Smileys in business emails: appropriate or unprofessional?

In our private communication, smileys, emojis and the like have long been established. Now we are encountering the mostly yellow faces more and more often in the professional environment as well. But how is that actually - are they appropriate here as well, or rather unprofessional? Michal Bürger, CEO and co-founder of eM Clientexplains when you can safely use smileys in business e-mails and when you should leave them alone.

What is the difference between emoticons, smileys and emojis?

Michal Bürger: "Emoticons are sequences of ASCII characters. With the help of control characters emoticons are entered into the keyboard. The best known is the grinning face with :-). Some programs automatically convert the lying line images into graphic representations - these are then the so-called smileys. So smileys are graphical emoticons. They can be used to better convey moods such as anger, fear or joy. However, smileys can also be emojis. Emoji is the generic term for comic-like representations and, so to speak, the further development of emoticons. Compared to smileys and emoticons, emojis represent not only emotions, but also animals, plants or food and drink."

Why do we use smileys more and more often in communication?

Michal Bürger: "Smileys replace the missing non-verbal communication - what facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice normally do in a face-to-face conversation. A conversation consists of more than just spoken language. That's exactly what we're trying to transfer to digital communication through smileys. In addition, we communicate much faster today than we did in analog times. In the various chats, we receive new messages every minute and have the feeling that we have to respond just as quickly. This is where smileys offer the advantage of saving time: you can express an emotion with just one click on a particular emoticon and don't have to do it in writing."

Are smileys also appropriate in business emails or do they look unprofessional here?

Michal Bürger: "There is no clear answer to this question. For one thing, it depends on the context and the formality of a message. For example, if you are sending an e-mail that you would have sent as a printed letter in the past, it would be better to leave out smileys. Examples include invoices or quotations. Secondly, their relationship to the recipient is crucial. If the sender and recipient have never met, smileys can quickly come across as incompetent. Among familiar colleagues, on the other hand, the use of smileys is completely unproblematic. Even if you've known a business partner or customer for some time and are on familiar terms, you can use smileys, but you should do so somewhat more sparingly than in private communication."

What effects can I achieve on the recipient through emails with smileys?

Michal Bürger: "Especially critical e-mails can be positively influenced by a smiley. With a laughing or winking smiley, you can considerably weaken negative feelings in the recipient. The risk that he or she will take your criticism personally decreases significantly. In principle, however, it is important to use smileys very consciously and to ask yourself beforehand exactly what effect they are likely to have on the recipient. To be flexible here, it is of course very advantageous if the e-mail program you use also technically supports smileys."

Should there be smileys or emojis in the subject line?

Michal Bürger: "Emojis should always be used in moderation and not en masse. If it's a private mail, the subject line can contain three smileys in a row. But the subject line should not be predominantly populated with small icons. If only for the reason that, if these are not recognized by an e-mail client, only a cryptic subject remains. Another thing to consider is that in quite a few companies, e-mails end up in spam if they contain special characters, which, after all, include smileys and emojis, whether in the subject line or in the text."

How do I reply when I get an email with smileys?

Michal Bürger: "If your "counterpart" uses smileys, that doesn't mean that you have to do the same - for example, to avoid appearing rude. Rather, develop your own communication style and stand by it. Of course, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't adapt your language style to different conversation partners. This can also include smileys. In addition to smileys, the language used in your e-mail is still crucial. Avoid words that evoke negative associations. Because then even a smiling smiley won't help."