Use an emoji only where it repeats what the words already say, put it after the words, and test it in Outlook on an office computer as well as on phones before sending.

A small picture before the words

More newsletters now open their subject lines with a small picture: a sun for a spring sale, a gift box for vouchers, a plane for travel. On an iPhone they look bright and friendly.

The same subject line on an office computer can look quite different. Where the sun should be, some readers see an empty rectangle. Others see a thin black outline.

The sender sees none of this. The test went to their own phone, and it looked fine.

Where it arrives as something else

The fourth surprises people, because those phones are hardly old. Android before 4.4 draws many symbols as plain outlines, or as empty boxes on earlier versions still, and plenty of those phones are in daily use.

Why one character looks different

An emoji is not a picture attached to the email. It is a character, like a letter, and the reader's device decides how to draw it.

Apple's phones and computers draw them in colour, and recent Android phones do too, in a different style.

Windows 7 draws many as black outline symbols and has no design at all for others. That is where the empty box comes from.

So the sender controls which character goes out, and nothing about how it looks. One subject line can appear three different ways in the same office.

The character also has to arrive intact. A system that mishandles it on the way turns it into a short string of accented letters, which looks worse than any box.

What readers make of a box

An empty box looks like a mistake, and readers treat it as one. Some will wonder whether the email is broken; others simply notice that the business sent something that did not work.

Even when the symbol displays properly, not every reader finds it fitting. A small cartoon from an accountant, a clinic or a supplier can read as oddly casual.

That is a judgement about your own customers rather than a rule. The point is to make it deliberately.

When a symbol earns its place

A symbol works best when it repeats what the words already say. A sun beside "Patio opens Friday" adds a touch of colour, and if it shows as a box, the message still makes sense.

It works worst when it replaces a word. A subject line that uses a clock in place of "soon", or a picture in place of a product name, means nothing once the picture is missing.

Nor is a symbol a substitute for a specific subject line. "Patio heaters half price until Sunday" does more without a picture than "Spring sale" does with one.

A worked example

A flight simulator centre in a suburban industrial unit sells hour-long sessions in a full-size cockpit simulator, mostly bought as gifts, along with evening team events for offices.

For its spring gift voucher email, the owner put a small wrapped gift at the start of the subject line. On his phone it looked exactly right.

Two office managers who regularly book its team events replied to ask whether the email had arrived properly. On their computers, running Outlook on Windows 7, the subject line began with an empty box.

The next email kept the words and moved the symbol to the end, where a missing picture costs nothing. Office contacts now get a version without any symbol, and the test list includes a computer like theirs.

Words first, symbol last

Phones show only the start of a subject line, and inbox lists on computers often cut it short too. Whatever comes first gets read.

Put the words that carry the message first, so that a box at the end, if it appears, arrives after the meaning has landed.

And use one. A row of three or four symbols multiplies the chances of a box, and pushes the words further along.

Keep symbols out of the sender name altogether. It is how readers recognise you, and a box there would sit on every email you send.

Test where your customers read

Most mailing services offer a test send. Send it to the places your customers actually read, not only to your own phone.

That means an iPhone, an Android phone, Outlook on a Windows 7 computer, and whichever webmail your customers use, opened on that same computer. Most offices have each of these within reach.

Check the inbox list as well as the opened message, since the list is where the decision to open gets made.

Inbox preview services show one message in dozens of programs at once, for a fee. For an occasional newsletter, four real devices cover the readers who matter most.

The first line matters more

Under the subject line, many programs show the opening words of the email itself. Plenty of newsletters spend them on "View this email in your browser".

Writing that first line deliberately does more for the subject line than any symbol, and because it is plain text, it displays wherever it appears.

The counter-case

Not every symbol carries the same risk. Older ones such as a check mark, a telephone or a sun have been in standard fonts for years, and show up on more systems, if often only in black.

And a reader who meets a box after a complete sentence has lost very little. The risk sits almost entirely in symbols asked to carry meaning.

So the advice is narrower than avoiding them: know where your readers open email, test there, and let the words carry the meaning.

Before the next send

  1. Read the subject line without the symbol.
  2. Move any symbol to the end.
  3. Use one at most, never a row.
  4. Test on an office computer running Outlook.
  5. Write the first line of the email deliberately.
  6. Leave symbols out for business customers.
  7. Keep a test list for every send.

Step one is the test that matters. If the subject line still makes sense with the symbol removed, a box can do little harm; if it does not, no amount of testing makes it safe.

The same gap between the sender's screen and the reader's appears in an animated GIF that stops on the first frame.

Frequently asked questions

Why do emoji show as empty boxes?

An emoji is a character, and the reader's device draws it. Many office computers running Windows 7 have no design for some of them, so a box appears instead.

Which email programs show the problem?

Outlook and other desktop programs on Windows 7, webmail that relies on the computer's own fonts, Android before version 4.4 and older BlackBerry devices. iPhones and newer Android phones show colour.

Should a business use emoji in subject lines?

Only where the symbol repeats what the words already say, placed at the end, and only after testing where your customers actually read. Some business readers find them casual.

Where should a symbol go in a subject line?

After the words. Phones and inbox lists show only the start of a subject line, so the meaning should come first and any missing picture last.

How should I test a subject line?

Send tests to an iPhone, an Android phone, Outlook on a Windows 7 computer and webmail on that computer, not only to your own phone.

Do business customers see emoji differently?

Often. They read at a desk on office computers, frequently Windows 7 with Outlook, where many symbols appear as boxes or black outlines rather than in colour.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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