Here’s Why Brands Need to Use Humor in Their Customer Strategy

We’re sure you’ve heard of the saying, “laughter is the best medicine,” but as it turns out, it’s also one of the best ways to acquire and keep customers.

According to “The Happiness Report,” 91% of people prefer brands to be funny and 72% would choose a brand that uses humor over the competition. Moreover, people are also on the hunt for new experiences that can make them smile and laugh and brands that are able to deliver such experiences will be rewarded with loyalty, advocacy, and repeat purchases. 63% of consumers are even willing to spend more on a brand that’s able to effectively use humor. Published by Oracle in partnership with five-time New York Times bestselling author and podcaster, Gretchen Rubin, the report gathered data from more than 12,000 consumers and business leaders across 14 countries.

When it comes to different aspects of customer engagement, the report revealed that brands that are able to incorporate humor into their advertising, marketing, sales, and digital services can have better ROI. For instance, 90% of consumers said they are more likely to remember ads that are funny, while 69% said they are more likely to open an email with a funny subject line.

On the other hand, salespeople who have a sense of humor can also be more effective in closing deals and purchases. That’s because 77% of customers said that they are more likely to buy from salespeople who are funny. Businesses that use funny chatbots as part of their digital services can also increase engagement as 68% of customers said they are more likely to interact with funny chatbots or digital assistants.

Actionable Intelligence Using CX Tools

The Happiness Report provides a treasure chest of insights marketers can use to drive more engagement, customer loyalty, and brand awareness. Simply put, happy customers mean better business.

However, brands are not able to effectively leverage humor in their strategies. The report revealed that only 20% of business leaders use humor in their advertising campaigns and only 24% use it in marketing campaigns. The numbers are less for humor in sales with only 16% using humor in sales interactions. Meanwhile, only 27% of business leaders use humor in their digital customer service interactions.

Where does the problem lie? It’s in the data, or in this case, the lack of visibility into that data. 95% of businesses said they fear using humor in customer interactions, and 85% don’t believe their organization has the data insights or tools to successfully deliver humor.

To address this issue, brands need the tools for creating personalized customer experiences. CX tools like CRMs, for example, can help businesses create unified customer profiles that will make it easier and quicker to visualize data and make sense of the information. Leveraging data-driven insights from all customer touchpoints enable marketing and sales to make informed decisions when fine-tuning their respective campaigns and sales strategies.

Also, with a data-first approach, businesses can be more consistent in creating new experiences for each customer. Connected data results in powerful customer intelligence that can be used to drive more business value. As Gretchen Rubin said in the report, “For brands aiming to contribute to the happiness of their target audience, the process starts with data and knowing your customers. Only then can you bring the appropriate mix of humor, personality, and brand experience that will drive loyalty and brand advocacy.”