What Are Email Font Best Practices?

Understanding Web-Safe Fonts vs. Custom Fonts in Email

First, let’s talk about the types of fonts you can use in emails. It’s a bit different than web design, where custom fonts are generally more forgiving.

What are Web-Safe Fonts?

Web-safe fonts are the reliable workhorses of email typography. These fonts come pre-installed on most operating systems and devices. Think of Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Georgia, Verdana, and Courier.

Why are they “safe”?

High Deliverability & Consistent Rendering: Because they’re widely available, these fonts display consistently across most email clients (like Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail) and devices. You can feel confident that what you design is what your recipient sees.
No Extra Headaches: You avoid worries about hosting font files or complex coding.

The main “con” might be that they don’t offer the unique branding flair some desire. But in email, reliability often trumps novelty.

What are Custom Fonts (Web Fonts)?

Custom fonts, often called web fonts, are not typically pre-installed on users’ devices. Brands often use these on websites for a unique identity, pulling from services like Google Fonts or Adobe Fonts.

The Appeal:

Branding: They allow for a specific typographic voice, aligning with a brand’s visual identity.
Design Flexibility: A wider font palette offers more creative freedom.

The Catch in Emails:

Inconsistent Support: This is the big issue. Many popular email clients have limited or no support for custom fonts. Outlook, for example, often defaults to its own preferred fonts if it doesn’t support a custom one.
Fallback is Essential: If an email client doesn’t support your custom font, it reverts to a default. Without a specified fallback, the result can be unpredictable and off-brand.

The Crucial Role of Fallback Fonts

Whether using custom fonts or ensuring maximum compatibility with web-safe options, fallback fonts are your safety net.

You specify fallback fonts in your email’s CSS, listing them by preference. For example:

font-family: ‘Open Sans’, Arial, sans-serif;

Here’s how it works:

The email client first tries to render ‘Open Sans’.
If ‘Open Sans’ isn’t supported or fails to load, it tries ‘Arial’.
If Arial also fails (highly unlikely), it uses the generic ‘sans-serif’ font set by the user’s system.

Always specify fallback fonts. This simple step prevents your email from looking broken.

Custom fonts offer branding advantages, but web-safe fonts provide email reliability. Regardless of your choice, always use a fallback strategy. This ensures your message appears as intended, or very close to it.

Key Principles for Choosing Email Fonts

So, you know about web-safe and custom fonts. But how do you choose the right one? Several key principles should guide your decision beyond personal preference.

Readability and Legibility: The Cornerstones

If subscribers can’t easily read your email, your message is lost. Readability is how easy it is to read blocks of text. Legibility is how easily individual characters can be distinguished.

Serif vs. Sans-Serif: The Great Debate (Simplified for Email)

Serif Fonts: These fonts have small decorative strokes (serifs) at the ends of characters (e.g., Times New Roman, Georgia).
- When to Consider: Serif fonts can lend a classic or formal feel. Georgia is a good web-safe serif designed for screen readability.
- Potential Pitfalls: Some serif fonts can look cluttered on lower-resolution screens, especially at smaller sizes.
Sans-Serif Fonts: These fonts lack the decorative strokes (e.g., Arial, Helvetica, Verdana).
- The Go-To for Digital: Generally, sans-serif fonts are more readable on screens. They offer a clean, modern look. Most brands choose sans-serif for email body copy.
- Why They Work Well: Their simpler letterforms often render more clearly, especially on mobile devices. Verdana, for instance, was designed for screen readability.

For email, sans-serif fonts are usually the safer, more effective bet for body text. They offer better clarity across devices and email clients.

Brand Consistency: Speaking the Same Visual Language

Your emails extend your brand. Their fonts should align with your website, logo, and other marketing materials. This creates a cohesive brand experience.

If your brand uses a specific custom font on its website, try using it in emails (with robust fallbacks!).
If custom font use is problematic, choose the closest web-safe equivalent.
Tools that integrate with your website platform can simplify this. For instance, if you build sites with Elementor, using a communication toolkit designed for that ecosystem helps maintain brand consistency between your site and emails.

Accessibility: Designing for Everyone

Accessibility is a necessity. Your email fonts should be easy for everyone to read, including people with visual impairments or dyslexia.

