Finest Font for E mail: Navigating the Good, the Unhealthy and the Ugly (Infographic + Video)

Have you ever ever thought-about how essential your font might be?

Give it some thought this manner: Have you ever ever learn one thing and mistook one letter for one more? And for a second, it’s important to do a double take and determine what’s truly being mentioned.

Like, there’s no wayyy {that a} grocery retailer is definitely promoting key lime farts. Proper???:

Sooo many questions right here.

Giggles apart, that is simply one of many extra ~acceptable~ examples of unhealthy font selections. And you could be stunned to study that even probably the most well-known and seemingly considerate manufacturers are responsible of this offense.

Alternative of net font makes an enormous distinction, significantly when used for digital advertising on the net and in e mail, firm e-newsletter and visible design. Even font type and font dimension make an enormous distinction in how customers understand your model. Your font can help a sure theme, contribute to the general feeling and persona of a chunk and might critically make or break your messaging.

Right this moment we’re speaking about font choice because it pertains to e mail advertising. When selecting the font you employ in your model’s e mail campaigns, there are some things to be aware of.

Is E mail Font Actually That Massive of a Deal?

Ummmm… YES. Fonts are available all types of various sizes and styles, and the best way letters are displayed throughout e mail shoppers – together with form and spacing – can all have an effect in your reader. It’s an enormous a part of e mail design, of us.

The typeface you select has a persona and conveys a message all its personal. So when issues look a bit off, or just don’t line up together with your message and total model picture, your prospects will discover. There are particular web-safe fonts that you really want to bear in mind if you wish to hold readers from considering “What the…?”

Take, for instance, poor Ralph and Joe, who made an unlucky font alternative for his or her masonry firm.

Sorry, boys, but when your tilework appears something like your font alternative, I gained’t be hiring you for my kitchen rework anytime quickly.

Right here’s one other one:

Feeling calm but? YA SURE???

Right here, we will see that components like punctuation and shade alternative play a major function as effectively.

Let’s attempt one thing extra like:

That’s significantly better.

Worse nonetheless, when your font is off, readership and understanding will fall off as effectively. Recipients can simply get distracted by As that appear to be Cs, or say, using a enjoyable, playful net font inside knowledgeable e mail with a severe message. An internet font that does align together with your message and model picture, however, may also help hold recipients’ consideration, bettering total click-through charges.

Selecting Your Font: Issues to Suppose About

Earlier than choosing your ‘finest e mail font’, there are few questions it is best to reply first:

• Why ought to we care about one of the best fonts to make use of in e mail? Font dimension, font type and total font sort make a significant distinction in the best way you promote your model and your message by way of e mail. A default font can have a really totally different impression on readers than a customized font. Font alternative is a significant illustration of your voice and your model and might make or break your first impression with customers.

• What sort of message are you trying to ship? Is the e-mail about one thing enjoyable and thrilling? Or does it have a extra formal, weighty tone? All of this could play into your font alternative. As an illustration, Helvetica Neue affords a extra polished look that may swimsuit company communication, whereas Trebuchet MS is a system font that’s each pleasant {and professional}.

• Will you employ the identical font all through? Are you searching for uniformity, or to shake issues up a bit? Take into accout, although, that finest apply says it is best to keep away from utilizing greater than two fonts. Simply keep in mind, we’re not youngsters enjoying in a phrase processor anymore – it’s essential to not go overboard. It’s finest to stay to email-safe fonts like Lucida Sans for the physique and maybe a extra distinctive Sans Serif font for headers.

• To daring or to not daring? Bolding sure phrases, or utilizing italics can change the best way a font shows and might impression total message and understanding.

• What shade will you employ? It’s essential to consider issues like background shade right here to make sure readers gained’t have bother. Additionally, hold branding and your organization colours in thoughts, significantly with e mail signatures. An internet-safe font like Arial or Verdana can make sure that your emails look constant throughout totally different e mail shoppers like Apple Mail.

