LOL with Email Marketing

Email marketing is serious business. Marketers turn to it because of its effectiveness in garnering a good ROI and because it allows for analytical measurement and analysis. But the people you communicate with via email aren’t necessarily interested in the serious side of email marketing. As a matter of fact, email messages that are humorous are one of the most forwarded types of emails. Even in business environments, a lighthearted email is a nice break from the lackluster tone in communication that we digest each day.

“…According to a Sharpe Partners Study on viral marketing, it is reported that nearly 90 percent of US Internet users forward information to others via email. The decision to forward content via email is based on the content itself, with humorous emails spreading the most…” see what types of emails people forward to friends

As effective as humor may be in email, many businesses are wary of using it in their communication with customers. It is an understandable caution, especially if you are not involved in funny business. If you are a network security firm or an investment firm, then your customers might not respond well to humor. They are counting on you to be serious about the important work that you do for them. But there are many businesses, like software and services companies, where humor can be used effectively.

Scott Hardigree provides an example of how crowdSPRING uses light humor in their email campaigns effectively.

“…My favorite snippet is “Given that crowdSPRING is only a team of 9 (and one highly trained dog), there’s really only so much we can get done in a day. And, truth be told, the dog probably gets more done in a day than the rest of us…” see Scott’s example

Of course, effective humor depends on good timing (and good taste). And if your timing is off, your attempt at humor can backfire.

Dreamhost provides web hosting to over 600,000 domains. In one newsletter to customers they announced the move to a new headquarters and used some humor in the message, joking that because of their nice new office, customers will understand if their bills are much higher next month. Unfortunately both for Dreamhost and their customers, the next bill was high – very high. Due to a glitch in their automated billing system, customers were overcharged to the tune of $7,500,000 USD. Ouch. Dreamhost announced the problem on their blog, using humor again – but the lighthearted tone of the explanation failed to impress customers and the blog comments heated up immediately. Read more about this example of humor backfiring

I felt really bad for Dreamhost. They obviously didn’t want to upset their customers. The timing was just off and the situation irritated customers. I hope they didn’t lose their sense of humor (or their customers) as a result of that experience.

Of course, communication does not have to be either mind-numbingly serious or ROTFLMAO funny. You can find middle ground and opt for a more personal, friendly and light-hearted tone when you communicate in email or on your website, blog or social media profiles.

Have you used humor in your online communication with customers? If so, how did it work out for you?