Are emoji ever okay in email? Career expert reveals the right time to use them, the punctuation mistake that made you feel ‘insecure’ and the cliché to stop using NOW
- Sue Elson shares when emojis in work emails got ‘unprofessional’
- He said that the time to sign off is opportune; Eggplant and peach are not the same
- She also said that exclamation marks are ‘overdone’ and make you look ‘insecure’
Sue Elson is an Australian LinkedIn expert and career development practitioner
A career expert shares how to use the ‘professional’ emoji in email – and why you should revisit the use of exclamation marks
Australian LinkedIn expert and career development practitioner Sue Elson said emoji can be used to provide some tone and context, but they are not always used correctly.
He told FEMAIL, ‘Be careful what you type because once it is in writing, it can be misinterpreted, especially if there is a time delay between correspondence.’
‘Emails are excellent for facts and figures that need to be shared, but terrible for difficult conversations. An email can be read and reread multiple times and say something negative and then get into trouble with trying to cheer someone up with a humorous emoji later.
‘Be careful what you type because once it is in writing, it can potentially be misinterpreted, especially if there are time delays between correspondence,’ she told FEMAIL
Too many emoji in email is considered unprofessional. a smiley as a sign
Sue said the most common place for an emoji is a sign off — and usually just a smiley face (or a face-style emoji). While that’s fine, too many emoji in an email is considered unprofessional.
“I recommend not using emoji like peach or eggplant because they have a sexual connotation,” she said.
Sue added that using emoji specifically can also be a problem — for example, if you reply to a message with a thumbs up.
‘Does this mean you have read it, agree with the content or have taken action? It’s hard to say. A quick thumbs up and the words “now done” can be very helpful,’ she said.
‘If you’re working with people who use assistive technology, they may or may not be able to “read” the content of the emoji. For this reason, I suggest that whatever words should be said to make a message clear, it should be written with the use of emoji.’
Ultimately, the culture of an organization and its customers/clients can also give you clues as to whether or not you might consider using emoji in your email, but many mistakes are made every day – especially with sign off.
‘Cheers’ can be used on a casual basis between coworkers, but ‘Your faithful’ should be used if you don’t know the name of the receiver,’ she said.
People who leave an automated ‘Sent from iPhone’ message at the bottom of an email are also considered somewhat unprofessional or hasty.
And while “Your Sincerely” and “Your Honestly” appear similar, Sue said they are quite different.
“Yours sincerely” should be used when you know their name and “yours faithfully” when you don’t know their name,” she said.
On Facebook, many consider ‘Your faithfully’ too polite and unnecessary while ‘cheers’ and ‘thank you’ can be used when talking to coworkers or individuals you have met and formed a working relationship with.
People who leave an automated ‘Sent from iPhone’ message at the bottom of an email are also considered somewhat unprofessional or hasty.
Sue also asked to avoid using exclamation marks when writing answers.
“Exclamation marks are overdue and unsafe – don’t use too often,” she said.
‘And don’t use abbreviations on full words – it’s important to clarify the message to understand rather than include hidden meanings.’
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