendly, like live chat, and in some you should use 1 emoji tops, like email.

Go further with emojis, make your own set of emoticons. Such a move can get any brand a lot of attention, and even boost presence across the board, driving a lot of user engagement in the process. Emojis are also useful for advertising and promoting your brand if you have the right strategy in mind. Like everything else, this needs to be considerate of your brand identity and general marketing purpose.

4. Be Careful Who You’re Talking To.

Using emojis in business communication depends highly on the person you’re talking to. So make sure you take age, gender and culture into consideration because there are significant differences in using emojis based on these criteria.

Picture 2. Paldesk Live chat emoji and stickers

Break Your Business Routine

A good way to break your ‘boring’ business routine is to use emojis. As proven above, they can be a great asset in business communication – if used appropriately. Great natural relationship builders, they’re the number one tool for making sure that your users feel like a part of a larger community. However, they’re not to be misused in any way, as it may have dire effects. That’s why they should be used sparingly and when it is appropriate. However, that’s no reason not to analyze your audience and experiment a bit. Create your own emoji strategy and let your business shine.