This will change the way you write emails!
Posted on: Tuesday, April 4, 2017 Category: Blog (57)Uncategorized (58)
< 1 min read
In 2016, Dominic Thompson and Ruth Filik published their findings of a study into the use of emoticons in communications. What they found supports the 7/38/55 rule. You see, when you are writing, you can slightly influence the 38% through tone of voice. But you have very limited abilities to influence how you make people feel – these are so often done with the way that you hold yourself, your facial expression and your intonation.
This is compounded further when the written information is short. When you can’t use language to expand your meaning. And this is how most of us communicate today. In short, sharp emails and texts. Sometimes these dialogues occur as fast as spoken communication!
They found that the use of emoticons could significantly impact the emotion that your message conveyed. Emoticons can be used to ‘mute’ the impact of sarcasm and irony.
- The use of the winking emoticon 😉 – makes things more obvious, makes the reader know that the writer is being funny or sarcastic.
- Not surprisingly – the smiling emoticons made messages be perceived as more positive and frowning faces more negatively.
- All messages that included an exclamation mark were received more positively!
And all readers demonstrated sensory arousal and a change in the facial muscles used for smiling when reading the messages with emoticons or exclamation points! So these messages actually conveyed emotions in a measurable way.
Finally – you don’t need a nose in your emoticons! 76% of respondents did not use emoticons with noses in them.
So keep using those emoticons and emojis to convey emotions and influence how the reader feels about you :)!
