A good laugh with your clients in a day keeps the rivals away. Heartwarming and funny emails can break the ice in marketing communication, even though this approach may seem quite risky.
However, if you master using humor in your campaigns without going overboard, you are almost guaranteed to get entertained and more satisfied clients. A proper joke can enhance an emotional bond between you and your clients.
Read on to learn the craft of humorous emails.
How to Use Humor in Emails
When a user finds a subject funny, they are more likely to open the letter. Likewise, funny sign-off emails leave a great “aftertaste” that ultimately converts subscribers.
And if you create funny emails to send to coworkers, they may forward that message to their colleagues, increasing your audience size. Collectively, all these actions lead to improved brand awareness and increased sales.
When Should Humor Not Be Used in Email Marketing?
Of course, funny emails don’t suit every situation.
Avoid sending humorous letters if:
- You don’t know the recipient well. Don’t play with funny email names and message content if you have just started your mailing campaign.
- You email people from different cultures. Some expressions are perceived differently depending on the culture, so you should approach humorous emails carefully when catering to users from cultures you don’t know well.
- When you email someone about a sensitive topic, religion, politics, health, and gender topics are sensitive.
Don’t send funny fake emails or potentially insulting messages to your subscribers. Look for innocent yet funny ways to start emails and continue that friendly approach throughout your communication.
Not-so-Good Times for Funny Email Marketing
While humor can act as a foundation for long-lasting relationships with clients, it can also end their adoration for your brand. Thus, you need to understand the proper timing of sending funny emails.
Generally, avoid them in the following situations:
- In documents or password resets. These messages include only the necessary information, and users expect these messages to be short.
- In customer service emails. When a user writes to support, they often ask for help. A joke here can look like a mockery, so you’d better avoid it.
- During a crisis. When the client is going through a difficult time, it’s better to keep your message serious or neutral. The same thing applies to company layoffs: keep your tone neutral.
Even an innocent joke can hurt someone and compromise your brand reputation. So if you want to write funny goodbye emails to coworkers, keep it as neutral as possible.
Be careful with the humor, avoiding offensive and self-deprecating jokes. You’d better sound “vanilla” than lose clients due to harsh humor. Don’t even consider launching funny prank email campaigns, as they can ruin your reputation.
Email Testing: No Laughing Matters
Before you send funny sales emails, test both the technical part and how people react to them. Check images, embedded content, and links. Make sure that your emails don’t have broken links, images, or grammatical errors.
Ensure that the images in your funny emails are common file types such as JPEG, PNG, or GIF. Check the image’s size: email spam filters tend to block messages with overly large images.
Create a few email addresses for testing and send emails to them. Make sure you check your email from different clients and devices; that way, you’ll see whether the message displays properly in common use cases.
Proofread your funny emails before you send them to the client. Make sure that your humor is not offensive or demonizing. Soften the jokes as much as you can.
7 Proven Examples of Funny Emails to Send to Your Clients
Funny Cold Emails
Cold emails are sent to potential customers who haven’t expressed interest in the brand’s product, making this promotional method quite risky. With only 36% of recipients opening unsolicited emails, people are fed up with letters that they don’t find relevant. Even when these are humorous emails.
However, here are some tips to make cold emails work:
- Start with a catchy subject that is intriguing and makes them smile
- Use humor throughout your message while sounding professional. If you want to keep the message serious, you can use funny signatures for emails.
- Avoid jokes that could be offensive. Your message should be appropriate to social standards.
- Try funny email addresses associated with your brand.
- Check that your humor is relevant to the product. Funny jokes should fit the topic and possibly your brand’s grand narrative.
Check this example from Harry’s shaving tools shop:
Source: Harry’s
They started the email with the subject “Mom told you to wash your face. Find out why…” to generate attention and continue promoting the importance of daily hygiene with their products.
Humorous Onboarding Email
The onboarding message’s first impression impacts your further communication with the client. Ensure that funny emails address the user’s pain points and show how to solve their problems successfully, with a pinch of humor.
You can use funny salutations for emails: since this is your first communication via mail service, you can add a few jokes that support your brand identity. You can also attach funny pictures to emails to add a special flavor to your brand image.
Source: Hinge
The Hinge app is an example of a catchy onboarding email that shows the disadvantages of dating apps. Later, they explain how their service can change this situation. You can use the same scheme in your funny emails.
Funny Cart Abandonment Emails
Funny abandoned cart emails are a gentle way to remind customers about items in their cart and encourage them to complete the purchase. If you plan your funny emails correctly, it will improve the email open rate and click-through rate, reducing the cart abandonment rate (which is, by the way, a shocking 70% of the average).
Create a sense of urgency in your funny emails. Let the customers know that their favorite items may soon sell out. But don’t be arrogant: if your funny emails have a brute-force vibe, the clients may leave you without any purchase.
Check this one:
Source: Ulta
Everyone loves compliments, and Ulta marketers understand it. They use humor and praise in a single message, making it an effective way to win back users who have abandoned their carts.
Promotional Funny Emails
Promotional messages help you reach a large audience quickly and easily. You can use funny emails to share updates, promote new products or bestsellers, and drive traffic to the website or socials. You can use them as funny follow-up emails that guide users to the next stage of the marketing funnel.
Source: Chubbies
Chubbies Shorts uses funny emails to promote their online shop by joking about the most common work problem: procrastination. However, they don’t laugh at a client. They laugh with them, so people think, “Yep, I’ve been there.”
Amusing Emails to Bring Back Inactive Users
Amusing emails are a cute, non-intrusive way to bring back inactive users by showing you miss them while reminding them of your product’s benefits. As always, though, make sure that all your punchlines are harmless.
Source: Teespring
Here is an example of a win-back email campaign with funny emails. Teespring added a cute, sad puppy to represent their sadness that the client hadn’t launched campaigns in a long time.
Master Funny Emails and More with MailCon
While it’s easy to overdo humor in your emails, it’s almost impossible to overdo it with MailCon. The more events you visit, the faster your email and omnichannel marketing skills grow.
Here’s what MailCon is about:
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do funny emails take away from your message or enhance it?
Properly written funny prospecting emails only benefit your business. Clients will see that you are down-to-earth and not afraid of risks. However, don’t write too many funny emails: it may expose you as unprofessional.
Are funny emails appropriate?
Funny emails are appropriate as long as they are on point, professional, and don’t offend anyone.
What are the downsides of running funny emails?
Funny emails can make you look unprofessional if you overdo it. But if you compile a compelling message, clients will remember you for a long time.
