Emojis are super fun and they’re everywhere! In SMS & WhatsApp conversations, marketing campaigns, and in corporate emails too! They make a boring email or a push notification lively and add a dash of personality to it.
Emojis complement words and convey better messages and emotions, adding greater colour and meaning. You might think of emojis as silly or frivolous when it comes to their use in marketing. But, these smiley faces, people, and food illustrations are actually serious business.
In fact, emoji marketing was one of the most important marketing trends in 2018 and we’re sure it’ll continue to trend in 2019 as well!
What are Emojis?
Emojis are small icons or pictographs that represent emotions, objects, and symbols. These are logographic in nature and are usually used on social media, chat messages, emails, push notifications etc.
The first emoji was developed by a Japanese designer, Shigetaka Kurita, in 1990 based on Japanese Kanji. Mainstream application of emojis in daily communication came about when Apple introduced its first emoji collection in a hidden keyboard in its first iPhone with the OS 2.2 update. Soon Android too came up with its own set of emojis, paving the way for greater user adoption.
Emoji Fact: About 92% of people use emojis and 30.4% use them several times a day!
Source: Adweek
What is Emoji Marketing?
Emoji marketing is a creative practice of building marketing campaigns that involve the use of emojis. These include email subject lines with emojis, push notification emojis, social media posts with emojis used along with words, emojis used in graphics, emojis used in the URL, branding with emoji merchandise, and any other creative way that a marketer can think of.
Top Verticals Using Emojis in their Marketing Campaigns:
The top 3 verticals that stand to benefit from implementing app push notification emojis are:
- Media and Entertainment
- Food Tech
- Online Retail
Why Should You Use Emojis in Your Mobile App Notifications?
According to a study, whenever a person sees an emoji in a message, their brain lights up the same way as when they see an actual human face. The brain categorises emojis as non-verbal information, and as a result, they are then processed as emotions. Emojis have the power to change the mood of the reader.
When you use ?, ?, or ? in your push notification, it is likely to make an instant “feel good” impact on whoever reads the message. And, usually people would want to click on something that makes them feel good.
Here are a few reasons to use mobile push notification emojis:
- Who doesn’t love emojis? Emojis can influence a users’ decision. Seeing those tiny emotion-based characters will aid and drive up your users’ urge to click on a push notification.
- Emojis add up a visual aesthetic to your boring push notifications and make it more appealing, sparking instant interest.
- Emojis can elevate your brand engagement in more unique ways. Remember how Domino’s Pizza used a Pizza slice emoji to place an order? Push notifications are a trending channel of communication preferred by mobile apps and web-based companies. They quickly grab a users’ attention and conveys your message in real time. When combined with emojis, you will see a stark increase in your user engagement. Engaging your users with emoji messages and nudging them to use emojis for transactions definitely open the doors for a new way of engagement.