Using humor in sales copy?

Hi Newman,

You find this thread useful. It's a checklist for Sales Copy and it Chris Ramsey states that humour does not work. I am not a copy writer but I found it very interesting.

Di

Using humor in copy is very tricky. You must have an
inside on the target market to know what is really
humorous and if you fail then just wasted some
important words.

Don't use humor to be funny but to be more conversational,
get attention, or break some tension in a tough subject.

Writing copy is serious business, but you still want to
entertain while doing it. Know your audience well and
you'll know how far to go.

But when in doubt leave it out.

-Ray Edwards

Usually writers who attempt humor in sales copy mess it up...because it's very hard to do.

I've seen it end up being cute, or even insulting! I've written funny corporate speeches, comedy routines, and humor articles, but I stay away from all but the tiniest humor in sales copy.

In many respects, it brings into the mix, the wrong emotion.
_____
Bruce

Works pretty damn well for Mr Frank Kern eh??

He curses up a storm and people love that sh*t!

There is obviously a balance, and I think you find it when you become an excellent story teller. When you get someone submerged in your story/sales message, you can tell a corny dumb joke and it will be funny.

On the other hand, I remember when Charlie Sheen got caught up smokin crack rocks and he said WINNING in his little interview with Katie.

Shortly after that, I was on a webinar where some dude was like "Oh you guys like Charlie Sheen... WINNNNNNNNNING..." and it was about the most obnoxious thing I had ever heard and cause me to leave the webinar.

So yea, gotta do it with taste homie!

*for your amusement*

I've tried a little bit of quirky humor in my copy (see sig) and it's served me well. It's not outright funny, it's just something to catch the eye and differentiate yourself, especially if similar product/services exist.

Now granted, since I haven't split tested, I could be talking out of my bummy bum, but that's my two cents with the info that I do have!

I'm only funny in person. It's too hard to be funny online lol. Swearing comes off as obnoxious and there is no sense of dry vs. obvious humor.

In person when selling though dry humor and being downright hilarious can actually form you an instant relationship with the prospect.

If your house list loves you, understands you, and 99% of them appreciate your humor -- and told you so -- then crack 'em up.

But, if your house list subscribed to your emails or buys your products because of what you're offering, and because of its inherent value, why risk distracting them from your marketing goal -- which is to sell them -- not entertain them.

On the other hand, always display your personality -- but don't confuse personality with humor, as Raydal pointed out. You don't want to sound like every other no-personality marketer. So by all means differentiate yourself (not to mention your product). Give your promotions and yourself a distinctive voice.

But, if you're marketing to a cold list, who doesn't know you, who doesn't trust you, and who will always be quicker to say no than yes, humor, or what you think is humor, will get you trouble, i.e., collapse your sales funnel.

Besides, does everyone laugh at all your jokes -- all the time? So why gamble that your humor will not brand you as a jerk, or worse, an insulting and offensive jerk?

Marketing is nothing more than calculated risk taking -- why add more risk than is necessary to an already risky proposition.

Their is no payoff to humor in marketing.

Tell the jokes to your friends, and provide value to your clients.

My most successful Warrior Forum signature line relied on humor, and people went nuts for it. It was a straight up success and the offer was rock solid. It wasn't too hard to figure out that humor can be used effectively, though it is very tricky to pull off.

All the best,
Michael

First off, I think it's a mistake to equate humor with bad words. If all it took to be funny was to use controversial language, anybody could do it.

As a professional stand-up comedian, I can tell you why many people don't have luck with humor, whether it's in sales copy or anywhere else.

It's because everybody thinks they're funny, but most of them aren't.

Comedy is one of those things that people see and think, "I can do that, I make my family laugh."

They don't realize how many years it takes and how much work goes into being a humorist.

There's also a difference between jokes and comedy. I'm a comedian, but if you ask me to tell you a joke, I won't be telling you anything that's in my act. The old saying is, "A comic says funny things; a comedian says things funny."

As a result, the best advice when making videos or writing sales letters is to be yourself. This is what artists call finding your voice.

When you're being yourself, you may or may not be funny, and you may not have much choice in the matter.

For example, Gene Wilder was a serious actor but regardless of the material he performed, people laughed. It drove him bonkers. He complained to Mel Brooks that he was doing a serious piece, but couldn't get people to stop giggling. Some people are just funny and that's the way it is.

Even for people that are naturally funny, it takes years before they're killing on stage consistently.

You won't hear this anywhere else, but I've shared this next piece of advice with students and entertainers asking me for help, and I'm very proud to have come up with it. Here it is:

"There is nothing easier in this world to be, than yourself. But, there's nothing harder than believing that being yourself is compelling to an audience."

Once you are completely honest with people, you will have a voice with which to create sales copy, videos, or anything else, that reflects who you really are, and that person may or may not be funny.

Chances are, that person is probably funny sometimes, but not always. Guess what? Watch a great comedian and you'll see a dynamic performance that isn't always making you laugh. Sometimes, what you're enjoying is the anger, sentimentality, or another trait that makes a show compelling even when you aren't giggling.

