SMS Emojis can be highly effective in text marketing campaigns. Using emojis helps capture attention and make business text messages stand out. They help convey emotion and provide compelling visual interest. It makes text messages easier to read. When used correctly, SMS emojis create a fun and engaging customer experience that benefits the company.
SMS has evolved alongside popular advanced online channels and appeals to a fast-paced world where information must be kept short and sweet. Emojis are very popular and are used by 92% of the world’s online population. There are 2,823 emojis in the expanded emoji dictionary that cover various animals, facial expressions, objects, and more. However, some businesses are unaware of the benefits of using emojis. Emojis are flexible images that can enhance the sentiment of a business SMS conversation. This article will help us understand more about using SMS Emoji, its definition, how it works, its benefits, and Emoji Codes.
What is SMS Emoji?
SMS emojis are symbols that depict emotions, objects, or symbols visually in text messages. They belong to different categories like facial expressions, animals, places, common objects, and types of weather.
Using emojis in SMS messages can make them more unique and noticeable. You can also use emojis instead of common words like “money,” which can make your message more interesting.
SMS emojis demonstrate empathy and provide a customized touch to your messages while saving time and space and reducing negative responses. In a business setting, emojis help break down communication barriers and make conversations more personal.
Emojis can attract the reader’s attention and emphasize important messages while injecting spirit into your communications. As a result, they can improve your brand image.
You may learn more about using text messages for your business by reading more about What is SMS?
How Does SMS Emoji Work?
SMS emoji replace longer phrases with a few characters to express messages and emotions. They are a visual representation of the tone and emotion that you want to convey in your message. The sender will choose an emoji relevant to the message to make it more effective and catch the recipient’s attention.
Business SMS has a personal touch, so consumers prefer it. Phones have become a constant companion of people, and they utilize text messaging to communicate with their family and friends. Texting is viewed as more human communication, so team members using business texting should convey that they are real people and not automated bots.
To make business SMS more personable, you can use the recipient’s name in the text to acknowledge them. Additionally, including a brief personalized signature lets them know they are communicating with a natural person. Adding a few appropriate and fun emojis can also show your personality.
What Mobile Phones Are Capable of Sending SMS Emojis?
Most modern phones can send SMS emojis, including iPhones, Android phones, and Windows Phones. To send emojis, you must have a compatible device with the latest OS version installed. Some apps for specific devices allow users to download additional emojis not included in their phone’s default library.
Old models of mobile phones are also capable of receiving SMS emojis. However, they will appear as symbols as they were written. For example, a smiley emoji will appear as a colon, dash, and close parenthesis.
What is the Character Limit of Every SMS Emoji?
The character limit for an SMS emoji message is 160 characters (including spaces). Any emojis sent will consume a certain number of characters depending on their size. For simpler emojis, such as smileys, each consumes around 20-30 characters. For bigger ones, such as flags and animals, they can consume up to 50-60 characters.
Text messages are encoded differently for transmission over the network to the recipient’s phone. UCS-2 is a popular standard, while GSM-7 explicitly encodes the most commonly used letters and symbols in several languages. Nevertheless, some characters like Κ»okinas and macrons are not included in GSM-7.
UCS-2 encoding is needed for messages with special characters like Κ»okinas and macrons, meaning they count as more than one character. It increases the character count in messages. If Postscript finds non-GSM-7 characters in the message, we will use UCS-2 encoding, which limits the message body to 67 characters. As a result, multi-segment messages will be created if the message body exceeds 67 characters.
What are the Emojis Codes I Can Send Through SMS?
There are various emojis codes that you can send through SMS. Companies must use emojis sparingly, and their use must be relevant to their message and brand. Here are some of the most common emojis codes that you can send through text messages:
- π βThe smiley face is a way to convey positive emotions and express appreciation in text messages. It can also be used to gather feedback from customers.
- π€© β The star eyes emoji is suitable for conveying excitement, fascination, or speechlessness and can be used effectively in SMS campaigns that involve discounts and promotions.
- β – The symbol of a heavy check mark in a text message signifies approval or confirmation. It can also be utilized as a bullet point in text messages.
- βοΈ – The envelope emoji notifies the recipient that they have an unread text message in their inbox, prompting them to open and read it. Including it can boost the open rate for your SMS campaign.
- π± β The mobile phone emoji frequently refers to mobile phones, technology, and communication.
- π β The party popper emoji can convey emotions of surprise, joy, achievement, and celebration. It can be used in various SMS marketing contexts.
- π’ β To grab your audience’s attention when sending announcements, add an emoji of a megaphone or public address loudspeaker to your SMS.
- π β The Bell emoji is commonly used for general SMS notifications and reminders. Still, some businesses use it to send Christmas text messages and seasonal greetings because it resembles a Christmas bell.
- ππΌ β The thumbs-up emoji is a great choice when you want to show appreciation in text messages to your staff. It can also express agreement, approval, encouragement, or assurance, like saying “Awesome!” or “Great job!”
- π β The love letter emoji is a symbol for expressing romantic love, affection, and positive emotions. Incorporating it into your Valentine’s Day business text messages can be a great choice.
What are the Benefits of SMS Emojis?
SMS emojis can make text messages more engaging and eye-catching, which helps to increase open rates. As a result, they can improve the response rate of campaigns by up to 20%. Here are some of the best benefits of using SMS emojis in your campaign.
Enhances customer engagement – Using emojis in text messages adds emotions, improving communication clarity and genuineness. Clear and honest communication has attracted customers’ attention and increased engagement rates.
