We all enjoy a good laugh, but besides the enjoyment there are real reasons to use humor in your direct mail. Laughter triggers the release of endorphins in the body. These are our feel-good chemicals. When we feel good we like it and associate that feeling with the product or service that made us feel that way.

Let’s look at a couple of things laughter can do:

• Improve health: By lowering blood pressure, increasing oxygen in the blood, provide a workout to the diaphragm, abdomen, lungs and more, and it reduces stress hormones.
• Increase memory, alertness, creativity and learning: studies have shown that when humor is added to instruction led to better test scores.

So how do these things translate into generating direct mail response? Humor makes selling easier. Laughing at a direct mail piece builds trust, makes you likable and therefore they are more apt to respond.

So now that you want to add humor let’s talk about how to do it right.

1. Target Audience: In order to provide effective humor you need to target it to the right groups of people. In many cases this means you have various versions of humor depending on the group you are sending to in the same campaign. To get the best results test your humor ideas on people who are similar to your target audience. What you find funny may not be to other people.
2. Strategy: Here you need to plan how to add the humor, not just for the sake of having humor but to create a benefit. This will take thought and time. The incorporation of your humor into your message and your brand is a must in order to work. If you have conflicts between them, then your direct mail piece will not be effective.
3. Tone: It is important to hit the right tone. You do not want to try too hard to be funny, but you also do not want to scale back too much and make it not funny. You need to take calculated risks based on your target audience. You want real laughs not a quick chuckle and toss the mailer in the trash.

You can create your humor in many forms from images to text jokes. Find the right mix of what works for your business and what your recipients find funny. Remember that testing your ideas with people outside of your organization before you send them out is important, especially when you are trying to be funny. You can do this with some of your best customers and include a variety of personalities for the best feedback.

If you are ready to add humor to your direct mail contact us today. We are glad to help!