Strive to be honest with yourself and then share that honesty with your target market. You'll find creating products becomes very easy because you'll understand that even if a product has already been done that teaches SEO, your voice and way of approaching the subject is unique to you and some people are going to gravitate to your style.

On the other hand, if you try to write in the voice of your favorite guru or make videos and try to present yourself like Billy Mayes (but alive), people will see you for what you are, a cheap knockoff that's disingenuous.

In closing, whether you're funny or not in your sales copy doesn't matter. What matters is whether or not you're honest and communicating with your own voice like only you can. If you do that, sometimes you might be funny, other times, you might be frustrated, but don't try to be anything.

humor.....
you've got to be really funny to pull it off.
you should know what tickles you target market.
you might strike a wrong nerve if you use humor,
some might not take you seriously
you've got to weigh it if you really are going to use humor

hi newman!

Your salescopy is one of the most important parts of your website because you don't have the opportunity to meet with your visitors face to face and sell your products. Basically, your salescopy has to act like a good salesperson and convince people to do business with you.

(?)

Humor operates on a poignant level, driving home your message in a far more impressive way than words alone. Humor makes sensitive topics more approachable while summarizing and strengthening points that would otherwise be lost. Well placed humorous remarks get the consumers to unwind and let their guard down. Do not overdo it but you can always be yourself and show the prospect that you are a real person. If you have a natural talent for humor, then you should go for it and keep it relatively simple. In case you are feeling uncertain avoid it!

If you are a humorous person by nature, I mean if it happens to be a part of your personality, then it comes easily and naturally even in your sales copy and people love it because that's what they expect from you...

For example, I'm on the list of Andy Jenkins and whether it's his emails, newsletters or videos there is always a touch of humour - heck even his disclaimers are humorous.

But that does not mean that every Tom, Dick and Harry should start copying him. Because then it will not come through as natural and will look like a fake, put on image, which can do more harm than good to the seller. Because in the end we want to deal with honest, truthful people and not some make believe personality.

What i found out is using humor in sales copy is particular good in conversion if your traffic is coming from facebook. Those ppl from FB just normally looking for fun and relax..

Come to think of it...

I find most of the claims on sales letters extremely humorous.

Or should that be laughable?

I find humour is too subjective to use effectively. What one person finds very funny, another could find offensive.

If your crowd already know you then it's good to be consistent. The humor probably make or break the sale.

Knowing your ideal customer inside out and the actual product is way more important.

Split test it, It's all BS till you test!

Probably useful to make a distinction between using humor to a list that buys into your personality and using humor on a sales page, composed mostly of visitors who don't know you.

Can humor work in sales copy?

Yes.

Can YOU make humor work in sales copy?

Probably not.

Here are two examples of successful ads for North Carolina Travel and Tourism promoting white water rafting:

Works for Subtle. I still get a kick out of reading that.

Does humor work in sales copy? My "Grilled Chicken Ass" WSO copy is still pulling its tits off - even though the offer is long closed.

Short answer... There's good copy and bad copy. Either one can be funny or not funny, but it doesn't matter...

Adding humor to your copy won't help, but if it's funny, it typically won't hurt either. That's the long and short of it.

Relatively new to this caper but emotion is what sells and if you can move people with humour then why not? Grey suits all look the same.

It really matters on the product being sold. If you are writing sales copy aimed for college students, then a dry and drab, business-minded sales copy may not do the job. However, if you are writing the copy to businesses, I would say a very small amount of humor may help, but it can also damn the product.

It all matters on who the customer is and what the product is.

In the case where the copywriting is "telling a story" relational humor can work. HOWEVER....most attempts will NOT work. So my humble advice is, no, don't use humor...it's much too difficult to 'get right' with too low a payoff.

It is hard to add humor to a sales copy. However, if you are successful in adding humor to the copy, then it can be really good. You need to understand the audience first and then think from their point of view; think what is funny for the targeted audience.

I like humor as long as it is subtle. Going out of your way to crack a joke is not really helping any, but if you are writing conversationally and a sly remark comes out that's a little humorous, that's A-OK.

If it's done in traditional advertisement, no reason it can't be done with Internet landing pages. It totally hinges on what is being sold and if it's appropriate.

First answer this: how will humor add to the value of your offer? How will humor convince or persuade your audience to buy, inquire or subscribe? Will your conversions suffer if no humor is present?

Humor for humor's sake is vanity, not salesmanship.

And what is the purpose of the humor? Does it have a purpose? How does it increase your penetration or overcome objections?

So settle the question once and for all. Test!

Test one version without humor, and test another with.

Sales is the only thing that matters, not laughs.

--Barry

People are very serious when it comes to spending their hard earned money. I would be more inclined to use humor if I were writing to my list of people who know me and I've build some sort of relationship with. I would never add humor to a sales letter I'm mailing to a cold list. If you must use humor I would use Self-effacing humor only.

It's a shame Kev or Vin isn't chiming in here, because if there's anyone who knows about humor in sales copy, it's those guys.

