23 Funny Email Subject Lines Begging to Be Opened

Want to surprise and delight your prospects? Or maybe you just desperately need them to open your emails? Injecting humor into your subject lines could be just the trick.

According to a study by Marketo, funny email subject lines got an open rate 50% higher than more straightforward subjects. Similarly, an experiment by AWeber found that a humorous subject line drove 200% more opens than a generic version.

The reason humor works so well is backed by science. Behavioral psychologists say humor activates the brain‘s reward center, releasing feel-good chemicals like dopamine. So when your subject line makes someone smile, it creates a positive association that makes them more likely to engage with your brand.

But wielding humor in email marketing isn‘t all punchlines and puns. It takes skill and strategy to pull off. In this guide, we‘ll dive deep into the art and science of funny subject lines, including:

• When (and when not) to use humor in subject lines
• 23 hilarious subject line examples to inspire you
• Best practices for writing funny subject lines
• How to A/B test your humorous subject lines
• Humor trends and tactics to watch in 2024

By the end, you‘ll be armed with the knowledge and frameworks to write funny subject lines that get laughs and results. Let‘s dig in!

When to Use (And Not Use) Humorous Subject Lines

While humor can be a powerful engagement tool, it‘s not always the right choice. You need to carefully consider your audience, brand voice, and email context. Here‘s when humor tends to work best:

• You have a friendly, casual brand voice
• Your audience is receptive to humor (e.g. younger demographics)
• The email content is lighthearted or entertaining
• You‘re in an industry where humor is common (e.g. food, fashion, media)

In contrast, avoid cracking jokes in your subject lines when:

• Covering serious or sensitive topics (e.g. service outages, legal notices)
• Reaching out to a very traditional or formal audience
• Sending a first-touch sales email (humor is better for warm leads)
• Your brand is known for being serious or buttoned-up

"Read the room, so to speak," advises Lianna Patch, founder of Punchline Conversion Copywriting. "If you know your audience appreciates a more playful, irreverent tone, then go for it. But if there‘s any doubt, play it safe with a straightforward subject line."

And of course, always steer clear of humor that could be seen as offensive, insensitive, or divisive. Wit is great; meanness is not.

23 Funny Subject Lines to Steal

Need some inspiration to get those comedy juices flowing? Here are 23 hilarious subject line examples you can adapt for your own emails:

Sales & Prospecting

1. "Our product is so easy my goldfish could use it"
2. "You‘ll like me better than your mother-in-law"
3. "This deal is hotter than your friend‘s mixtape"
4. "Let me tell you how many goats I‘d trade for your business"
5. "I promise I won‘t ghost you like your last Match date"

Newsletter & Content

6. "Naughty pictures of your dream house enclosed"
7. "Yes, I‘m bribing you to read this with cat GIFs"
8. "Here‘s that dose of midweek self loathing you requested"
9. "Oops, wrong number. But while I have you…"
10. "What‘s spookier? Halloween or your SEO?"

Retention & Re-engagement

11. "Long time no interact! Tell us how much you missed us"
12. "We‘re staging an intervention for your buyer‘s journey"
13. "Let me reintroduce myself… My name is HOV"
14. "You‘ve changed. And we like it."
15. "First order gets a wax figure of Kate Winslet from the Titanic"

Events & Webinars

16. "Snakes. Why‘d it have to be snakes (at this conference)?"
17. "I Survived Another Meeting That Should‘ve Been An Email"
18. "Beer me, bro (if you come to our networking event)"
19. "We‘re not mad. Just disappointed you missed our last webinar."
20. "Bring stretch pants. This virtual lunch & learn is BYOB."

Human Resources & Employee Engagement

21. "Important tax documents enclosed (lol just kidding)"
22. "Your boss says to only open this if your work is done"
23. "Tell John in accounting to keep out."
24. "This link will either Rick roll you or tell you about our townhall"
25. "Please stop microwaving fish in the office"

Pretty great, right? Feel free to adapt these for your own emails. But also use them as inspiration to brainstorm your own humorous subject lines tailored to your unique audience.

Tips & Formulas for Writing Funny Subject Lines

Comedy is challenging, especially in writing. What makes one person guffaw might make another grimace. So how can you craft subject lines that consistently land and lather?

Here are some tips and best practices:

• Keep it short and punchy. The best jokes are brief. Aim for 40-50 characters.
• Make it relevant. Tie your quip back to the email content. No non-sequiturs.
• Embrace the unusual. A surprising twist, overly specific detail, or absurd mental image sparks humor.
• Use misdirection and confusion. Set up an expectation then flip it unexpectedly to get a laugh.
• Play on idioms and popular references. Tweak a well known phrase, title or lyric to make it your own.
• Try a humorous button. Add an amusing sign off after a straightforward subject, like "(Yes, this is a real email address)".
• Use self-deprecating humor. Making fun of yourself or being overly honest humanizes your brand.
• Poke fun at relatable experiences. Tapping into shared struggles or annoyances makes an instant connection.
• Test. Test. Test. Always A/B test multiple humorous subject lines to see what works.