Choose Clear, Simple Fonts: Avoid overly decorative or condensed fonts for body text.
Sufficient Size: Avoid tiny font sizes.
Good Contrast: Ensure enough contrast between text and background colors.
Avoid Justifying Text: Left-aligned text is generally easier for people with dyslexia to read.

Sans-serif fonts like Verdana or Arial are often recommended for their accessible characteristics.

Audience and Purpose: Tailoring to the Message

Consider who you’re talking to and the email’s goal.

A luxury brand might lean towards an elegant serif or a minimalist sans-serif.
A playful brand might cautiously use a more characterful, yet readable, sans-serif.
Transactional emails (order confirmations) should prioritize clarity. A straightforward sans-serif is perfect.
Marketing promotions can use stylized fonts in headings, but body copy must remain highly readable.

Choosing email fonts is a balancing act. Prioritize readability and accessibility. Maintain brand consistency and consider your audience. Often, a simple, well-chosen sans-serif font is your most reliable option.

Best Practices for Email Font Sizing

You’ve picked your font family. Now, how big should it be? Font size hugely impacts readability, especially with many people reading emails on mobile phones.

Body Text: The Foundation of Your Message

For your email’s main content, aim for a font size between 14px and 16px.

Why this range?
- Readability: Smaller than 14px can be hard to read, especially on mobile.
- Accessibility: Larger sizes are better for users with visual impairments.
- Comfort: It prevents eye strain.

Many suggest 16px as an ideal minimum for body copy on mobile. Designing with this in mind is smart.

Headings: Creating Hierarchy and Scannability

Headings (H1, H2, H3) break up content, making it easier to scan. They should be noticeably larger than body text.

H1 (Main Title/Headline): Largest. Typically 22px to 30px.
H2 (Subheadings): Smaller than H1, but larger than body text. Perhaps 18px to 24px.
H3 (Further Subdivisions): Smaller than H2s, maybe 16px to 20px, but distinct from body copy.

The key is a clear visual hierarchy. Your recipient should quickly understand the content structure.

A common ratio: Some designers use a typographic scale (e.g., 1.2x ratio) for heading sizes relative to body text. If body text is 16px:

H3: ~19px
H2: ~23px
H1: ~27px Adjust as needed for your specific font.

Mobile Responsiveness: Fonts That Adapt

This is vital. Your emails must be readable on mobile devices.

Test, Test, Test: Always check how font sizes render on various screens.
Responsive Design Techniques:
- Media Queries: Use CSS media queries to adjust font sizes for different screen widths.
- Fluid Typography: More advanced; allows fonts to scale with viewport width. Support can be inconsistent. Sticking to fixed sizes adjusted by media queries is often more reliable.

Many email marketing platforms offer responsive templates. For example, systems with ready-made templates based on best practices often handle responsive font scaling. This simplifies the process.

Example of Font Size Hierarchy:

Element	Desktop Size (px)	Mobile Size (px)	Notes
H1	28	22-24	Main call to action or email title
H2	22	18-20	Section headings
Body Text	16	15-16	Primary content, aim for easy reading
Button Text	16	16	Ensure it’s clear and clickable
Footer/Legal	12	12	Can be smaller, but still legible

Note: These are general guidelines. Always test with your specific fonts and designs.

Don’t skimp on font size. Prioritize readability with body text around 14-16px. Use larger sizes for headings to create hierarchy. Always ensure your typography is responsive and looks great on mobile.

Line Spacing and Paragraphing for Optimal Readability

Font choice and size are only part of the story. How you arrange text also matters. Proper line spacing (leading) and paragraphing make content inviting.

Line Height (Leading): Giving Text Room to Breathe

Line height is the vertical distance between lines of text. Too tight, and text feels cramped. Too loose, and lines feel disconnected.

The Sweet Spot: For email body text, a line height of 1.4 to 1.6 times the font size is generally best.
- If your font size is 16px, your line height would be between 22.4px and 25.6px.
- Specify in CSS as line-height: 1.5; (unitless) or line-height: 24px;. Unitless is often preferred.
Why it Matters:
- Reduces eye strain.
- Improves readability, especially for longer text blocks.
- Benefits users with dyslexia.

