Definitely! And here's why: Emojis help support teams communicate nuance and tone during online communications.
 
Besides being eye-catching, emojis can help you emphasize parts of your message and convey positivity in business communications. They've been shown to increase target audience engagement, which can enhance your brand image. They also enrich plain text, helping us identify the true intent behind messages. Plus, they can be a lot of fun 😃🤣.
 
Emojis can be used as visual expressions of our own emotions. They help create a friendly, humanized, and down-to-earth brand image. 

Emojis are wildly popular among millennials, so it's no wonder that brands primarily targeting customers between the ages of 25-40 have embraced their use.

According to social, psychological, and personality studies conducted over the years, first impressions are vital. In face-to-face communication, smiling individuals are perceived as warmer and more qualified than non-smiling individuals. In today's business communications, which are primarily text-based, the “smiley” (the smile emoticon) is a digital representation of a person smiling.

An emoji can help you cut down characters in a message. It can also convey what plain text messages cannot. However, there are ongoing studies to evaluate whether smileys should be used in business communications or not.

Always "read the room" before using emojis. Finally, to answer whether emojis are unprofessional — they certainly are not. However, using them is not necessarily a bad thing. Different workplaces have different cultures, and younger generations are more or less adapting to it.

I hope you find this article helpful and you will use this feature to make your work life more friendly with emojis.
 
There's more to come. Please watch this space for more IM feature stories.

Until next time,
Kavya Rao
The Zoho Desk team