Ever since Claude Hopkins dictated that "people don’t buy from clowns," humor has been controversial in advertising—and particularly suspect in direct response copywriting.

The latest issue of Inside Influence Report, however, suggests that while people might not buy from clowns, they will buy more from someone who uses humor to generate trust and rapport.

Humor improves returns

The study was conducted by Dr. Terri Kurtzberg from Rutgers University, Charles E. Naquin from DePaul University and Liuba Belkin from Lehigh University.

The researchers wanted to know how humor in the early stages of negotiation might affect the outcome.

So they had participants negotiate a complex contract by email.

Half the group started negotiations by sending a funny, inoffensive Dilbert cartoon to their negotiating partner. The other half didn’t. 

Result? The group that started with a cartoon generated higher levels of trust, resulting in a 15% bigger return and increased satisfaction levels on both sides.

The cartoon also made negotiating partners less extreme when making their first offer, and made negotiations more efficient.

The researchers explain the results by saying that "having some sense of ‘the other side’ as a real person and not just an e-mail address seems to help negotiators build trust and rapport, and thus create better agreements with each other."

Test your comedy

So what are copywriters and content marketers to make of the study?

In my opinion, one important fact is that the researchers tested the cartoon before using it.

By showing it to other businesspeople before using it in the study, they knew it was considered funny and inoffensive by their target demographic.

This is important because not everyone has the same sense of humor.

So it’s probably safe to use humor in marketing content. But always be sure that your target market will actually find your communication funny.

And, as Claude Hopkins would no doubt say, always test to see whether humor really outperforms something more straightforward.

I’ve probably sent a grand total of two text messages my entire life.

Never bumped into a lamppost while walking and texting.

Never felt the twinge of repetitive strain injury in my thumbs.

But I know I’m in a dwindling minority.

So you’d think that with all the twiddling, texting thumbs out there, targeting media-savvy market segments with a digital campaign shouldn’t be all that hard.

Throw together a couple of emails, draft a Facebook page, push through a couple of texts and BAM—ROI out the wazoo.

Well, not quite.

In fact, a new whitepaper from ExactTarget (an email marketing firm—enough said) found that email and short message service (SMS) marketing weren’t the most effective way to target two key text-happy demographics: teens and young homemakers.

And what was the most attention-grabbing, purchase-encouraging marketing format?

Wait for it.

Direct mail.

Mail first, email second, text a distant third

Yup. Direct mail. Old-fashioned, "Here’s a dollar bill" direct mail.

58% of teens and 72% of young homemakers surveyed said they’d been influenced to buy something through a direct mail campaign.

According to the study, email letters came second and text messages came a distant third when it came to influencing decisions to purchase.

So why does direct mail make more of an impact than something more modern, more…well, digital?

Think about it.

Texting is a pretty intimate way of communicating (insofar as anything that isn’t actually face-to-face can be intimate).

So inserting marketing messages into that conversation is about as unwelcome as a toddler at a martini bar.

How to optimize your SMS campaign

So what’s a mobile marketer to do?

Market analyst Gerry Purdy, quoted in a 2006 Associated Press article, said that cellphones would be "the most important medium for advertising in the 21st century."

That may not have happened yet—exactly—but the potential is there.

So, if you want to make the foray into SMS marketing, how do you keep your messages from becoming the digital equivalent of Rush Limbaugh on a nude beach?

1. Get permission. You’ll get a better response if your prospects know what they’re receiving and who it’s from. Sending a pile of unsolicited texts is about as effective as screaming your marketing message out your office window.

2. Offer an incentive. A coupon, a contest, exclusive content—anything that gives your prospect something for nothing will catch their attention and (an added bonus) make them commit to your product. And we all know that a small commitment now can translate into bigger commitments later.

3. Make messages specific and relevant. Target your campaign to a specific geographic location or time of year, or save your text messages for announcing new products and services. Don’t waste your time on a general, blah-blah message no one will notice.

4. Be personable. Remember, people are used to getting texts from their friends. Make sure your message echoes that kind of friendly, intimate communication.

SMS campaigns aren’t going to be the cornerstone of anyone’s marketing campaign—yet.

But it may only be a matter of time.

Until then, though, keep a stash of dollar bills handy.

Have any other tips for an effective SMS campaign? Post them in the comments below!

Unless you adhere to stringent guidelines (about 143, to be exact), your emails likely aren’t effectively servicing customers, building trust and strengthening relationships.

Worse yet, they might just be junked in the spam folder.

Challenges for transactional email content

The findings come in a transactional email study from the usability doctor, Jakob Nielsen.

It compared results with a similar study from five years ago.

And it concluded not only that email usability is still "appallingly" low, but also that users demand even more than five years ago because they’re more skeptical and more rushed.

That’s not entirely surprising, since transactional email must compete in clogged inboxes, and few people have time to relax and review messages in detail.

Rather, we take shortcuts to determine what’s important.

To cut through the clutter, you need to use proven email content optimization tactics.

Unfortunately, according to Nielsen (whose group analyzed 92 transactional messages for this study), emails often consist of "copy written by the programmer late at night."

Either that or sledgehammer marketing content written by aggressive salespeople.

Neither of which do much to build long-lasting customer relationships.

Content optimization for automatic email messages

The latest study confirms the findings from five years ago, but nearly doubles the number of recommendations due to more challenging users.

Your goal with transactional email is to avoid being mistaken for spam, be a customer service ambassador and reduce calls from customers by anticipating and addressing their questions.

But you’re competing against tough obstacles. Nielsen notes that processing email is stressful, users see fluff as a waste of time, and they’ll ignore (or junk) anything deemed inessential. In fact, only 12% of users in this study opened spam messages—and 80% failed to open a legitimate message from Walgreens because a vague subject line made it appear to be spam.

So here are some ways to cut through the clutter:

1. Convey your brand name and purpose in the "from" field. For example, "JetBlue Reservations" and "BestBuy Online Store" were highly effective in this study. Because they told the user the email was from a reputable source, and explained their reason for arriving. And here’s an important tip: Keep your "from" line between 20 and 25 characters because most email programs truncate the rest.
2. Relate to customer-initiated transactions in the "subject" line. For example, "TiVo Rewards Program Ends May 28" performed well while the spam-like "Important Information" performed poorly.
3. Keep the body brief and user-focused. Provide the information that matters most to users up top. (Keep any overt marketing messages, if you must have them, to the end.) Examples of user-focused information include tracking numbers, order descriptions and information about how to deal with any problems.
4. Send fewer emails. For an online purchase, for example, one email confirming the purchase and another confirming shipping would be ideal. The more emails you send regarding a transaction, the more confused you make your customers.

Is it worth the effort?

As a highly personal medium, email enables one of the most direct relationships you can have with customers. So poorly optimized email content is a missed opportunity to create happier customers, build stronger relationships and reduce support costs.

And for transactional emails that you send out regularly, that’s an opportunity you’re missing again and again.