We spend a lot of time talking about the content of your emails, but did you know that the font you choose to convey your message is just as (if not more) important? This is because, if the font you choose isn’t installed on your reader’s device, it could default to a font that doesn’t suit your brand or even end up looking ”#like this>”.
The Value of a Font
The right font adds to the look of your piece, it sets the tone, and it impacts readability. In other words: it’s a visual representation of who you are and what you stand for. For instance, if you’re a creative organisation, you may opt for a font that’s a bit more edgy. A legal firm, on the other hand, may prefer to keep it clean and professional.
Your Perfect Email Font
With the incredible font variety that we have today, choosing the right one for your emails can be a minefield. As tempting as it is to pick a fancy font, we don’t recommend it. If you’re unsure, it’s always safer to stick with a tried and tested email-safe font as it will give your email the best chance of displaying properly on your reader’s device.
Best Email-Safe Fonts
These are the ones that work best in most devices and applications:
- Andale Mono
- Apple Gothic
- Arial
- Avantgarde
- Baskerville
- Bookman
- Calibri
- Cambria
- Candara
- Century Gothic (this doesn’t work on Apple iPhones; it falls back to Apple Gothic)
- Charcoal
- Consolas
- Copperplate
- Courier
- Cursive
- Didot
- Fantasy
- Frutiger
- Futura
- Gadget
- Garamond
- Geneva
- Georgia
- Haettenschweiler
- Helvetica
- Impact
- Monaco
- Monospace
- Optima
- Perpetua
- Rockwell
- Sans-serif
- Segoe
- Serif
- Tahoma
- Verdana
Some fonts work on emails but are not supported across all email clients. On Outlook, they tend to fall-back to Times New Roman, but not all the time. Here is a list of them:
- Andale Mono
- Arial Narrow
- Arial Rounded MT Bold
- Avant Garde
- Baskerville Old Face
- Big Caslon
- Bitstream Vera Sans Bold
- Bodoni MT
- Book Antiqua
- Bookman Old Style
- Brush Script MT
- Calisto MT
- Century Gothic
- Copperplate Gothic Light
- Courier Bold
- Dejavu Sans
- Didot LT STD
- Franklin Gothic
- Franklin Gothic Medium
- Frutiger Linotype
- Gill Sans
- Gill Sans MT
- Goudy Old Style
- Helvetica Inserat
- Helvetica Rounded
- Hoefler Text
- ITC Franklin Gothic
- Lucida Grande
- Lucida Sans
- Lucida Sans Typewriter
- Lucida Sans Unicode
- Lucida Typewriter
- Nimbus Roman No9 L
- Palatino Linotype
- Segoe UI
- Times New Roman
- Trebuchet MS
- URW Palladio L
There may not be millions to choose from, but there’s still a significant variety of email-safe fonts that you can experiment with. Play around with font size and spacing to make it match your brand identity, and make sure to use a fully featured email marketing service that allows you to easily switch fonts.
