Using humor can increase conversion rates by up to 28% according to a CEO's testing. Humor appeals to a wider audience, distracts from resistance to sales pitches, and makes people feel good. To use humor effectively, identify a customer's expectations, what type of comedy they enjoy already, and overused ideas they may be ignoring. Then craft jokes that surprise them by subverting their expectations. Start with low risk uses of humor and connect it back to the sale. Going too far, being inconsistent, or not relating it to the sale can reduce its effectiveness.

1. USE HUMOR TO INCREASE YOUR
CONVERSION RATE BY 28%
BY HALLEY GRAY, CEO OF EVOLVE AND SUCCEED

2. (SANS DAD JOKES)
I’M GONNA TEACH YOU
HOW TO BE FUNNY

3. STAND UP COMEDY LEAD ME TO DISCOVER
THE CONVERSION POWER OF THE
gi��le

4. WHEN I TESTED OUR
PREMIER SERVICE SALES PAGE
WITH HUMOR AND WITHOUT...

5. �U��YWITH A 28% INCREASE IN CONVERSIONS.
THE WINNER WAS

6. Evolve and Succeed has been launching online
services for the past 4 years and the conversion
rate for our clients increased from anywhere
between 7-24% if they ADDED in humor to their
marketing materials.

7. Dry, factual, repetitive, numbing content
kills your conversion rate.
KI��CONVERSION RATESBORING

8. W�� FUN�Y?

9. ENTERTAINMENT IS APPEALING TO A
WIDER AUDIENCE - ALLOWS YOU TO GO
VIRALON THE INTERNET.
(Great for horizontal targets!)

10. �OWERSCUSTOMER’S GUARD
- DON’T FEEL LIKE THEY’RE BEING
SOLD TO AND DIS�RACTSFROM
NATURAL RESISTANCE.

11. PAY MORE ATTENTIONTO A JOKE
BECAUSE COGNITIVELY
WE KNOW THERE’S TINY WIN
(THE PUNCH LINE).
(First taste free!)

12. HUMOR MAKES THEM
FEEL GOOD- GOOD JOKE =
DOPAMINE, SEROTONIN, ANDENDORPHINS.
Like drugs! But gluten-free, vegan ones!

13. EVEN IF THEY DON'T REMEMBER
YOUR FUNNY CAMPAIGN,
THEY’LL STILL HAVE POSITIVE
ASSOCIATION WITH YOUR BRAND.

14. PlUS!• It can go viral and give you a better return because it
appeases to the human brain’s desire for positive chemicals.
• Increase time spent on website = better conversion rate.
• It’s fast so can compete with the other distractions.
• Inside jokes in a brand create a feeling of closeness with
customers.

15. Cuz it’s been ten minutes since
you checked your phone.
LET'S TALK ABOUT
ME

16. CONTENT MARKeTER,
STAND UP COMEDIAN,
NATURAL PREDATOR
= HECKLER
(Aka my dad)

17. TO THE WRONG CUSTOMERS,
I’M OFFENSIVE, LEWD, AND A SWEARBEAR.
(They’ve told me so.)

18. WHICH IS PERFECT
Because that’s how I increased my
conversion on this sales page up 28%.
I targeted a customer whose sense of
humor included swearing, irreverence,
and weird metaphors.
This specific type of humor worked as a
natural selector and converter.

19. WILL IT WORK FOR YOUR CLIENTS?
Traditional business whose industry standard
isn’t humor?
EVEN BETTER!
Doing something unexpected gets you more
traction and it’s easier to get a laugh.

20. GREAT markets
Nielsen reports = “Older
consumers prefer clever,
light-hearted humor, while
younger consumers prefer
offbeat, sarcastic and slapstick
humor”
Plus European and North
Americans enjoy humor in their
advertising.

21. EASY TO GET LAUGHS
BUT SALESVIA LAUGHS?
So much harder.

22. WHAT IS HUMOR?
Humor is when your brain expects a certain
outcome from the data and is surprised by
a different meaning or outcome.

23. HUMOR IS FORMULAIC
Set up (where you establish their
expectation) then punch line (where you
give them a surprise them or present a
different meaning).

24. EVERYONE HAS EXPECTATIONS
When you start talking about your (or your client’s)
product or service, your customer thinks they know
what you’re going to say next.
Because they have heard it all before.
First step in being funny is to identify what they
expect you to say.

25. EVERYONE HAS A DIFFERENT
SENSE OF HUMOR
Not everyone enjoys witty jokes or political
jokes or sarcastic jokes.
What entertainment does your customer
watch already that they find funny?
(Even those who watch a lot of serious, scary, or factual content will
appreciate a good begrudging ha!)

