Whether You Like Emoji or Not, They're Amazing for Marketing Your Business New data shows that using those little cartoons significantly boosts user engagement with your brand.

By Rose Leadem

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Artur Debat | Getty Images

Emoji aren't just good at expressing your feelings while texting friends. It turns out, they're great for marketing your business.

A recent study by mobile marketing platform Leanplum and app analytics company App Annie revealed the effectiveness of emoji in mobile marketing campaigns. Analyzing more than 2.6 billion push notifications, the study found that push notifications with emojis had 85 percent greater open rates than those without.

Related: 4 Tips For Mobile-Marketing Success in 2017

The companies also found it's a good idea to target Android users -- the system's push notifications with emoji were opened 135 percent more than push notifications lacking those colorful little images. When it comes to iOS, there were only 50 percent more opens with emoji push notifications compared to those without.

Using emoji in mobile marketing will not only engage users, but also leads to higher usage, loyalty and conversions, the study says. Through A/B testing, it found that there was a 9 percent increase in users clicking a push notification's call to action. And to ensure people weren't downloading an app and abandoning it, the study also discovered that people retained an app for at least 48 hours when they initially downloaded it following a push notification featuring emoji.

Related: Author Remakes Classic Books Using Emoji

Emoji push notifications even have higher open rates than push notifications with simple images, according to the study. Don't know where to start? The companies pulled together the top 25 emoji that have the highest posh notification open rates.

Check out Leanplum's infographic below to learn more.

Rose Leadem is a freelance writer for Entrepreneur.com. 

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