Maybe we can cover it more thoroughly in a future Clambake or something.

For now though... here's my thoughts in Cliff Notes format...

Humor is part of entertainment. And your sales message definitely needs to be entertaining.

Of course, what entertaining IS will vary from market to market (and even customer to customer).

Someone mentioned the Deadbeat Super Affiliate thing... unless I am very much mistaken Kevin Rogers wrote the script for that. Obviously it did really well, and it was definitely entertaining.

Having said that, Kev's a former comic (and a hilarious dude in general) so he probably has a skill set some people don't.

As a professional copywriter... I've used humor in some of my sales pages to great effect (though I've never split tested with/without).

But the thing about writing copy is nuance plays a big role. The difference between an "okay" letter and a killer letter is how clearly and cohesively the writer can put things together.

As an example, let's take the weight loss niche. You can't say "Hey fatty! Join our gym and lose some weight!" It obviously wouldn't work very well.

Yet that's what people do every day in their sales copy. They try and beat their target market over the head with their points with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

It's the equivalent of walking up to a total stranger and asking for sex. You might get lucky every now and then, but it's obviously not a winning strategy.

IMHO, this is what a lot of people do with entertainment... especially humor. And that's when it falls flat. For it to work, you almost need for people NOT to notice it.

So here's my advice...

If you've got the copy chops to work something funny in smoothly (like Kev's example above), then great... go for it.

But if you're even the tiniest bit uncertain whether or not something "works"... scrap it and run with something a little bit simpler.

-Daniel

I think that humor in a sales copy helps develop a personal level of trust with your potential buyer, therefore they are more likely to buy your product.

Only fart humor works on sales pages. Farts move product.

For squeeze pages, nothing beats a knock-knock joke.

Knock-knock.

Who's there?

Sharon.

Sharon who?

Not Sharon who...Sharin' what! I will share all my secrets of using fart humor to make your sales pages convert like Torquemada!

In my view, using humor in sales copy is a bit like asking a 6-year-old kid to perform open heart surgery on you.

Now... it might work out great. But I'm betting against it.

Humor is dangerous.

If you tell someone you'll show them how to make $1,000, your offer will be understood. They may or may not buy -- but, at the very least, they'll understand your message.

The problem with humor is that what one person considers humorous, another will not. So one bad joke and your chance at making the sale may be over... before it really begins.

Humor makes it very easy to veer off course and crash and burn.

Of my all-time favorite PRINT ads (TV is a different animal), not a single one uses overt humor.

And there's a reason for it... copy that is clear (but interesting) will usually trump humor.

If you're Frank Kern or Brad Gosse and your prospects *expect* humor from you, fine. Go at it.

Otherwise... think twice before you dive into the murky, shark-infested waters of humorous sales copy.

-John

There are four major personality types with 4 minor personalty's & of millions of combinations. what did I just mean! Humor is in the eye of the beholder!

Great thread with lots of insight. It reminded me of the study or personality with in sales! You might look for the book by Stephen K Scott " Mentored BY A Millionaire" it give a lot of insight in to the psychology of saleing to different personality types!

Easiest solution is if you aren't already an expert copywriter than don't do it. You need to know the rules before you can break them.

If humor is part of your public persona (or your client's, if you're writing for someone else) and the audience knows to expect it as part of the story without getting distracted, then you may be able to use it, very consciously. In many cases though, it comes off gimmicky and only distracts. Or worse, it's used to fill in the gaps in the actual marketing, and that can never end very well.

Subtle,

Very funny ad... and it has more than 5 words. So let me ask this...

If you were not already a Heineken drinker, did it make you want to switch brands?

Maybe it did. But for most people, I'm going to guess the answer would be "no."

As I noted, the Panasonic ad is also very cool -- but it didn't make me want to buy a Panasonic television.

So, unless Panasonic is trying to break in the lucrative "toy dinosaur" market, for me it's a FAIL.

-John

I just got back from a drive to town and despite being bombarded with 1,000 marketing messages I only remember on. It was a big banner spread across the top of the door to a pub and it said...

Using humor in a sales copy is always a tricky thing... 90% of the people reviewing are very serious over it.. and cracking humor over might go crazy...

Wow this question generated a lot of response.Humor can be useful in articles, social
media and emails to create a bond with the reader.A sales letter has only one purpose.
To compel the reader to purchase what is being offered.
If you need confirmation of this read the greats Caples,Hopkins and Schwartz.
Study their letters.Their techniques are still valid today.It is about persuasion.Humor entertains, it does not give one a reason to buy.Use it and you break the flow of persuasion you worked hard to create.John Carlton and Frank Kern are funny guys but they do not write funny sales letters...As far as Frank Kern is concerned
I received a sales letter from him the other day.And guess what.There was not one attempt to be humorous or clever.It was meant to do one thing
to convert the reader (me) to become a buyer.In the end a sales letter
is written to make sales.We are constantly hit with commercials
that try to promote products by being funny and cute.Yes I am entertained but I seldom
see a compelling reason to buy.