Emojis to Conversion on Social Media: Insights into Online Consumer Engagement and Reactions

Abstract

Emojis have become popular in online marketing communications. Marketers use emojis to humanize brand voice and elicit an emotional response from target audiences. However, little is known about how emojis are perceived and what kind of reactions they evoke. The aim of this study was to examine whether exposure to emojis leads to an increased intention to purchase, and whether the use of emojis impacts campaign effectiveness. Surprisingly, it found that the use of emojis had a negative effect on purchase intention, while the effect was positive when mediated by positive affect. Emojis increased the effectiveness of marketing campaigns for hedonic products and had a strong impact on the return on advertising spend. The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical implications in the observed domains, particularly in relation to the type of products emojis are most effective in promoting, gender differences, and real-life consumer behavior.