Service providers who use emoticons are perceived as warmer, but less competent, according to a new research paper, which offers sage advice for retail brands engaging with consumers across digital platforms.

The effect held true regardless of whether or not a customer service employee used emoticons that were pictorial or text-based, showing that the impact of emoticons is not purely driven by eye-catching graphics and colours.

The Hong Kong Baptist University study investigates what happens when emoticons figure into commercial service discussions. Through laboratory and field experiments, the research showed the major effects of emoticons in customer service interactions, and found that emoticon usage by a customer service employee had conflicting effects.

According to the report, how emoticons are perceived is highly dependent on the recipient’s preferences. The individual customer’s personality and expectations on how a service relationship should be conducted plays an important role in how emoticon senders are ultimately seen. Customers who enjoy friendlier relationships with brands perceive service providers who use emoticons to be warmer, which in turn makes them feel more satisfied with the service provided. Conversely, exchange-oriented customers see a customer service employee using emoticons as less competent, making them more likely to be less satisfied. These effects apply to all emoticons, regardless of whether the emoticon used had positive or negative connotations.

When service is deemed unsatisfactory and is failing to resolve the situation, the study reasons that all customers will increasingly place value on competence as opposed to warmth. In these situations, any emoticon usage by a customer service rep will have a negative impact on the customers’ attitude towards the employee.

Conversely, when a customer service employee successfully addresses a customer’s needs with messages accompanied by an emoticon, the study finds that customers are more likely to buy.