Latest / The Copywriting Podcast with Fexingo: Sales Letters, Headlines, and Persuasive Writing / How a Single Emoji Boosted Email Open Rates by 28 Percent
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to talk about something that probably makes a lot of copywriters cringe: emojis in subject lines. Luna: Oh, this is going to be good. I've got strong opinions here. Lucas: So do I. But let me start with a specific case. There's a mid-sized e-commerce brand — outdoor gear, let's call them Trail & Co. — they ran a year-long study on their email subject lines. Lucas: They tested thousands of sends and found that adding a single emoji lifted open rates by 28 percent on average compared to plain-text subject lines. Luna: Twenty-eight percent — that's not trivial. But I bet it depends entirely on which emoji you pick. Lucas: Absolutely. That's the key finding. They tested fourteen different emojis and the results were wildly different. The winner was the mountain emoji — fitting for an outdoor brand — which boosted open rates by 41 percent. Luna: And the loser? Lucas: The party popper. That one actually decreased open rates by 6 percent compared to no emoji. It felt gimmicky and out of place for their audience. Luna: So context matters more than the emoji itself. Makes sense. Lucas: Right. And this isn't just a B2C phenomenon. There's a B2B SaaS company, HubSpot's team published some data a couple years back — they found a moderate lift from emojis in subject lines, but only for certain segments. Lucas: For their small-business audience, the smiley face emoji improved open rates by about 15 percent. For enterprise IT managers, it actually hurt. Luna: That matches what I've seen. An emoji says 'we're casual and fun,' which can be perfect for a startup but disastrous if you're selling compliance software to a bank. Lucas: Exactly. And the research backs it up. A study from the email platform Mailjet found that emojis in subject lines across all industries averaged a 12 percent open rate increase, but the effect was strongest in entertainment, retail, and travel. Lucas: In finance and legal, the effect was neutral or negative. Luna: So what's the rule of thumb? Should people use emojis or not? Lucas: I think the smart play is: know your audience and test. But there are some patterns. First, use at most one emoji. Any more than that and you look spammy. Lucas: Second, match the emoji to the context — a plane emoji for travel, a gift emoji for a promotion, a lightbulb for a tip. Generic emojis like the smiling face with sunglasses don't perform as well as specific ones. Luna: What about the placement? Before the text? After? In the middle? Lucas: Good question. The data from Trail & Co. showed that putting the emoji at the beginning of the subject line — right before the key benefit — worked best. Like, '🎒 Backpacks 30 Percent Off' outperformed 'Backpacks 30 Percent Off 🎒'. Lucas: The theory is that the emoji acts as a visual hook that draws the eye into the message. Luna: Interesting. I've also seen some research that suggests younger demographics — Gen Z and Millennials — are more receptive to emojis, while older audiences find them unprofessional. Lucas: That tracks. Trail & Co.'s audience skews younger, which probably explains why they saw such a strong lift. But even within younger groups, relevance matters. A musical note emoji from a concert venue makes sense. From a dental office, not so much. Luna: Right. And there's the accessibility angle. Screen readers often struggle with emojis, which can hurt the experience for visually impaired subscribers. Lucas: That's an important point. Some email clients also render emojis differently across devices. A smiley on an iPhone might look like a blob on an Android. So you have to test across platforms. Lucas: But here's the thing — done right, emojis can humanize your brand. They signal that you're not a robot. In a world where everyone is fighting for attention in the inbox, that tiny visual cue can make the difference between 'delete' and 'open'. Luna: Yeah, I think the key takeaway is that emojis are a tool, not a magic bullet. If you test and align them with your audience and brand, they can be effective. If you just slap a random emoji on everything, you'll dilute your message. Lucas: Exactly. And I think that's a broader principle in copywriting — every element should earn its place. Emoji, punctuation, formatting — if it doesn't serve the goal, cut it. Luna: That's a good place to pause and mention something. This podcast exists because of listeners who find value in these conversations and want to keep them going. We don't run ads, and that's intentional. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small thing, but listeners who chip in a couple dollars a month on buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo — that genuinely covers the hosting costs and keeps everything ad-free. Luna: And if these marketing deep dives have sparked an idea you've actually used, that's the kind of support that makes a real difference. No pressure, just if it's useful to you. Lucas: Alright, back to emojis. So let's talk about the downside risk. What happens when an emoji backfires? Luna: I've seen some real disasters. A brand once used the crying-laughing emoji in a subject line about a serious product recall. It came across as tone-deaf and insensitive. Lucas: Oh, that's brutal. And it's a perfect example of why context is king. The same emoji that works for a funny cat video can destroy trust in a crisis communication. Lucas: Another risk: some email filters mark messages with emojis as spam, especially if the emoji is unrelated to the content. A study by Return Path found that emails with emojis in the subject line had a slightly higher spam complaint rate. Luna: So there's a cost-benefit analysis. If your list is highly engaged and your brand is casual, the reward might outweigh the risk. But for a pristine corporate list, maybe not. Lucas: Right. And I think the smartest approach is to segment. Send emoji subject lines to your most engaged subscribers first, measure the response, and then decide whether to roll it out to the broader list. Luna: That's actually what Trail & Co. did. They started with a small segment of their most active buyers, saw the lift, and gradually expanded. Lucas: Exactly. And they kept testing different emojis over time. What worked in January didn't work in July. Audience preferences shift, and so should your tactics. Luna: So final takeaway: emojis can boost open rates significantly, but only if they resonate with your audience and fit the context. Test one at a time, measure, and don't get attached to any single emoji. Lucas: That's the right way to think about it. Next time I'll bring some data on how emojis affect click-through rates — it's not as straightforward as opens. Luna: Looking forward to it. For now, if you want to check out some of the studies we mentioned, we'll link them in the show notes. Lucas: And if you've got an emoji horror story or a success story, we'd love to hear it. You can find us on Twitter or drop a note on buy me a coffee. Thanks for listening.