We all have that one friend with an unmatchable sense of humor. They’re always the light of the party because they make everyone laugh.
Your brand can become that friend by creating a campaign on April Fools’ Day.
64% of Americans plan to celebrate April Fools’ Day with their loved ones. As marketers, you must make the most of this occasion. Read this article to know about the top tips and examples for creating the best April Fools email campaign.
Will Humor Benefit Your Business?
When thinking of running a campaign on April Fools’ Day, the first thing that may come to your mind is, “Will it even be beneficial?” Well, yes, but only if it’s smartly done.
Many marketers refrain from being funny because it might harm their brand reputation and may not sit well with their customers. If that were the case, then big brands like Google, McDonald’s, and Volkswagen wouldn’t create April Fools’ Day campaigns.
Adding a humorous flair, even for a single day, will benefit your business in many ways. Some are mentioned below:
Makes your brand viral
These days it seems as if the only way to get fame is by being viral. Unfortunately, there’s no fixed rule for that as it entirely depends on what the majority finds interesting. However, by being humorous, you can increase your chances of getting popular overnight.
Let’s take the example of Tinder. In 2019, they pranked the world by introducing a height verification tool to limit height-fishing (trust me, a deal-breaker). Their video revealing the same was viewed 3.5 million times.
Increases brand recall and recognition
Humor has been proven to increase recall, so you know it is worth giving a shot. The connection between humor and recall is strong because when things make us laugh, we’re instantly put in a good mood. And when we’re happy, we tend to remember the reason for what made us happy.
This explains why you often remember the funny ads of your childhood and go all nostalgic when you see the brand today.
Boosts seasonal sales
Who would've thought being funny could bag you more sales. Humor is one of the best examples of emotional marketing, and the latter can boost sales by 23% compared to standard ads.
April Fools’ Day comes at an in-between time. Spring has just started in most parts of the world, and you’re slowly approaching one of the biggest marketing events, Easter. Promoting your brand on April Fools’ Day, be it through pranking your customers or in solidarity with those pranked, can drastically boost your sales.
April Fools’ Email Campaigns: Tips You Must Follow
Since now you know why humor and April Fools’ Day are important, it’s time to get to business.
Be funny from the start
Your April Fools email might be a class apart, but no one would know if your subject line is lacking. If you really want to make heads turn, your subject line must be aligned with your email message.
A subject line on April Fools’ Day must be bold, funny, and unconventional. To makes things easier for you, we’ve listed below some April Fools email subject lines. Feel free to copy them.
- Get your business in on the fun!
- We’re not fooling around, this is the real deal!
- 🎊 April Fools’ Day sale 🎊
- Foolishness is in the air
- No jokes here, our new product is live
- Sorry but you've been punked!
- 🎭 Up to 50% off your favorite items this April Fools’
- Is it Christmas?
- 🎉 April Fools! We're giving away free products for a year!
- Fooling you since 2015
Prank your customers
You’ve got the perfect excuse to prank your customers. The secret to a good prank is that it must be something unexpected yet believable.
Take the example of Burger King, which came out with a toothpaste that tasted like its famous burger, Whopper. While this sounds bizarre, it’s still believable since KFC had previously launched edible nail polish.
When pranking through emails, we suggest sending at least 3 emails.
Your first email should tease your subscriber of what’s to come ahead and should be sent a week or 2 before April Fools’ Day. The second email should be the actual prank email and must be sent on April Fools’ Day. The last email should be sent a few days after the event in which you disclose your prank and win the title of the funniest brand.
Play it safe with memes
Humor comes with its not-so-positive consequences. If you’re a brand that has never played around with being funny, then we suggest you play it safe by including relevant and funny memes in your email campaign.
The meme you choose must be customized to what you offer to your subscribers. This boosts understanding and avoids appearing awkward.
If I were to add a meme in an email design for Unlayer, I’d include the following meme;
Sync your email copy and design
Your idea for April Fools’ might be completely out of the box, but it can totally fail if your email copy and design are not up to the mark.
When writing your April Fools’ email content, stick to a conversational and witty tone. Follow the less is more approach and use popular slang only when appropriate.
When designing your April Fools’ Day campaign, add relevant visuals in emails to make your prank more legitimate and reinforce your message. Follow a mobile-friendly email design since most emails are now opened on mobile devices.
One thing you must remember is that your April Fool emails must be on-brand. Use the same font style and color palette as you previously did.
Sneak in a sale
Not every brand would want to prank their customers, and that’s okay. You can promote a sale while still celebrating April Fools’ and being funny. In fact, you can play around with the idea that your offer is too good to be true.
You can even promote a sale in solidarity with those who were pranked. This can be best described as when you were a kid, and your doctor would give you candy after your checkup.
Try not to offend anyone
It may so happen that you find something funny, but the same is not welcomed by your audience. We live in a world where you can’t make everyone happy, and someone is always offended by what you say or do.
To avoid an unfavorable PR situation, we recommend you follow the below suggestions:
- Don’t target a specific ethnicity/religion/race.
- Don’t add to an existing stereotype. No more blonde jokes, please.
- Test your campaign’s humor on other members of your team or people in your social circle.
- Do your research and observe why some companies received backlash on failed April Fool campaigns.
- Take the help of your local colleagues when designing an April Fools email campaign for an area you’re not native to.
7 April Fools Emails That Got Us Laughing
To give your creative juices flowing, we’ve handpicked the best April Fools emails. Take notes on why we love them and use them when designing your own emails.
1. Warby Parker
Warby Pecker was so committed to making their April Fools’ Day prank believable that they even changed their brand name. Their canine collection is backed up by convincing copy and high-quality images that further adds to their prank.
2. J.Crew Factory
Talk about a no BS design. J.Crew Factory stood out on April Fools’ Day by not pranking their subscribers but instead offering them a big sale. The minimalist email design followed by actionable copy is a total attention-grabber.
3. Deliveroo
With a simple design and humorous copy, this email from Deliveroo hits all the right marks. We love how they’ve kept things simple and let their ‘new feature’ do all the talking. Brownie points for the call to action button that stands out against the light background color.
4. Overstock
This April Fools email from Overstock is email marketing gold. They’ve taken a creative idea and transformed it into a fun email design. The vintage look of the email outshines the recent trends in email design.
5. Quartz
A simplistic email design that doesn’t compromise on visuals, Quartz took the stress away from what’s real on April Fools’ Day and displayed that through the fun copy.
6. Isabella Oliver
Now, this is an April Fools email we stand by. The copy and design in this email from Isabella Oliver is so convincing that we honestly thought they launched the ‘Dad Bump.’
7. KIND
At first, you think this is another prank but KIND delivered on what it promised. We love how the email’s color palette goes with the product their promoting.
Design Funny April Fools Emails With Unlayer
Your April Fools’ Day email campaign must be one not to miss. Hence, you must use Unlayer to create an email design that’ll get people talking.
Why use Unlayer? You get to choose from 1,000+ responsive email templates. You don’t need any coding or design skills to create these emails - just drag and drop, and you’re done.
You can even personalize these emails using merge tags and preview them on multiple screens before downloading them or integrating with your preferred email service provider.
Start designing now to create attractive April Fools emails.
Email Templates That Convert Crazy Good
Wrapping Up
Congrats! You’re all prepped to design April Fools emails that’ll make heads turn and get people talking. Follow the tips mentioned above, and you’ll witness for yourself high sales and customer engagement.
