Today: the emoji that quietly hurt clicks

Today: the emoji that quietly hurt clicks

A creative is your notification's picture and words together. One buyer assumed an emoji in the title would feel friendly, so he added a fire emoji to every headline.

He decided to test that assumption properly:
— Version A: title with the emoji
— Version B: the exact same title, no emoji
— Equal budget to both for three days

The plain version won. It got 0.9% CTR versus 0.6% for the emoji one. On these particular phones, the emoji made it look more like an ad and less like a normal message.

The takeaway isn't "emojis are bad." It's "test, don't assume." Your audience decides, not your gut.

Try this: pick one belief you hold about creatives and plan a tiny A-versus-B test for it. Curiosity beats certainty here. Keep going.