Emojis Increase App Notification Open Rates by 85%

Featured article by Richard Iarson, Independent Technology Author

The Original 176 Emojis developed by Shigetaka Kurita in 1998

Are you adding emoji’s into your app notifications? If not, you are likely missing out on a great deal of opens from your users. According to the recent Mobile Marketing Trend report released by Leanplum and App Annie, emojis increase open rates in push notifications by 85%. Emojis are more popular than ever. Last year’s emoji report revealed usage numbers of 92% of the world’s population use visual icons at least several times a year. That is an amazingly high number; it is hard to imagine any other universal symbols that are as easily recognised or as widely used worldwide. What you may not realise is that these unassuming, fun little icons can be your secret weapon when it comes to marketing. Over 3.800 push campaigns in 2016 used emojis; up by 163% in 2015. Here are some of the details from the report that can help you get the most out of your mobile application marketing plan.

Emojis Increase App Notification Open Rates by 85%

The study analysed open rates for application push notifications that contained no emojis versus ones that did use emojis. The difference was remarkable. There was only a 2.44 per cent open rate for notifications without emojis while push notifications with emojis has a 4.51 per cent open rate. Since applications are generating more income than ever before, more is at stake, so you must do everything you can to generate more revenue and garner attention in this ever-growing market.

Different Applications Should Use Different Emojis

Of course, different emojis should be used for different applications. The study determined the different types of emojis used in different industries. Gaming apps used more emojis, however, retail and any type of entertainment apps can benefit from using emojis in push notifications. The three main emoji industry categories are:

1. Retail apps: use emojis to show money saved or things to buy.
2. Dating apps: use emojis to represent activities like karaoke, drinking, or eating.
3. Mobile games: emojis are popular with mobile games, but especially to represent the holidays like Halloween and Christmas.

The Psychology of Emojis

Why do emojis increase engagement for applications so much? One reason is because emojis can convey so much emotion, tone, or express and only take up one character. Scientists believe that when users see an emoji, they react the same way as if they have face to face interactions. The brain recognises emojis as nonverbal information. They can change mood, spark emotion, and since most apps mean entertainment, people want to click on something that gives them a positive emotion.

Emojis Increase Conversions

Use of emojis, especially when combined with other smart marketing tactics like personalisation have led to an increase in revenue and time spent in-app. In the past two years, app store revenue has increased by 80 per cent and time spent in apps has increased by 95 per cent. Combined Google Play and iOS App Store revenue exceeded $30 billion in 2016. Total time spent in app in 2016 in hours reached close to 900 billion hours.

Emotions Increase User Retention

Another big positive for using emojis is that they boost retention in addition to the increases in engagement and conversions. Using emojis led to a 28 per cent increase in day two user retention for one app tested. Of course, this means the most during the critical app adoption phase.

Which Emojis are Best?

When it comes to the best emojis to choose, start with these 25 top performing emojis when it comes to push notification engagement and conversion rates. These all have above-average open rates.

Summary and Takeaways for Your Company

Today there are 1,851 emojis worldwide. They are so popular, there is even a day dedicated to them, July 17th is World Emoji Day. As more emojis are created and emoji usage increases, this trend will continue to rise. However, it is up to you to take advantage of it now before the usage becomes overused and old. Make sure to incorporate emojis into your marketing strategy now. Test out how they work for you and even try them in other applications, like email marketing, where similar increases in open rates have been discovered.

About the Author

Richard Larson is Brand Manager for GoPromotional.co.uk, leading promotional products supplier in the UK. He enjoys sharing marketing and business tips.