Don’t rely on default line heights. Be explicit in your email CSS.

Paragraph Spacing: Creating Visual Breaks

Long walls of text are intimidating. Use spacing between paragraphs for clear visual breaks.

How to Achieve It: Use CSS margin-bottom on your paragraph tags (
).
- Example: p { margin-bottom: 16px; }
Benefits:
- Improves scannability.
- Aids comprehension.
- Makes the email feel more approachable.

Text Alignment: The Case for Left-Alignment

For most email content, left-aligned text is best for readability.

Why Left-Align?
- Provides a consistent starting point for each line.
- Maintains natural, even word spacing.
What to Avoid (Generally):
- Justified Text: Often creates awkward gaps between words, reducing readability. Best avoided in email.
- Center-Aligned Text: Use sparingly for short headlines. Difficult to read for longer paragraphs.
- Right-Aligned Text: Rarely appropriate. Hard to read for significant text.

Pay attention to “white space.” Generous line height, distinct paragraph spacing, and mainly left-aligned text make emails more readable and professional.

Using Font Weights and Styles Effectively

Font weights (like bold) and styles (like italics) add emphasis. But use them thoughtfully.

Bold and Italics: For Emphasis, Not Decoration

Bold (<strong>) and italics (<em>) highlight key words.

When to Use Bold:
- For crucial information: a key benefit, a deadline.
- For sub-subheadings without formal H-tags.
- Example: “Our End-of-Season Sale ends this Friday!”
When to Use Italics:
- For subtle emphasis.
- For titles of works (less common in marketing emails).
- Example: “This is truly a unique opportunity.”
The “Too Much” Rule:
- Avoid overusing bold and italics. If everything is emphasized, nothing stands out.
- Don’t bold entire paragraphs.

Underlining: A Relic Best Avoided (for Non-Links)

In the digital world, underlining universally signifies a hyperlink.

Avoid underlining text for emphasis if it’s not a link. It confuses users.
Use bold or italics instead.
Links should often be underlined (with a distinct color) for clarity.

ALL CAPS: PROCEED WITH CAUTION

WRITING IN ALL CAPS IS OFTEN PERCEIVED AS SHOUTING. It’s also harder to read.

Use Very Sparingly:
- Perhaps for a very short, impactful word in a headline (e.g., “SALE”).
- For acronyms (e.g., “FAQ”).
- Sometimes in button text (e.g., “SHOP NOW”), but keep text short.
Readability Issues: All caps text lacks ascenders and descenders that help our eyes recognize word shapes, slowing reading.
If using all caps, consider increasing letter spacing slightly, but test carefully.

Use bold and italics strategically. Avoid underlining non-linked text. Use all caps with extreme caution. The goal is clarity, not visual noise.

Color and Contrast in Email Typography

Text and background color are fundamental to readability and accessibility. Poor contrast can make your email unreadable.

Text Color: Beyond Basic Black

Black text on a white background is common, but you have options.

Dark Gray is Often Better than Pure Black: #000000 on #FFFFFF can feel harsh. A very dark gray (e.g., #333333) can be softer with excellent contrast.
Brand Colors: Use brand colors for text only if they provide sufficient contrast.
Consistency: Use a consistent text color for main body copy.

Link Color: Making Clickable Elements Obvious

Links need to stand out.

Standard Practice: Blue and underlined is universally recognized.
If Using Brand Colors for Links:
- Ensure the color is distinctly different from regular text.
- Always ensure sufficient contrast with the background.
- Consider retaining the underline. It’s a strong visual cue.

WCAG Guidelines for Contrast: The Gold Standard

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide clear criteria.

AA Level (Minimum):
- Normal text: Contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.
- Large text (18px bold or 24px regular): Ratio of at least 3:1.
AAA Level (Enhanced):
- Normal text: Ratio of at least 7:1.
- Large text: Ratio of at least 4.5:1.

Aim for at least AA compliance.

How to Check Contrast: Many free online tools check contrast ratios (e.g., WebAIM Contrast Checker, Adobe Color, Coolors.co). Using these tools is a non-negotiable step. Don’t rely on your eyes alone!