- Adds a human touch – Due to the word limits in SMS messages, conveying emotions or sentiments through words alone can be challenging. However, emojis provide a powerful tool for expressing emotions and sentiments in text. According to psychologist Owen Churches, emojis significantly impact the human brain. Over time, our brains have learned to perceive emojis as representations of emotions. Like seeing a human face, emoticons evoke similar emotions in our brains.
- Emojis help Punctuate Texts – Adding emojis to your text messages can make them more exciting and lively. It breaks up the plain text and adds a pop of color. It is beneficial for avoiding a monotone conversation.
- Emojis help make messages more straightforward – In plain text messages, it’s easy for the meaning to get lost. For instance, if you’re announcing a sale through a marketing SMS, it can be challenging to express excitement because of the word limit. Emojis can provide facial expressions and gestures that we typically use in regular communication.
- Emojis help strengthen business-customer relationships – Using emoticons in text messages can make them sound friendlier and more conversational, which is vital for building and strengthening customer relationships. Emoticons add a fun and casual element to messages, making them more engaging.
What are the Downsides of SMS Emojis?
Although SMS emojis can be beneficial, there are still some downsides to using them. Here are some of the most common drawbacks that you should consider when deciding whether or not to use emojis in your campaigns:
- SMS Emojis may be misinterpreted β It can be easy for customers to misunderstand the meaning of an emoji and interpret it differently than intended. For example, an emoji used to express joy or excitement can be misinterpreted as sarcasm or annoyance.
- SMS Emojis may be challenging to read – The legibility of emojis may also concern some customers. Different phones and mobile devices display emojis differently, which could lead to confusion among customers if the sender is not careful.
- SMS Emojis have limited options – There are only a limited number of emojis available, and some customers may find that they need to convey the emotion or sentiment they want to express in a text message.
What are Other Alternatives for Sending Emojis to Other Recipients?
For those who want to express more emotions and sentiments beyond the limitations of emojis, there are other alternatives for sending emojis. Here are some of the most common alternatives:
- Animated GIFs – Animated GIFs can effectively show motion in text messages. They allow businesses to communicate ideas or information in an engaging and fun manner.
- MMS – Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) allows businesses to send longer messages with rich media attachments, such as images, videos, or audio texts. It is ideal for businesses that want to add more visuals and depth to their text messages.
- Stickers – Stickers are fun and unique graphics that can be used in text messages. They help customers express emotions in a more personalized and creative way. Stickers are available in various designs, which can help businesses stand out from the competition.
- Emoticons – Emoticons are symbols or text-based characters that represent facial expressions. They provide an easy way to convey emotion quickly and effectively in text messages. Furthermore, they don’t require any additional data to send them.
- Voice Messages – Voice messages offer a unique way to express the emotion behind your message. Most phones now have voice recording capabilities so customers can record their voice and send it as a message.
What are the Best SMS APIs to Receive SMS Emojis?
SMS APIs allow businesses to add to personalize their text message campaign and make it easier to interact with customers. Here are some of the best SMS APIs to receive SMS emojis:
- JookSMS – JookSMS is a robust API with an easy-to-use interface that allows businesses to send and receive SMS emojis. It also provides analytics and reporting, making it easy for businesses to track their campaigns.
- ClickSend – ClickSend is a cloud-based communications platform that allows businesses to send text messages with emojis. It also offers pricing plans for small, medium, and large enterprises.
- Twilio – Twilio is an SMS API that allows businesses to send and receive text messages with emojis. It also provides various language support, including Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, Go, Node.js, C++, and .NET.
- Plivo – Plivo is an API platform that enables businesses to send and receive text messages with emojis. It also offers robust analytics and reporting, making it easy for businesses to track their campaigns.
- Sinch – Since 2008, Sinch has been providing SMS services and is considered a pioneer. They offer a variety of SMS features, such as RCS and MMS, to enhance the overall experience.
You may also read about the Best SMS APIs to Send Text Messages to learn which is the most suitable for your marketing campaign.
How Much Does an SMS Emoji Message Cost Per Text?
The cost of sending an SMS emoji message range from a few cents to several dollars, depending on the country and provider. Generally, countries with more advanced telecom infrastructure, like the US, UK, and Canada, have lower per-text costs.
On average, sending an SMS emoji message by text typically ranges from 0.3 to 0.5 US cents per character in those countries. Depending on the provider, the cost may be higher or lower and varies from country to country.
Is it Practical to Send an SMS Emoji to Someone?
Yes, sending an SMS emoji is a practical way of conveying emotion or sentiment in text messages as long as the recipient has an up-to-date device and a compatible network provider. Emojis have many benefits, such as adding color and personality to messages and strengthening customer relationships. However, it is essential to remember that emojis are still limited in expression, so it’s best to use them sparingly. Businesses should also be cautious when using SMS emojis in marketing text messages. SMS emojis can add a fun and engaging element to text messages, but they can be misinterpreted and difficult to read, so it’s best to use them carefully.
Are SMS Emojis Limited?
Yes, SMS emojis are limited in expression due to the character limit of text messages and the limited number of emojis available. Emoticons and stickers are excellent alternatives to express more emotions and sentiments beyond the limitations of emojis.
Is SMS Emojis Standard Unicode to All Devices?
Yes. SMS emojis are standardized Unicode for all devices that support text messages. If you want to use an emoji in your text message, you must send the whole message in Unicode. Unicode is a unique encoding standard that lets you send characters that aren’t part of the regular character set that’s commonly used (called the GSM character set). If you send a text message using Unicode, you will have fewer characters available per text credit than if you send a standard text. With a standard text, you can send up to 160 characters per text credit, but if you include an emoji and send it using Unicode, the character limit is reduced to 70. You must shorten your message or use more text credits to stay within the character limit.