News

Emojis are red hot right now, from text messages to Facebook posts, they’re difficult to avoid. What started out as a simple colon and parenthesis has now become a complex collection of mini-graphics utilized to express feelings quickly(😜😥😳).

Recently,  companies have started testing the success of using Emojis in email subject lines as a way to increase open rates. Think about it, amongst all the boring plain text titles, all of the sudden, there can be an image!👏 At first, this is a no-brainer, open rates should increase your businesses success. Looks can be deceiving, let’s take a look at the situation more closely.

Testing Emojis Across All Platforms

While the theory is correct, the mediums most companies are using are slightly behind the technology curve. Emoji use within headlines is not a high priority for these developers.🐌

Part of Email Marketing is ensuring your email is as uniform as possible across all platforms. It’s more complex than it sounds considering you have to account for:

• Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010,  2013 and 2016 on the desktop
• BlackBerry 4 OS
• Yahoo! Mail (Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
• Lotus Notes 6.5, 7, 8 and 8.5
• Thunderbird 3.0
• Android 2.3 and 4.0
• Gmail App (Android)
• AOL Mail (Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
• Gmail (Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
• Outlook.com (Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
• iOS Mail (iPhone 3, 4, 5, 6)

Of these listed, Emojis are currently functioning 💯% properly on four [4] platforms:

• Outlook.com (Explorer)
• Android 4.0
• iOS Mail
• Gmail (Firefox)
• Yahoo! Mail

As for the other platforms, emoji’s will appear as black and white images, question marks, or a box shape. The subject line is NOT where you want out of place characters, as this would have a negative impact on open rates. Additionally, with unidentified symbols in your headline, may risk people reporting the email as SPAM and risk being Blacklisted.😵

Should you use Emojis in the subject line?

👍Yes, but ONLY IF your target market is of a younger demographics.

👎Otherwise, wait for the adoption of Emojis by all or the majority of these platforms. Until then, it’s too risky. Even once Emojis are fully compatible, make sure to experiment with A/B testing to determine whether or not this method will be successful with your audience.