Have you ever wondered what is the best font for Emails? 

Font choice is an important part of email marketing.

Gone are the days when we used to enjoy reading lengthy pieces of content. 

Now, people have a much shorter attention span. So, if they are going to read anything it must be clear and to the point. 

This is true for written and audio-visual content –  just like the short videos we love watching on TikTok. 

There is now a greater emphasis on choosing the correct fonts for our emails. 

In this article, we will discuss how to improve the quality of our emails by choosing better fonts.

Read on to learn how to choose the perfect font!

Importance of Choosing The Best Font for Emails

Imagine receiving an email that’s difficult to read because of the font choices. 

Maybe the font color is too bright or the font size is too small to see clearly. 

You would have to go to great lengths just to figure out what’s written or…

You’d give up on reading that email altogether. This would reflect poorly on the professionalism of the writer. 

It’s not very hard to pick the right font for emails and if you fail to do so it will appear as if you don’t care. 

This should be avoided especially when you consider that the font you choose has a direct impact on:

  • Readability
  • Branding
  • Conversions

Readability

If the font is hard to read, people will not bother trying to look at it. They will either immediately delete it or not open it at all. 

When you send emails, the goal is to get the person who receives them to take some kind of action. 

For example – to click on a link. If the fonts are difficult to read then people will not engage with the content. This will lead to low engagements and conversions.

On the other hand, an easy-to-read font makes it easy for people to scan your content and follow along. 

In a recent experiment by Click Laboratory, it was shown that font size greatly affects engagement rates.

What Was Done

The experiment entailed changing the font size for a block of text from 10pt to 13pt. 

Click Laboratory also increased the line spacing for this block of text. This experiment was done using the Arial font type.

The Results

The results of the experiment were phenomenal. Click Laboratory found that these changes improved their conversions by over 130% while…

Reducing bounce rates by 10%.

Branding

In our previous article on Brand Development, we spoke on the importance of brand consistency.

There is now more competition than ever before, especially in the digital marketing world. 

To stay relevant, companies and business owners need to differentiate themselves from the competition. 

This is done through branding and brand consistency. 

So, when choosing the best font for emails you create you need to consider more than readability alone. 

Here are a few things to consider:

  • What fonts represent your brand? 
  • What are the colors of these fonts and;
  • Should they be bold or not? 
  • How about font sizes?

Once you have decided on these points the next step is to ensure you remain consistent with your choices. 

This helps readers to familiarize themselves with your brand or you as an individual. 

When they receive a branded email from you they will know what you represent and the type of content it entails. 

And this just leads to more engagement. 

However, if your email fonts are all over the place your readers will not be able to connect with your brand at all. 

It will be as if they are talking to a new person every time you interact. 

Conversion

There must be some goal in mind for each email we write. It could be to have people:

  • Purchase an item
  • Sign up for an event
  • Download Content
  • Or simply just to have them reply to your message. 

Whatever your goal is, people need to engage with your content to take action. 

So the more readable and branded your fonts are, the more likely it is that people will be attuned to what you have to say. This leads to higher engagement which naturally boosts conversion rates. 

Some fonts are definitely better than others based on the goal you have in mind for your emails. 

It’s also worth noting that some fonts have certain “emotions” attached to them. Yes, your email fonts will have a psychological impact on your readers. 

With that in mind, let’s discuss an important concept – Safe Email Fonts.

What are Safe Email Fonts?

There are many Fancy Font types available now and it can be tempting to use them in order to stand out. 

But not all fonts are supported across all devices and may not display the way you intend for all of your readers. 

If this happens, your readers may switch to a supported font which may mess up the way your content is presented.

That’s why it’s important to choose Safe Email Fonts. These fonts are readable across all devices and will be received the way you intended. 

There are 5 Font Families available to choose from: Serif, Sans-Serif, cursive, fantasy, and monospace.

Of these four, Serif and San-Serif typefaces are considered safe for email content. 

Some of the better know Serif fonts are:

  • Helvetica
  • Tahoma

If you have used any of the following you’ve used Sans-Serif fonts before:

  • Time New Roman
  • Georgia 

These fonts are perfect for brands as they can be used consistently across the internet on any platform or website. 

Web safe fonts were created for wider screens. They have been around since the 1990s when people started to use computers. 

Now let’s discuss the best font for emails based on content type. 

Email Content Type

A professional email usually contains the following parts:

  • Banners
  • Body 
  • Links
  • Buttons
  • Signature

Since each of these parts serve a specific purpose we should carefully consider the fonts we chose for them. 

Make sure you make plenty of whitespace around the words in your message. 

This will help people read and understand what you are saying.

It is important that we use bolding and italics sparingly. 

If we do, then people will be able to see them on a small device like their phone.

To keep the font size legible, limit paragraphs to three lines of text. 

Best Fonts For Email Banners

The first thing anyone sees after opening your email is your header or banner image. The banner image is used for the purpose of branding. It helps readers to quickly recall who you are and what your brand represents. 

