Even the most serious businesses customers enjoy a chuckle every now and then, which is why comedy has long been a key part of email marketing. Just as we rely on strong emotions like joy and sadness to inspire an action, humor is one of the most effective themes to infuse some life into an otherwise standard marketing campaign. Humor is memorable, gives consumers an extra reason to open emails, and can make them more positive towards the sender of the message over time.
To stimulate more laughs and create impressionable content, there are endless ways to incorporate humor into your marketing, including wordplay, visual humor, stereotypical humor, dark humor, and more. Funny videos, photos, graphics, GIFs and more go a long way in captivating a reader and leaving a lasting impression. Short, punchy subject lines stand out in a boring inbox. References to pop culture or trending topics speak to relevancy and hipness. Witty copy is memorable long after an email is closed.
The general best practice for including humor in email marketing is that it should be subtly spread throughout campaigns to serve as a catalyst that encourages readers to respond to your call to action. Start small and increase momentum if your subscribers have a positive reaction to your more amusing emails.
When integrating comedy into email marketing, you should be cognizant not to go too far and to quickly hit the brakes if you do. Always remember the audience you are writing for and why you are writing. There are obvious scenarios to leave hilarity behind – serious subject matter, technical correspondence, conservative professional practices, to name a few. It’s also important to consider your existing language style – does humor sound totally out of place, or are there ways to organically incorporate it into your communication?
Humor can be a great asset to captivate your audience and help your company stand out when used appropriately and intelligently. Making people laugh should not be the sole purpose of your emails, but it definitely can support your cause. Be clever and tasteful in your humor to help cultivate a genuine connection that will drive better results and keep your readers on the edge of their seats. And if they end up spraying their drink over their phone or computer screen, well you might have that lasting impression you desire.
Let ResponseGenius help take your email marketing to the next level – hello@responsegenius.com