Need a quick way to generate some funnies? Try plugging your subject matter into these evergreen subject line formulas:

• "Prepare to [achieve goal] and laugh simultaneously"
• "[Unexpected celebrity] uses our product, and now they‘re a [outlandish outcome]"
• "Sure, you could [do boring activity]. Or you could [desirable action]."
• "I asked [person] for [business thing] advice. They sent me this."
• "This [business thing] is so easy, my [relative/pet] could do it."

For example, let‘s say you‘re promoting a new internal communication tool. Some potential humorous subject lines could be:

• "Prepare to delight your team and laugh simultaneously"
• "Shaq uses our chat tool, and now they‘re a world-class synchronized swimmer"
• "Sure, you could keep using email. Or you could join the future of work."
• "I asked Brenda in HR for productivity advice. They sent me this."
• "This collaboration platform is so easy, my goldfish could manage my projects."

See? With the right framework, you can churn out dozens of chuckle-worthy subject lines in minutes. Pick the best of the bunch, then test to see what works best.

Funny Subject Line A/B Test Plan

Speaking of testing, you should always run humorous subject lines through A/B tests before deploying to your entire list. Humor is so subjective that what you think is hilarious could totally bomb with your audience.

Here‘s a sample testing framework you can follow:

1. Brainstorm 10-20 funny subject line variants
2. Select the 2 with the most potential
3. Create identical email content to send with each subject line
4. Randomly split a subset of your list into two equal groups (e.g. 5,000 each)
5. Send email A to one group and email B to the other
6. Measure results after 24 hours, looking at open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribes
7. Send the winning subject line to the remaining untested portion of your list

By testing a small sample first, you‘ll get actionable data on what works without risking your full list. You may be surprised by the results!

"I had a subject line I thought was the pinnacle of wit and wordplay," shares Sophia Bernazzani, former editor at HubSpot. "But when we tested it against a more straightforward version, the ‘boring‘ one actually got 35% more opens."

So leave your ego at the door and let your audience be the ultimate judge of what‘s funny and what‘s forgettable.

Funny Email Stats & Trends for 2024

Email marketing isn‘t going anywhere, and neither is humor. But how we use funnies in our subject lines may evolve with new technologies and subscriber preferences. Here are some humor trends and tactics to watch over the next few years:

Humor trends in 2024

• AI-generated jokes. Machine learning tools like GPT-3 may be able to study your brand voice and audience to suggest tailored subject line humor at scale.
• Personalized punchlines. With hyper-personalization on the rise, we‘ll see more humor based on someone‘s name, location, past purchases, and other data points. Think: "Melissas are 80% more likely to be promoted this year."
• Humor over visuals. With more emails being opened on smartwatches and voice assistants, humorous subject lines will be key to capturing attention without flashy images and formatting.
• Meme-inspired madness. The internet is fueled by memes and in-jokes. Tapping into the latest viral trends in subject lines will be a surefire way to boost relevance and relatability.
• Absurdist office humor. With the shift to remote and hybrid work, joking about Zoom fatigue, barking dogs, and living in sweatpants will be more popular than ever.

Funny email stats

Still not convinced about the power of humor in email subject lines? I‘ll let the data do the talking:

Funny vs. Regular Subject Lines	Open Rate	Click Rate	Unsubscribes
Funny	30.8%	4.1%	0.4%
Regular	18.2%	5.2%	0.1%

Source: Email Tool Tester

As you can see, funny subject lines drive significantly higher open rates compared to regular ones. But they also result in lower click through rates and more unsubscribes.

So it‘s about striking a balance and not going overboard with the humor. A few other key stats to note:

• 50% of people unsubscribe from an email list because the content is irrelevant, boring or humorless (Source: Mailchimp)
• Dad jokes are the most popular type of humor used in marketing emails, followed by puns (Source: Campaign Monitor)
• Adding an emoji to a funny subject line can increase opens by up to 10%, especially the 😂 Face With Tears of Joy (Source: Marketo)

Go Forth and Be Funny

We‘ve covered a lot of ground in this guide to funny email subject lines. My main advice? Know your audience, start small, and always be testing. Not every subject line needs to be a gut-buster. Even just a small amusing twist often works better than your standard subject.

Worried the joke will fall flat? "The bar for humor in email marketing is honestly pretty low," says Jon Buchan, founder of Charm Offensive. "You don‘t have to be the next Chris Rock to stand out. Just be a little more interesting, a little more playful than the average bear."

And if your subject line totally bombs? Dust yourself off and try again. Every "failed" attempt is a chance to learn more about your audience‘s humor preferences. Over time, you‘ll develop a sixth sense for the types of comedy that connect best.

Happy writing and good luck! May your punchlines be pithy and your open rates be outstanding. If you need me, I‘ll be anxiously hovering over the "send" button for my latest batch of dad jokes.