This is a captivating image that requires larger and more bolded texts. For this reason, Sans serif fonts are much preferred for email banners. 

Here at Mailvio, our preferred banner fonts are Bebas Neue, Aileron, and Overpass.

Bebas Neue

This is the most popular font for banners and is commonly referred to as “Helvetica of the free fonts”. Bebas entails a simple, straightforward design that comes with varying weights. It’s perfect for an authoritative look.

Aileron

This is a widely used font that has 10 different styles ranging from ultra-thin to extra-bold. The letters of this font are fairly short in length and make them appear solid and strong. Perfect for giving off a professional look.

Overpass

The Overpass font is pretty similar to Highway Gothic in its design. This font is very bold and captivating. It’s easy to read and supported across all devices.

Best Fonts Body Text

San Serif fonts are considered modern, clean, and personalized. These fonts do not have any decorative strokes and are preferred by the majority of Americans

So, it is a safe bet to use San-Serif fonts for your email body. 

These include Arial and Verdana. 

Arial

This font is very popular and is used a lot in digital mediums and offline print. It is considered to be a versatile, modest, and easy-to-read font. The only drawback is that it is so common that a lesser-known font may help you stand out more. 

Verdana

This is another popular font and was designed specifically for screen displays. This font is perfect for the email body because the letters are sufficiently spaced making them easy to read.

Best Fonts for Links

It’s never a good practice to use multiple fonts throughout your email body. Doing so will make it harder to read and confusing. 

The best fonts to use for your HyperLinks would then be the same as what you have chosen for your email body. 

Links are normally highlighted in colors that naturally stand out. Choosing a color for your link texts depends on your branding. 

For example, if your primary brand color is sky green then using that for your link allows you to be consistent with your branding. 

You can also choose This Blue (#1155CC) which most people are quite familiar with. 

Best Fonts for Email Buttons

The standard fonts for email buttons are san serifs. This is because they are easy to read and are more suited for online media. 

The most important thing is that our email buttons are legible. Choosing fonts like Arial, Helvetica and Verdana make a lot of sense in this case. 

Try not to use all caps for your button texts and keep the texts either white or black. 

A tool like Palleton will help you find suitable colors for your buttons. 

Best Fonts For Email Signatures

Email signatures are a big part of branding. While the content of your email body changes, your signature will remain constant. So it is important that the signature provides some vital information to your readers in a font that is purposeful:

  • Name 
  • Company 
  • Position Held 
  • Contact information 
  • Company Logo 

The fonts chosen for your email signatures can be the same as your email body but if you like to change things up…

Montserrat is a good choice. 

Avoid These Font for Emails

Of the 5 font families to choose from, you should avoid using cursive, fantasy, and monospace.

Cursive Fonts

This font closely resembles handwriting as most of the letters will be joined or partly joined together. 

They are elegant and decorative but are mostly used in creative pieces. 

They can be hard to read which will defeat the whole purpose of sending an email. 

Cursive fonts include Allura, BlackJack, Bordy, and many others.

Fantasy Fonts

These fonts are quite spectacular. Fantasy fonts can be seen on book covers for fiction novels.

While they are very captivating and somewhat easy to read…

Fantasy fonts are not suitable for professional emails to customers or businesses.

Their letter spacing can be pretty large which will unnecessarily lengthen your email size. 

Example: Artisan Fonts

Monospace Fonts

As the name suggests, monospace fonts are fonts whose letters and characters each use the same amount of horizontal space.

This type of font makes lines of code easier to read. 

The Monolisa font is one of the most commonly used.

Choosing Font Size

Choosing the correct font size is just as important as choosing the best font for emails you write. 

You do not want your texts to be too small to the point that your readers will have to strain their eyes. 

And just the same, your texts shouldn’t be so big that people will need to scroll unnecessarily just to go through it.

If your emails target a younger audience then your letters can be between 10pt and 14pt. 

Older readers may find it harder to read texts below 16pt.

General Tips for Choosing The Best Font for Emails

The fonts you choose can either make or break your email marketing campaigns.

There are many different fonts to choose from. There is no 1 best font for emails but there are still many good options to choose from. 

The fonts you use must be consistent with your branding and be easy to read. This will help to get your points across to your readers while keeping them engaged. 

Choosing safe email fonts like Ariel and Verdana will ensure that your content is readable on all devices and platforms. 

Try not to use Cursive, Fantasy, or Monospace fonts that are not made for emails.

Try to be considerate of your readers when picking your font sizes and letter spacing. 

And whatever you do, don’t take too long to choose a font because that’s just a small part of a successful email campaign. 

You should also look and choose the right email automation tools

I hope this article helped you pick the best font for emails you write going forward. 

Cheers to your next successful email campaign.

Steven

Steven is the co-founder of Mailvio and oversees the operations and technical strategy and implementations. Steven has been an online entrepreneur since he was 14 years old and has been running SaaS companies for the last 10 years.

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