• Will these be HTML or plain textual content emails? HTML e mail means that you can embody hyperlinks, customized fonts and different design and visible components and are sometimes one of the best for supporting advertising campaigns and inspiring click-throughs. Nevertheless, even with HTML emails, it’s essential to make use of email-safe fonts to make sure that your message is accessible to all recipients.
• Is it legible? I imply, that’s the entire level of e mail design, proper? Keep in mind to think about issues like the form of letters (sure letters can simply be mistaken for others in cursive, extra flowery script) and spacing. It’s additionally essential to consider how issues will show on different-sized screens, significantly on cell units. One of the best font for e mail is one which maintains its readability throughout all units and e mail shoppers.

Breaking Down E mail Advertising Fonts: The Good, the Unhealthy and the Ugly

Buckle up, as a result of issues are about to get controversial.

Okay, not likely — except you might have tremendous robust emotions about your favourite or least favourite fonts. If that’s the case, it’s time to put aside your private preferences within the title of nice e mail advertising.

You heard it right here first: With regards to emails, the “proper font” isn’t essentially the one you’re loopy about. It’s the one which will get your message throughout clearly whereas being accessible and straightforward to learn for everybody who opens your e mail e-newsletter, advertising marketing campaign or different message.

So, with that in thoughts, let’s check out which font selections are protected, that are a bit questionable and which must be completely banned out of your e mail arsenal.

Fonts: The Good

Selecting the best font household could make e mail physique copy easy and satisfying.

All that being mentioned, there are a number of typeface households which have confirmed to be web-safe, straightforward to learn for e mail physique copy and among the finest cross-platform fonts.

Serif font is characterised by brief tails on the edges of letters that assist lead readers’ eyes from one letter to the subsequent.

Serif font is characterised by brief tails on the edges of letters that assist lead readers’ eyes from one letter to the subsequent.

See:

Instances New Roman [The classic college essay fallback font}

Georgia

Rockwell

These fonts are often used in print as they’re easier to read than most fancy font types – I bet your favorite book is written in Times. Writers looking for something that’s clear but also more formal and business-like should use Serif fonts.

Sans-serif includes characters without any lines or tails (get it? SANS-serif?). You may recognize these as your email default font. Brafton uses Sans-serif for many of our emails and employee email signatures, as these are some of the most web-safe fonts.

Sans-serif includes characters without any lines or tails (get it? SANS-serif?). You may recognize these as your email default font. Brafton uses Sans-serif for many of our emails and employee email signatures, as these are some of the most web-safe fonts.

This font family supports a more casual tone and includes:

Arial

Calibri

Verdana

These are often top choices for email body text as they’re clear, evenly spaced and simple to read on almost any screen size. Arial is an easy choice because it’s often a default font; this makes choosing one of the most web-safe fonts virtually effortless.

Fonts: The Bad

Certain fonts – unless you’re going for a wacky, zany kind of feel (like, you’re a toy company or something) – are best to stay away from, especially in the body copy of emails. However, depending on the message you’re sending, these fonts may have their place in certain parts of your email, like headers.

Script fonts look a lot like handwritten cursive, and many are only just a taaad bit clearer than the last prescription you got from your doctor.

This includes fonts like:

Lobster and Pacifico.

While these can provide a fancier, and even more personal feel (because they look like handwriting), prospects won’t appreciate having to squint to decipher the message.

Decorative fonts are typically used only for logos, taglines or headings because they’re usually more bold and attention-grabbing than other fonts.

Think:

Impact

Syncopate

If you’ve decided to mix fonts in your email, you might consider a more robust decorative font for the headline, paired with a more standard and clear font for body text. When used sparingly and specifically at large scale, script and decorative fonts like this can provide statement pieces in design, and evoke a certain mood or emotion from readers. However, these fonts must be large enough to read, and should only be used in moderation.

Fonts: The Ugly (Avoid at All Costs)

Comic Sans: No. Just… just stop. Unless you’re sending an invitation to your kid’s birthday party, no reader wants to see this.

Curlz: Need I say more?

Trajan: You might recognize this one from just about every movie poster you’ve seen in the last few years (aside from Avatar, which, haha, used Papyrus). Because this is a widely available font, it’s become sort of all-purpose. Basically, we can do better for your email copy.

Papyrus: WebDesignerDepot has dubbed this one “the king of bad fonts,” following it up with “equal parts childish, kitschy and irritating,” and I don’t think I could have described it better. Google doesn’t even support this font (or Curlz or Trajan, for that matter) in Gdocs – and that’s saying something.

