Humor in email marketing: Fun or funny business?

Marketing has always been about appealing to emotions. You can't sell something to a person who doesn't feel good about buying from you. Even the decision makers of a completely logical million-dollar enterprise deal need to feel positive about the seller before the deal can go through.

In fact, a study by Oracle found that although 95% of business leaders fear using humor in customer interactions, 91% of consumers want the brands to be funny and 72% of consumers would rather buy from a funny brand than from a competitor. 

Naturally, it stands to reason that the success of email marketing also depends on how well you appeal to the emotions of your readers (and the quality of your products, your customer service, and your pricing strategy, among others—but we digress).

RELATED: Using emojis in marketing: The Do's and Don'ts

So how big a role does humor play in email marketing?

Let's say you craft a funny (or punny) headline. Humor grabs attention. It makes the readers laugh. Your audience feels positive about your brand. You leverage this positive attention to sell your products.

It sounds easy enough, but then why aren't more brands using humor in their marketing messaging?

Let's look at why businesses get cold feet when it comes to using humor in email marketing and how to avoid these risks. 

An accidental villain arc

Brands are hesitant to use humor as they don't want to risk offending or alienating any particular group of people. Even a single misstep could make a brand go viral for all the wrong reasons. No one wants to be known as "that one brand that did that bad thing". So it's understandable that companies don't want to take the risk.

Solution: If there's a chance that something in your email could be offensive to just 1% of your recipients, don't send it. There are a lot of ways to do humor without offending anyone. For instance, you could joke about common misconceptions about your product and explain how the truth is different. This is a way you can use humor without offending anyone in your audience. 

The great personalization paradox

Every brand has presence across multiple channels, with a different audience mix on each channel. Same goes for email marketing. What works for some contacts might not work just as well for everyone. Creating separate content for every recipient or figuring out what content to deliver to each contact is a huge task that not all marketing teams can afford to do. 

Solution: Segment your audience. Start segmenting as soon as you add each new contact. Group people based on your customer categories or their buying journey stage. That way, when you send an email, you can target only the relevant recipients and send them content (and hopefully some jokes) that will work well for that segment. 

The shoes that don't match the personality

Sometimes, humor just isn't at all a part of a brand's image. A sudden funny email would not be something their audience might like. Or, it could also be that jokes don't always translate well in written language; they might make a brand look like they're trying too hard. 

Solution: While a deliberate joke might be out of character for your brand, it's not the only way to incorporate humor in your emails. There are multiple formats, such as images, gifs, videos, puns, and different types of comedy you can use. Surely one of these would go well with your brand image.

Humor techniques you can use in emails

• Topical or viral: You can pick the hottest topic and make a subject line surrounding it. Connect trending topics to your business and write some catchy phrases to quickly turn some delivered emails to opens.
  Remember not to make jokes out of controversies or tragedies. While such incidents might be taken lightly in some situations, it can come off as insensitive. So it would be wise to stay away from making light of negative incidents.

• Relatable: You know what your buyers are struggling with and how you can solve it for them. Why not turn this situation into a relatable and funny joke? 

• Jabs: Taking funny or light-hearted jabs at your competitors to make a point is a great way to grab attention. But tread carefully when you're doing this to avoid inviting any legal troubles.

• Puns: Puns or wordplays add some playful elements to your emails and work especially well in subject lines, email openings, and CTAs—the parts your audience is most likely to remember and act upon. 

• Hyperbole: Exaggeration is the essence of marketing and runs in the blood of every marketer. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. ;)
  When we say exaggeration, we're not suggesting you lie through your teeth. But there's no denying that slight exaggeration does help you sell better.

Examples of brands that nailed humor in email marketing 

Which of these statements in an email would make you want to jump onto the website to check out their collections?

Statement 1: Buy our high-quality and stylish office casuals. 
Statement 2: Clothes crafted with so much care that even fashion gods (and even your boss) will envy the attention to detail.

At the very least, humor makes you pause for a moment and pay attention to the copy. You can then leverage this attention to drive the sale.

Here are some brands that really know how to tickle their audience's funny bones: 

An exaggerated subject line - Brafton

Content marketing cannot "literally" die. But even if you thought it was declining in popularity, this email promises to provide you with proof that it isn't. Wouldn't you want to open it? We certainly did :)

A funny mystery - Bigbasket

Bigbasket, an online food and grocery store, wanted to promote ice cream sales through its app. Their idea? Write an entire email dedicated to the history of ice cream. This joke was a part of that newsletter, and we were super tempted to order ice cream by the end of the email. 

A deal to die for - Blue Apron

A Halloween deal with a cute threat. We say, bring it on! The photo of the Halloween themed cupcakes only adds to the fun. 

Relatable humor - Rudy's Barbershop

Haven't we all put off software updates? This email from this shop reminds the recipient not to do the same with their online shopping cart. 

Funny email from a food delivery service - Zomato

Office tea breaks are when you have (or overhear :P) the best conversations. This email reminds us of how fun break times are and finishes off in style with a CTA to place an order for tea. 

Regardless of the type of humor you use in your email marketing campaigns, here are some of the best practices to make sure you get it right: 

Top tips for tickle-worthy emails

Know thyself: Play to your brand's strengths. If you're well known for something, start incorporating humor along those lines. Your audience will also understand where you're coming from, and depending on their response, you can experiment with other formats. 

Know thy audience: Tailor your humor to your audience. You know who you're targeting and what they like. So make sure your humor appeals to the sensibilities of your audience. Don't do anything that might alienate a certain group. 

Know thy context: A joke for the sake of a joke often falls flat. The humor you use in your email should be relevant to the context of the email. A joke in a newsletter? Could work. A joke in an abandoned cart recovery email? Could work. A joke in a customer case study? Might not really work because your recipient is not there for that. 

And finally, know thy limits: Keep in mind that you're not running a comedy newsletter (unless you are, in which case, please keep doing it). You're selling something. While jokes can help your customers feel positive, overdoing them might make you lose the plot (and the sale!).

Life is too short not to send fun (and funny) emails

Even a person newly introduced to your business will take a liking to you if your messaging resonates with them. Humor is one way that helps people connect instantly with your brand. 

Humor takes away from the monotony of the usual marketing communication. Everyone is fighting for attention by targeting pain points and solutions. Comedy helps you convey the same message but in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd. 

Remember, you're not just trying to make people laugh. You want them to feel. You want to stay on top of your audience's minds and create a lasting connection with them. 

The benefits by far outweigh the risks of using humor in email marketing. Add just a pinch of humor to your emails; it's a sure recipe for email marketing success.

Go ahead, put the fun back in email marketing!