Yes, you can add emojis to the subject line of your campaigns and automation emails.
In this article, we'll discuss:
What is an emoji?
An emoji is a digital icon and is used to represent objects, actions, and emotions. For email marketers, adding emojis to the subject line of an email has many benefits: it draws attention to your message in a crowded inbox, it provides a new, playful way to engage with subscribers, and saves space in your subject line.
Tips for using emojis in a subject line
Before you begin adding emojis to your subject line, there are a few things to consider:
Know your audience
Make sure that the use of emojis is suitable for institutional brand guidelines. In addition, you'll want to make sure you understand the meaning of the emoji and that it's aligned with your audience before you start using it.
Make it relevant
Make sure the emoji complements your message and is related to your subject line. Treat it like a word in a subject line. If the emoji is unrelated, it will confuse your readers and lead to poor open rates.
Don't overdo it
While emojis are fun, you may not want to add them to every email you send, or add too many to a subject line. Too many emojis may also cause confusion with your subscribers, causing them to not open your email or to mark it as spam.
The bottom line is to use your best judgement when adding emojis to your subject line and only do it if it makes sense for your content and brand.
Note: Emojis will not render in all email readers.
In addition, they may not even look the same from email client to email client. That's because every email client and operating system is different. The best way to see how emojis will render for your contacts is to test your email.
How to add an emoji to your subject line or preheader text
There are two different methods you can use to insert an emoji to the subject line and/or preheader text of your campaign or automation email:
1. Copy and paste the emoji into your subject line.
For this method, we recommend using Emojipedia. They provide an exhaustive list of emojis to choose from and it's free.
2. Use a keyboard shortcut to pull up an emoji picker
For Macs, press Control + Command + Space Bar
For Windows 10, press Win + period (.)
Note: Emojis are based on Unicode characters. If you are employing the copy and paste method to add an emoji to your subject line, make sure you're using a Unicode character and not an image.
Now, let's add an emoji to a subject line and preheader text:
1. From the email designer of either a campaign or automation email, click the gear icon.
2. The Settings modal will open. Add the emoji to the subject line and/or preheader text field using one of the two methods listed above:
3. Click "Close."
4. Click "Next."
The Campaign Summary page will display the emoji in your subject line and preheader text:
See popular emojis from Emojipedia, click here.
Emoji display differences
As we stated earlier, emojis are based on Unicode characters. All devices/operating systems will interpret those characters in different ways. Meaning, the emoji you place in a subject line for an email will not look the same for each contact. And depending on what device your contact is using to view your emails, the emoji may not render at all.
This Litmus blog on emojis provides a great example of how the Face with Tears of Joy emoji will display on different operating systems:
If you're not sure how or if an emoji will display for your contact, we recommend testing your email on as many devices, operating systems, and email clients as possible before sending it out to your list.
We also recommend reading this help article on Emojis, Subject Lines, and Deliverability.