Making Confirmation Emails Fun – No, Really!

I had to share this.

So, I bought some shoes from Zappos.com last month, and the day after I placed my order, this fun little confirmation email landed in my inbox:

“Yay” is right. Zappos took something that could have been bone-dry and made it fun and funky.

Especially when compared to this sturdy, functional-not-fashionable confirmation email from another (Problem? I don’t have a problem. I like shoes. A lot. Stop judging me!) online shoe retailer:

See the difference?

The second one is . . . fine. It works. At the end of the day, I still know all the important stuff, like the tracking info and the order number. But, well, it’s sort of like choosing the clunky, orthopedic walking shoes over the sexy, peep-toe pumps.

The email from Zappos appealed to me as a writer because it was a much-needed reminder that you can inject a little fun into almost any copy. As a customer, it just made me smile.

So, what do you think? Do little things like this matter to you? Have you seen any great examples of fun copy lately? Let me know!