26. WHAT TYPEOF COMEDY?
• Deadpan (Mitch Hedberg, Maria Bamford)
• Slapstick (Melissa McCarthy, Lucille Ball)
• Self-deprecating (Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy)
• Blue (Wanda Sykes, Dave Chapelle, George Carlin)
• Topical (John Oliver, Samantha Bee)
• Satire (Trevor Noah, Lewis Black)
• Parody (SNL)
• Black (Louis C.K., Lewis Black)
• Surreal (Mighty Boosh, Monty Python)
Second step, what do they already find funny?

27. DEADSPOTS IN THEIR COGNITIVE ZONE
When someone hears the same words or phrases or ideas over and over again
they become numb to them. They no longer process or register them.
Which means that to make them laugh you also need to think about what
they’re tuning out right now.
These are words, jokes, ideas that they get inundated with that no longer
have any funny left in them.
(When you tell the 3rd set of Tinder jokes that night your material needs to
be 5x as funny as the first person’s.)
Third step, what words, phrases or ideas are they tuning out right now?

28. MAKE THEM LAU�H
Now that you’ve figured out what they expect, what they
usually find funny you can figure out what would make
them laugh.
Brain dump all the possible outcomes they would expect.

29. TURN IT ON THEIR HEAD
• Now what is the opposite or contrast of that
expectation?
• What are parallels to the imagery or idea that you could
play on?
• What would you never see paired with this and why?
• What metaphor could you use to help people
understand this?

30. TECHNIQUES AND TACTICS
Use metaphors, analogies, similes.
Unexpected words and phrases (thesaurus is your friend).
Use specifics.
Be succinct. (Long lead up time to punch line means joke
loses funny. The more laughs per minute the better.)

31. THEN
EDUCATE
Once you have their attention then you
can sell to them.

33. MAKE SURE TO SELL
Squatty Potty does a good job of this by following this structure:
• Metaphor
• Pinpoint pain points
• Talk about benefits
• Include social proof + data (Amazon reviews, Company endorsement)
• Call to action
• Guarantee
Educate, tickle, sell

34. SIMPLE GOOD EXAMPLE OF CLEVER + CLEAR
14.7% to 30.7% increase for Balluff by changing this form!

35. FUNNY CAN GO BAD FAST
• Going too far (okay for comedians not for
companies)
• Not consistent
• Don’t connect to selling

36. POOR TASTE
Example: KFC’S Mick Fanning ad

37. NO SALES (1.5 MILLION VIEWS IN 3 DAYS)
Example: EZ grill

38. USING HUMOR AT RESISTANCE POINTS CAN
INCREASE CONVERSION BY 12-50%
• Sign-up forms
• Cart pages
• Checkout pages
• Confirmation pages
• Contact pages
• Live chat windows
• FAQs
• Unsubscribe confirmation pages
• Exit pop-ups

39. SMALL STEPS
• Sign-up forms
• Cart pages
• Checkout pages
• Confirmation pages
• Contact pages
• Live chat windows
• FAQs
• Unsubscribe confirmation pages
• Exit pop-ups
Most clients are more comfortable with low risk use of humor:

40. Yesware

41. Grab them at bit.ly/hahahalley
*recording will be available 48 hours from now.
WANT TODAY’S
SLIDE DECK + RECORDING*?

42. RESOURCES
Harmon Brothers. (2015, October 6). This Unicorn Changed the Way I Poop - #SquattyPotty. Retrieved from http://harmonbrothers.com/#squatty-
potty
Strick, Holland, van Baaren, and van Knippenberg. Those Who Laugh Are Defenseless: How Humor Breaks Resistance to Influence. Retrieved from
http://www.communicationcache.com/uploads/1/0/8/8/10887248/those_who_laugh_are_defenseless-_how_humor_breaks_resistance_to_influence.
pdf
McCorvey, J.J. (2011, November). Translating Viral YouTube Videos into Sales. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/magazine/201111/translating-
viral-youtube-videos-into-sales.html
Mullin, S. When Humor Converts (and When it Doesn’t). Retrieved from https://conversionxl.com/does-humor-convert/
Nielsen. (2015, October 19). Ads with Impact: What Messaging Themes Speak Loudest to Customers? Retrieved from http://www.nielsen.com/us/
en/insights/news/2015/ads-with-impact-what-messaging-themes-speak-loudest-to-consumers.html
On the Brain. (2016 Spring). Humor, Laughter, and Those Aha Moments. Retrieved from https://hms.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/HMS_OTB_
Spring10_Vol16_No2.pdf
Paris, C. (2014, May 16). 9 Types of Humor Every Aspiring Comic Should Know. Retrieved from https://blog.udemy.com/types-of-humor/
Shoor, I. (2012, November 6). How to Use Humor to Increase Your Conversion Rate. Seriously. Retrieved from http://blog.oribi.io/why-you-should-
start-using-humor-to-increase-your-conversion-rate-seriously/
Shahrestani, V. (2015, October 19). KFC Advert Spoofing Mick Fanning Shark Attack Angers Family. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/11940192/KFC-advert-spoofing-Mick-Fanning-shark-attack-angers-family.html