We grew up hearing laughter is the best medicine, but you know what I realized recently? It’s also an outstanding sales and marketing technique.
Trust me, even the statistics will second me on this since 91% of people prefer brands to be funny, and 78% believe that brands could do more to deliver happiness to their customers.
This means sending funny emails to your subscribers is a win-win situation for both you and your subscribers. You know, for you to win them over and for them to find a reason to chuckle.
I know what you’re thinking, how to create hilariously funny emails? The good news is that in this article, I’ve written eight foolproof techniques to create funny emails and mentioned some laughable emails, subject lines, and CTA examples to inspire you.
For starters, let’s discuss eight techniques for writing funny emails.
8 Types of Funny Emails to Make Your Subscribers LOL
Happy customers mean sustainable relationships and good revenue. Let’s say that is a good enough reason to send them funny emails.
If you’re puzzled about how to get started, I have mentioned eight unique ways below to create funny emails and win over your customers.
1. Humor featuring your product or service
Ever sat in a car with someone who completely lost it during a traffic jam?
We all have.
This hilarious-looking email from Headspace offers its readers a solution, i.e., to use their Headspace app to escape chaotic situations like this one.
Also, they did a great job with the email design because GIFs in emails make them more expressive and visually appealing.
I laughed when I looked at it first, and that’s exactly what they aimed for.
2. Campaign-centered jokes
ModCloth sent this email during the Halloween season.
Notice the wordplay, the sassy girl, and her attire. It’s all on point. I loved that this email had the right balance of humor and a campaign-centered theme. But also that it used a minimalist email design to send the message across.
Take notes from this email if you’re planning to show your fun side in your event email marketing.
3. Jokes addressing customer’s pain points
A funny email that addresses a customer’s pain points and offers a product/service as a solution? Definitely a brilliant idea!
Here’s one such email example from Yohana. It shows a woman juggling (and struggling) with household chores, followed by the caption, the juggle is real.
Since their customers can relate to this problem, they’ll find this email funny and useful simultaneously.
4. Humor based on email type
One way to make your funny emails more relatable is by adding humor according to the email type, such as an abandoned cart, welcome or promotional email.
Just like this abandoned cart email from ~Pourri shows a woman holding a number of toilet papers signifying the poo goodies their subscriber left in the cart.
The image, copy, and colors of the email are just perfect to represent their brand and notify their user about the cart they abandoned.
Hope you’re taking notes from this captivating email.
5. Self-deprecating jokes
A little humble-ing down never hurts anyone. Not Shinesty, at least because they totally nailed this hilarious email campaign.
This welcome email from Shinesty features a testimonial from their customer who sounds quite upset with their customer service. They created this email as a part of their vetting process to ensure that their reader still wants to stick around and doesn’t unsubscribe like the customer featured in the email just did.
This strategy may backfire for some businesses, but Shinesty wasn’t shy to take the risk.
6. Witty humor
Chubbies decided to give away free gifts on the 4th of July, and they created the funniest email to announce this.
This email has a humorous quote from their CEO saying, “Screw it, let’s just give everyone free stuff.” Plus, the email copy and the images made a perfect campaign-centered funny email.
The best part is that they didn’t forget to add a prominent Call-To-Action in the email that goes perfectly with their email’s intent.
I’m pretty sure you’re impressed with their email marketers, too, like I was when I first read this email.
7. Humor with pop-culture references
Writing a humorous pop-culture reference was reasonably easy for everyone’s favorite TV show and movie streaming service, Netflix.
I absolutely loved the enticing and witty email copy. Plus, the email design goes perfectly with the Stranger Things’ theme and the email’s intent.
Also, they made sure to add every necessary detail to invite subscribers to the Stranger Things Store, such as the date and time.
Anyone would be happy to receive a confirmation email like this one in their inbox.
8. Situational jokes
Harry’s sent this email during the corona situation. This comical email tells subscribers that since they can’t go out during the pandemic, they can still use Harry’s scents representing different locales and enjoy a similar experience.
It’s a treat to see someone not trying so hard to be funny but still putting in the right amount of effort to make their readers smile. Just like this email from Harry’s did.
These are some unique ways to add humor to your emails. But do you know what you need to do to get them to this part? A laughable subject line.
A subject line that will catch your email recipient’s eye and make them want to click open your emails. So, read the following seven email subject line examples from top brands that made their emails swipeable.
7 Funny Email Subject Lines That’ll Make Your Stomach Hurt
Making your email recipients click open your email in a crowded inbox is no piece of cake. But with well-thought subject lines like the following, you can get your subscribers to do so.
Here are seven email subject lines that can easily bring a smile to anyone’s face.
Oops! You forgot to flush. - ~Pourri
Well, that’s ~Pouri’s way of reminding customers about an abandoned cart.
Don’t be that guy on Zoom. You know, the one without pants. - Huckberry
Reminds you of someone? Well, we all know someone who does this, and this thought alone can make you laugh and click open the email.
