April 1 lands one of two ways for your subscribers.
They’re expecting something. They open the email already smirking, ready to be in on the joke. Or it catches them completely off guard and they’re laughing before they even register what brand sent it.
Either way, there’s a real opportunity sitting there. April Fools is one of the few days of the year where getting someone to read all the way through an email is genuinely achievable.
A discount will move product. It always does.
The question is whether the email does anything for your brand after the sale. If someone bought because of a 25% off code, they remember the deal. If someone laughed at your email, they remember you.
Here are the best April Fools emails we’ve seen, plus one we built for a client, numbers included.
The “I can’t keep this up” play 🥩
Carnivore Snax — Kale Chips
A brand built entirely on the premise that kale is the enemy announced a new kale chip product. Straight-faced packaging. Convincing copy. Then halfway through the email, it broke.
“I CAN’T KEEP THIS RUSE UP!!! This is OBVIOUSLY an April Fool’s joke.”
What followed was a full anti-kale rant before pivoting back to meat. Absurdist, completely on-brand, and effective because the fake product is the exact thing their audience would never buy.
The takeaway: The best pranks are brand-specific. If any other company could send the same email, it’s not a good April Fools email. It’s just a joke.
The fake product launch 👶
Popl — The Pacifier Business Card
Popl sells digital business cards. For April Fools, they “launched” a pacifier with an NFC chip so babies could start networking early. The email played it totally straight. Real baby photo. Product name. CTA to learn more.
Then the PS: “Sorry, kids… April Fool’s. While Popl Pacifier might not be real, we are serious about our offer to upgrade to Popl Pro for 30% off.”
Prank reveal in the postscript. Real offer right behind it.
The takeaway: The fake product needs to feel real. Popl’s gag worked because it’s an absurd extension of something actual — a networking tool, just for infants. The humor lands because the logic tracks. Tucking the real offer into the PS keeps it low-pressure without wasting the open.
The commitment to chaos 🦞
Jordan Craig — Lobster as a Pet
Apparel brand Jordan Craig sent an email announcing they were now selling Maine lobster. Eat it or keep it as a pet. Their “lobster accessories” section featured real products from their line: a leather collar, jeans, a rope leash.
Small print at the bottom: “Disclosure: this is an April Fool’s joke.”
No reveal page. No discount. Full commitment to the bit.
The takeaway: You don’t always need a real offer behind the joke. Sometimes leaning all the way in, with zero commercial payoff, makes the email more memorable. The brand equity from making someone genuinely laugh is real.
The pivot to purpose 🌲
AllTrails — Bottled Fresh Air
AllTrails announced bottled fresh air. Refreshing. Plant-based. And now, in a bottle.
Then: “We’re kidding — but fresh air is no joke.”
From there, the email pivoted to their real April campaign: a partnership with the National Forest Foundation to plant trees and match donations all month.
The joke earned the pivot.
The takeaway: A well-placed prank can do real work for your brand. AllTrails used the April 1 hook to get the open, then made the rest of the email matter. The gotcha was the entry point, not the whole point.
The one-image classic 🐶
ThirdLove — Bras for Dogs
ThirdLove‘s tagline is “Bras and underwear for everybody.” So they introduced bras for dogs. The product photo was committed. The visual did all the work. And “everybody” pulling double duty in that slogan was the entire joke.
One image. One headline. One concept. No explaining required.
The takeaway: If the joke needs a paragraph to land, simplify it. ThirdLove’s email worked because it was immediately obvious. You either got it or you didn’t, and either way it stuck.
From our own client work 📊
Feminera — Don’t Be Fooled
Feminera is a German cosmetics brand. Premium anti-aging skincare. For April 1, the brief was simple: skip the prank entirely.
The angle: “Don’t be fooled today.” The email led with real customer testimonials, photos, names, and reviews, reinforcing that Feminera’s results are genuine.
Subject line: Lass dich heute nicht täuschen (“Don’t be fooled today”) Preview text: Dieses Serum hält, was es verspricht (“This serum delivers on its promises”)
April Fools email campaign Results:
- Open rate: 36.16%
- Click rate: 1.04%
- Revenue: €3,663.07
- Placed order rate: 0.16%
The takeaway: This one isn’t about being funny or clever. It’s about reading the room. On a day when every brand is running a bit, Feminera took the one space nobody else wanted: just telling the truth. That’s its own kind of move. And on April 1, when subscribers are already skeptical of everything in their inbox, a brand that doubles down on credibility instead of pranks them tends to get remembered.
Truly Beauty — No Prickle, Pickle
Truly Beauty sells premium body and skincare. For April Fools, they announced a pickle-infused whipped shave butter. Pickle juice, fresh dill, hyaluronic acid, coconut oil. Full ingredient list. Professional product photography. A CTA that just said “Click for a Surprise.”
Nothing in the email broke character. The product looked real because it was designed to look real. The joke only landed when subscribers clicked through.
The takeaway: The click-to-reveal format is underused. Keeping the prank off the email and behind the CTA gives subscribers a reason to actually click, not just read and move on. The curiosity gap does the work.
What separates these from the average April Fools send
Every email on this list has one thing in common: the joke is brand-specific. It couldn’t come from a different company. And in the strongest cases, the creative is doing something for the brand well beyond the campaign window.
That’s the move worth borrowing.
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