After all, a smile might really be a tip.
A new study reveals that restaurants that place a smiley emoji on a customer's receipt or bill increase their chances of receiving a tip, or receiving a larger tip than usual.
As you write New York PostA study published last month in the International Journal of Hospitality Management found that when a smiley emoji accompanied the bill, customers tended to tip 11% more.
“We found that when emojis are included with tip suggestions during a transaction, customers contribute at a higher rate than when no emojis are included,” the authors report.
More emojis, more tips
Furthermore, emoji use appears to be linearly related to perceived customer satisfaction, as well as tip amount. Happier emojis on the account predicted greater tip rates, while fewer emojis with more neutral expressions were associated with tips that fell within the usual range.
In particular, in full-service restaurants, happy emojis increased the average tip percentage from 22.86% to 25.38%, at a time when a 20% tip is considered an indicator of customer satisfaction in the industry.
The research also includes an explanation for this phenomenon, which relates to the neurobiology of the brain and relates to how people instinctively react to happy or sympathetic faces.
“Avid problem solver. Extreme social media junkie. Beer buff. Coffee guru. Internet geek. Travel ninja.”
More Stories
Child Benefit: Notice to Beneficiaries
A unique piece of uncut diamond
Five mistakes that harm a manual transmission and the same mistakes that “kill” an automatic transmission