Helvetica: This is more of my own personal preference because I had a newspaper editor in college who was obsessed with this font and made us adjust the whole style of our paper because they loved it so much. I still have nightmares where “Everything must be in Helvetica!!!” is being chanted in the background. (SPOOKY.) In any case, WebDesignerDepot agrees with me here, noting that while Helvetica is versatile and very visible, it’s also become rather overused.

The font you choose has a big impact. I mean, if I wrote this whole piece in an annoying font, you probably would have stopped reading wayyyy before now, no?

So remember: Different font styles matter. Serif and sans-serif fonts like Arial are your best friend. Keep your typeface consistent, but have a fallback font. Custom fonts can also be valuable as long as you keep it clean and legible, but sticking to a tried and true safe font family can improve your email engagement in the long run.

Font Choice: One Part of Complete Email Marketing

You didn’t think I was done, did you? 

Nope. Font size, font style and, of course, font color are all fun to think about, but they aren’t the only thing you need to get your email marketing campaign up and running. Here are a few more elements your emails should never leave home without:

A Solid Email Marketing Strategy

You can’t just send out emails on every whim — you need a plan. A solid strategy helps you decide which emails to send to whom and for what purpose, linking body copy to specific business goals or creating nurture campaigns.

That was just one sentence, but it dropped a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. Let’s face it: This stuff isn’t easy — and that’s why an email marketing consulting service like Brafton’s might just be your new best friend. Our team knows what makes a good email, from typeface and text size to content and timing, which means we’re always ready to help you build a strategy that shows real results.

A Good Email Subject Line

It’s important to make a good first impression, especially when failing to do so could give your email a one-way ticket to the spam folder. Today’s audiences are sick of junk mail, and if they see your subject line as low-quality, irritating or otherwise suspicious, they might hit that “delete” button without a second thought.

That’s why you should always take your time and craft thoughtful, relevant subject lines to introduce your messages. Here are 2 examples:

“I want to tell you about a new deal we’re offering.”

This one’s weird, uninviting and oddly formal. Sure, there are situations where sending an email from an individual could have a valuable impact, but save that for the body copy and email signature — it seems a little spammy here. Plus, this subject line is unnecessarily wordy and, to be honest, not that interesting.

If this were a real email, it would only ever see the inside of my trash folder.

“Jessica, This Deal’s Just For You!”

Ooh, now this one makes me want to read more. It uses my name (more on personalization in a minute!) and promises status and prestige by offering a deal that’s apparently inaccessible to other customers. That’s right, folks: This email is telling me I’m special, and it’s working.

High-Quality Body Copy

Writing content for your email campaign is a big deal. You can’t include too much, or readers will get bored and wander off to their favorite social media site instead — but you also can’t include too little, or nobody will know what you’re talking about.

That’s why you may want to leave the copywriting to the pros.

Professional writers know how to pack a punch in as few words as possible. They also know how to turn your ideas, marketing goals and even company voice into body copy that creates real value for readers. If you want your emails to be the kind of thing people print off and hang on their wall, you need content that informs, delights and does its job just right.

A Savvy Call-to-Action

Readers want to know why you’re hanging around in their inbox. Your email body copy and subject line do most of the heavy lifting, but a call-to-action (CTA) is the icing on the cake.

A good CTA should make it clear what you want readers to do with the wisdom your email just imparted. That means you need to link to a highly relevant product page or offer — not some generic part of your website that has nothing to do with the email content. It’s also important to choose your wording carefully; you want to provide information, offer a solution, promise an opportunity or otherwise gain a reader’s attention. Truth be told, I’m not going to click on a CTA link unless your phrasing gives me a really good reason to do so.

Personalization

The final tool in your email arsenal is also one of the most important: personalization.

Get Your Email Marketing Fix

If you’re pretty sure you’ll never see fonts the same way again, this blog post has done its job.

Remember, fonts can have a big impact — but they’re only one part of the email marketing puzzle. You need elements like great body copy, a powerful CTA and a healthy dose of personalization to really stand out in a crowded inbox.

Are you looking for examples of all these email marketing practices in action? Not to brag, but the Brafton email newsletter has it all. Subscribe today to see for yourself!

Editor’s Note: Updated March 2024.