Buying products with emojis. Yep, its a thing.

Emojis are no longer just a form of communication. In fact, it is now being used by consumers in different ways, from purchasing products and making payments to creating exclusive online usernames and websites. According to Adobe's latest emoji report, 55% of users globally are more willing to buy an item using an emoji.

More specifically, Gen Z and Millennials seem more comfortable with this as 69% and 65% of them respectively are willing to purchase a product using an emoji. They are generally more likely to be interested in clothing purchases, followed by food and streaming subscriptions. Meanwhile, Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers are most likely to buy food using an emoji followed by clothing items.

The majority of global users are open to new ways of using emojis, such as confirming attendance at an event (66%), sending or receiving payments (41%) and communicating with a doctor (39%).

Gen Z, in particular, prefer using emoji to confirm attendance to an event (70%), create an online username using a string of emojis (62%) and send or receive payments (52%).

On the other hand, only 59% of Baby Boomers will use emojis to confirm attendance while 34% will use it to create an online username. Only 28% of Baby Boomers will use emojis to send or receive payments.

The findings were based on a global research study of 10,000 emoji users in the US, UK, Germany, France, Australia, and South Korea.

What are consumers' favourite emojis globally?

While new emojis are constantly released, the top five most-used emojis are similar globally. Face with tears of joy is consistently the top emoji of both male and female users globally. Male emoji users second favourite is thumbs up and females second favourite is rolling on the floor laughing face.

Also, the top five most used emojis are happier compared to last year.

At the same time, emojis are most used by global users to communicate across language barriers (92%), express themselves (91%) and an easier alternative to share thoughts and ideas (89%).

Globally, male emoji users (54%) are significantly more likely than females (47%) to respond to a message if it contains an emoji with text (75%).

Mobile (56%) messages are the top channels of choice when using emoji. Emojis are most used by global users to communicate with friends (80%), significant other/partner (51%) and siblings (41%).

Inclusivity and representation important for emojis

Despite the prolific use of emojis, there is a strong consumer desire to see more diverse and inclusive emojis on the keyboard. Most global emoji users agree that emoji should continue to strive for a more inclusive representation of users (83%), with only half of the globe (57%) feeling their identity is adequately reflected in current emoji options.

Over half (60%) of global users are likely to customise an emoji to better reflect their personal appearance, while 62% wish they had more emoji customisation options to better reflect themselves. When asked what changes users would like to see, hairstyle or colour (48%), eye colour (38%), accessories and body type (38%) are the top customisation options users want.

While global users do believe inclusivity for emoji has improved, age (38%), culture (35%) and race/ethnicity (35%) are the top emoji categories that users want to see inclusion expand in. Global users are most excited about three new emojis that are more inclusive:

Also, more than half (78%) of global emoji users feel confident they’re up to date on the meaning of the latest emoji and use them correctly, with 80% agreeing you should only use emoji when you fully understand them. The global top three most misunderstood emojis are:

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