"Do Emoji's Have a Place in a Business Email?" - 04/22/20 Edition
Stephen Says Column







Dear Stephen:

What are your feelings about the use of emojis in a business communication?

Emojis have sprung up like 🍄 It's no longer just in a casual text from my kids but it's also springing up in business communications. No matter if it is a letter to a client or maybe even a follow-up letter to an interview. Emojis seem to be commonplace today on social emails, and now I see them in business.

I am a sales manager, and I have received emojis occasionally from sales reps who report to me. I must say I am not a fan. If I was interviewing someone, and they sent me a letter with emojis in their thank-you note I think I would find it a turnoff. I was discussing this question with my wife who works in the fashion industry, and she feels the opposite of the way I do. She said it is very common, and she thinks I am a dinosaur. I have a kid in high school and one in college, and when they send me texts with the emojis, I have to confess I do not even know what most of them mean. My emojis vocabulary is limited to a "smile" or a "frown," and do not get me started with a meme!

Now, my team will be communicating with our clients by emails more than ever before. Do emoticons add value or take away from the message? Should I ever include them? Is this a new thing?

Signed,

🙁
 

Dear 🙁

Yes, emojis are a thing now in business letters. New research tells us that. I was surprised myself. I thought it was an age thing, but maybe not. Yet my clients are young, so are most of my employees, and I want to keep them engaged. So I say emoji see, emoji do.

An emoji is defined as a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion. They liven up your text messages with tiny smiley faces. I have always loved the smiley face, have used it even when I autograph a book, and I have used it in this column. I think of the smiley face as my trademark. Nowadays, however, there are so many emojis, I need an emoji dictionary just to understand what each one means. To answer your question I asked my friend at www.resumelab.com because they did the research and guess what they found: Everyone seems to love emojis!


Here are a few highlights they uncovered:
 
  • Emails that featured the little yellow fellas were considered professional by 40% of the respondents (vs. 69% when not including them). A staggering 72% difference in favor of not adding them to business emails.
  • Unsurprisingly, messages which included emojis were on average considered more friendly by 15% more of the survey-takers (though this varied based on the email type).
  • Both types of messages were thought of as equally clear in intent with or without the emojis. Similarly, the sentiment of the message was also implicitly understood, suggesting that using emoticons can be superfluous.
  • There is a time and place for everything. For example, Coronavirus update announcements were not a good place to show off your emoji expertise, as only 45% of survey takers considered it professional to do so (vs. 86% when the icons were excluded).

I believe their research, I just do not agree with all of it. I think emojis in business emails may be a fad. And I personally would never want to get an emoji in a thank-you follow-up letter to an interview. So when you use them I think you need to know your audience — meaning how old is the client or your boss and what is the context of the letter. And no matter what you decide, stick with no more than three emojis in a business letter, otherwise, personally, I do not think your letter will be taken seriously. But hey, I could change my advice on this subject in the future. I am the same workplace guru who advised people 10 years ago to cover their tattoos and to take out and remove out your visible body piercings before a job interview. I would never give that same advice today. Does that answer your question?

Signed,

😷
Stephen
 

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Stephen Viscusi is a bestselling author, television personality, and CEO of The Viscusi Group,
global executive recruiters located in New York.
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