Have you noticed that more and more Facebook ads have begun including emojis in their text? Have you been skeptical about everyone jumping on the emoji bandwagon?

Similar to the fresh Cubs fans, many marketers are turning to emojis in their Facebook ads. While some might criticize those jumping on the trend, there’s a reason for the trend’s popularity – it shows your team (or in this case, your ads) is so successful that everyone wants to join in on the fun.

This is why we’ve pulled the data, are sharing some of our clients results, and offering some tips on the best practices for incorporating emojis into your Facebook ads.

THE RISE OF THE EMOJIS

Though Facebook first started to allow emojis in posts back in 2013, it isn’t until 2016 that emojis were used en masse in Facebook ads.

Facebook always aims to stay ahead of the curve, and adding emojis to ad copy seems like a smart move. Especially when you think about the fact that in 2016, we sent 2.3 trillion emojis in mobile messages. It’s clear that we’re all glued to our smartphones, as 98% of those aged 18-24, 97% of those aged 25-34, and 96% of those aged 35-44 in the US own one.

Another crucial set of statistics related to your use of emojis is that women make 85% of consumer purchases. Combine that with the data that 56% of “heavy” emoji users are female, and targeting your customer via her favorite mode of communication seems like a no-brainer.

Even scientists back up the notion that emojis speak to us in a way that regular ad copy does not. In a published scientific study, they found that the area of the person’s brain that lights up when they see an emoji is the same area of the brain that lights up when they see another person’s face. Meaning that the brain processes emojis as non-verbal communication in the same way it processes things like emotions.

All of these statistics bear out in the data from brands and agencies across the web who have used emojis in their copy to get their message across.

THE PROOF

Client Testing #1

We’re not ones to just take other people’s word for the results. We had to get in there and see whether these numbers panned out for ourselves.

In breaking news – they did!

One of our clients that produces educational children’s toys spent the first quarter of this year testing emojis in their copy.

Their goal was to see whether or not the emojis would encourage parents to subscribe to their unique offering or whether emojis would be seen as too “juvenile” to be convincing.

And this brand didn’t just throw a few dollars at testing to see whether emojis would work; their ad budget for the entire quarter reached almost seven figures, racking up almost 100 million impressions.

We’ll let their results speak for themselves.

Client Testing #2

It’s not just kids and parents that are feeling all heart-eyed towards emojis. Another client who sells amazingly delicious food via a subscription box saw sustained success when incorporating emojis into their ad copy.

Not only did they see their CPA drop by 16%, they were consistently hitting a CPA that was almost half of what they had set as their goal.

The best part for any brand is what happened to their overall conversion rate: it increased a mind-boggling 45%.

BEST PRACTICES WHEN USING EMOJIS IN FACEBOOK ADS

So what can you gain from all of this?

(1) Don’t Play Favorites

Just like with your children (or pets), you don’t want to play favorites. You never know if your potential consumer has a phone with an iOS system or Android system.

Without knowing that, don’t use emojis that are exclusive or may appear better on one operating system over another. There is the caveat here that if you are segmenting your audience targeting by device, you can play favorites. But if that isn’t in your wheelhouse of targeting priorities at the moment, it’s better to stick with our original recommendation.

In addition, don’t jump to use the latest version of an emoji as well. Not everyone will have updated their systems right as the new update goes live. (Let’s be honest, how often do you keep pushing “Ask Me Tomorrow” before you update yours?)

Since you won’t know when someone will update, it’s best to use an emoji that has been around for awhile so you don’t encounter any issues.

(2) Don’t Go Overboard

Just because you can use emojis in your ads doesn’t mean that your entire ad should be completely made up of emojis. At most, use a total of 3 to 4 to grab the user’s attention without overwhelming them.

Crowding your ad copy with too many emojis can make you look like you’re trying too hard. Since millennial shoppers crave authenticity from brands more than anything, the last thing you want to do is come off looking inauthentic.

You can also test whether using emojis in list form versus having them within sentences works better with your audience. If you only want to use 1 or 2 emojis, using them in a sentence may work better. But if you’re doing 3 or 4, the list format is a better choice. Whichever way you go though, it’s important to be aware of any line breaks and character limits for your ad copy.

(3) Know What The Emoji Means Before Using It

Not every emoji is translated equally. Using the eggplant emoji, even if you are a food brand and it makes sense, may still bring to mind other ideas that you might not want associated with your product.

Even more neutral emojis can have different meanings than you may have thought. Personally, the emoji that I thought stood for someone banging their head on a desk is actually the emoji for bowing. Others have thought the emoji for praying is an emoji for a high five.

Make sure you know what your emoji means before using it. The best thing to do is to use emojis where there is zero ambiguity at all.

CONCLUSION

When advertising captures our emotions, we’re more likely to react positively to it, share it, and buy it (or buy into what it’s saying).

Since emojis are interpreted by our brains as emotional triggers, using emojis in your Facebook ads is a simple way to connect to your consumer. Not to mention that it’s highly unlikely that emojis are going anywhere anytime soon.

With all of this evidence of the power of emojis in advertising to increase your conversions, your open rates, or whatever it is that you’re looking for, it’s time to jump on the emoji train. So long as you make sure to follow our best practices and avoid going overboard, your team will be sending you heart eyed emojis for the increased ROAS from the ad campaigns.