Want greater engagement in mobile communications? Try an emoji! A new Mobile Marketing Trends report from Leanplum and App Annie revealed that push notifications with emojis see 85% higher open rates on average compared to those sent without emojis.
Leanplum and App Annie analyzed up to 5,000 push notification campaigns, encompassing more than 2.6 billion individual push notifications across iOS and Android users between Jan. 1, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2016. The report also tracked the year-over-year increase of emoji usage in push notifications. In 2016, emoji usage rose 163%. In addition, the library of emojis marketers used grew by 108%.
For retail campaigns, marketers often leverage emojis that showcase “the money shoppers save on sales,” such as a money bag, flying bills and cash emojis.
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More key insights from the report include:
- Emojis that were A/B tested in push notifications led to a 9% increase in users who clicked the notification’s call-to-action, suggesting that emojis lead to a boost in conversions;
- iOS push notifications with emojis are opened 50% more often than notifications without emojis, while Android push notifications are opened 135% more often than notifications without emojis; and
- Emojis outperformed image versions by 9%.
“Today’s app users demand delightful content to engage with. This means marketers have to deliver mobile messaging campaigns that resonate with emotion on an individual level and at scale,” said Momchil Kyurkchiev, Co-Founder and CEO of Leanplum in a statement. “This report confirms, along with first-hand conversations with customers, that emojis help drive higher open rates, greater conversions, and deepen user connections.”