If you’re of a certain age, you probably think no, not appropriate.
A younger person might say, Yaaasss, absolutely! 😀
Here’s the scoop.
Studies show that people read email in a negative tone, even if it wasn’t written that way. Imagine reading an email with the words, “You’re welcome.” Is that sarcastic, a question, or genuine?
If left up to the reader, they may read negativity into an email unintentionally. So, perhaps there is a place for an emoticon in a business email or text, but let’s identify some rules.
Tips:
- If you use an emoticon, use only smiley faces. Use words to convey any other message i.e. a frowny face comes off as sarcasm. Right?! Not sadness.
- Use :-) vs. 🙂 An unconverted smiley face is more professional looking and is guaranteed to appear correctly on all platforms.
- Don’t ask an emoticon to deliver bad news nicely. Pick up the phone instead or write more carefully.
What do you think? :-) or :-(