Our copywriter had a baby - Who Gives A Crap
You’ve never seen a subject line as unusual and hilarious as this one, have you? Well, that’s what they aimed for.
FREE UPGRADE MOTHERPUPPERS! - BarkBox
This one’s hands down my favorite. It’s provocative, funny, and adorable at the same time. The word “motherpuppers” sounds weirdly adorable because it’s understandable that BarkBox is talking about cute pups in the email.
Look what you did, you little jerk… - The Hustle Clothing
Got that Home Alone (movie) reference? A subject line like this one can easily make your email stand out in a crowded inbox.
John, we’d look good together - AllSaints
Here’s a flirtatious email subject line that appreciates the customer's choice for picking them.
Not to sound needy, but . . . . - Brooklinen
Now, this subject line is not just funny but also induces curiosity, which encourages readers to open the email.
A hilarious subject line will make your readers open your email but your CTA is what is going to make them convert. So make sure you have your A-game on while writing CTAs too. Here are four funny CTAs that’ll inspire you.
4 of the Funniest, Wittiest, and Click-Worthiest CTA Buttons Ever
Want to make your CTAs more click-worthy? Then make them funny. Here are four laughable CTA buttons that screamed, “click me.”
GIMME THIS SH*T
BarkBox never ceases to amaze with its creativity. They’re known for their unique way of marketing, and this works for them pretty well.
Wear Masks (Pants Optional)
Well, this was Shinesty’s way of telling customers how wearing and purchasing masks from them was more important than wearing pants during the pandemic.
BUTT WAIT, THERE’S MORE
Lyft sent an email on Earth Day telling subscribers that butt-math can help subscribers.
According to their email, one butt equals one bike seat, and riding a bike will enable them to go carbon-free. It’s amazing how effortlessly this hilarious CTA goes with the email copy.
WE SEE DEAD EMAILS
Email on Acid sent an email to invite everyone to their email camp. And this CTA was perfect for encouraging anyone interested in improving email performance to click on the CTA RSVP-ing yes.
Take notes from these creative brands on how to craft and add click-worthy CTA buttons in emails.
And now it’s time to discuss something very important, i.e., how to create funny emails that won’t cause trouble. Keep on reading to find out.
How to Create Funny Emails Without Getting Into Hot Waters?
You must be very careful while creating funny emails because sometimes a joke or pun can seriously backfire and damage the reputation of your brand.
Here are some tips that’ll help you create funny emails without causing damage to your brand.
1. Avoid insensitive or political jokes
Now, this one’s super important. Always avoid political jokes and dark humor because you never know how the recipients may react, and you might end up hurting someone’s feelings.
2. Test results before running a campaign
You can segment your audience according to their buyer’s persona and send funny emails to a specific group. If the results are in your favor, you can send your emails on a larger scale.
3. Add relatable humor/references
Oh! I can’t emphasize enough on this one. Make sure everyone understands your joke.
Don’t add a 90’s reference in your email if your target recipient is from Gen Z. They won’t get it. Similarly, only add a pop culture reference if it has been the talk of the town for quite some time.
4. Don’t kill the joke by stretching it
Another super important tip is don’t drag the joke. The quicker someone gets your joke, the better. That’s the rule.
5. Add jokes that are relevant to your business
Don’t sway away in the pursuit of being funny. Make sure your jokes are in sync with your brand or email intent; otherwise, they won’t make such an impact.
6. Trust your funniest copywriter to write humorous emails
With AI’s growing popularity, many brands leverage AI tools to write emails. But guess what? AI can never be as funny as we are. So, trust your copywriters who are good with wordplay and puns to write your funny emails.
7. Choose the right email type before writing funny emails
An important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t use humor in every type of email, specifically emails that bear unfortunate/serious news or transactional emails.
Remember these tips before sending out funny emails to your subscriber list.
How to Create Funny Emails With Unlayer?
Are you short on time or want to create awesome emails without hiring a designer or developer? No worries, Unlayer is here as your Godsent.
Unlayer enables you to design hilarious-looking and conversion-worthy emails within minutes.
You can either pick from our library of pre-designed email templates or start designing from scratch. Once picked, you can easily customize the email according to your choice.
For instance, you can drag and drop Unlayer’s image feature to add relevant memes or funny images to your email. Similarly, you can drag and drop the heading or text feature to customize your copy with the jokes or puns of your choice.
Isn’t it amazing how convenient it is to create funny emails with Unlayer? Then start designing yours now!
Wrapping Up
Making someone laugh is no joke (see what I did there). But if you incorporate the above-mentioned best practices and make sure that your joke is relatable to all the subscribers, then you’ll soon become one of your subscribers’ favorite brands.
And once you’re there, making them engage with you becomes super easy. So, what’s stopping you? Start creating your funny emails and win over your subscribers right away.