Prioritize high contrast. Dark gray on white is safe. Make links obvious. Always use a contrast checker to meet WCAG AA standards.

Testing Your Email Fonts Across Different Email Clients and Devices

Your email looks great on your screen. But that’s not enough. Email clients are fragmented.

Why Testing is Absolutely Crucial

Inconsistent Rendering: Email clients use different rendering engines. Outlook (desktop) is often problematic, sometimes ignoring web fonts.
Fallback Font Behavior: Testing shows if fallback fonts work correctly and how they look.
Device Variations: Fonts appear differently on various screen sizes and operating systems.
Dark Mode: Test how font colors hold up when backgrounds are inverted.

Ignoring testing risks a poor user experience for many subscribers.

Popular Email Clients and Their (General) Font Support

This changes, but here’s a rough idea:

Good Support (often render custom fonts well):
- Apple Mail (macOS, iOS)
- Gmail (web and mobile)
- Outlook.com (webmail)
- Yahoo! Mail (webmail)
Problematic Support (often fall back to defaults):
- Outlook Desktop (Windows versions): Expect custom fonts not to work. Design with robust fallbacks.

Rule of Thumb: Design for the best case, but plan and test for the worst.

Tools for Email Testing

Manually testing everywhere is impossible. Tools help:

Litmus: Provides screenshots across dozens of clients and devices. (Subscription)
Email on Acid: Similar to Litmus, offering comprehensive testing. (Subscription)
Your Own Devices and Accounts: Always send tests to your own accounts on different clients (Gmail, Outlook) and devices (iOS, Android).

What to Look For During Testing:

Are custom fonts rendering, or are fallbacks used?
How do fallbacks look?
Are font sizes readable on all devices?
Is line height adequate?
Is color contrast good in light and dark modes?
Are links clear and clickable?

This might be an iterative process. It’s better to catch issues before sending to your list.

Never skip email testing. Use testing tools and real devices to ensure your typography (and entire email) looks good and functions correctly everywhere.

How a WordPress-Native Communication Toolkit Can Streamline Email Typography

Managing email font best practices can seem daunting. This is where a WordPress-native communication toolkit can make a significant difference. Tools built for ease of use and integration simplify applying these principles. They help web creators elevate their client offerings beyond website builds.

Leveraging an Intuitive Email Builder

Many modern email solutions offer drag-and-drop email builders. These visual interfaces greatly simplify applying typographic styles:

Easy Font Selection: Choose from web-safe fonts or integrate custom fonts (with robust fallbacks).
Visual Size Adjustment: Use sliders or input fields to adjust text sizes in real-time.
Color Pickers: Apply text and background colors easily, matching brand guidelines.
Line Height & Spacing Controls: Intuitive controls often remove the need to dig into CSS for common adjustments.

This visual approach lowers the barrier to entry for creating well-structured emails, especially when the builder uses familiar UI patterns for WordPress users. It helps simplify essential marketing tasks.

Starting with Ready-Made Templates

Well-designed templates are huge time-savers.

Built on Best Practices: Templates from platforms like Send by Elementor often incorporate responsive typography based on Elementor best practices. Font sizes, line heights, and mobile scalability are considered.
Pre-Set Hierarchy: Headings and body text are typically styled with clear visual hierarchy.
Focus on Content: Starting with a template that handles typographic heavy lifting lets you focus on compelling copy.

These templates are especially helpful for quickly implementing effective email campaigns for clients, like Abandoned Cart or Welcome Series flows.

Seamless Integration for Consistent Branding

A truly WordPress-native toolkit offers smooth integration.

Familiar Interface: Working within the WordPress dashboard makes managing email campaigns less daunting. This helps overcome the confusing and fragmented nature of non-WordPress-native marketing platforms.
Brand Alignment: While direct font syncing has email client limits, referencing your site’s typography within a familiar system helps maintain brand consistency. This all-in-one approach consolidates essential marketing tools (Email, SMS, Automation, Segmentation, Analytics), reducing reliance on multiple plugins.

Such integration aims to reduce friction from managing external APIs, data syncing issues, and plugin conflicts.

Ensuring Readability and Effectiveness Within a Cohesive System

Ultimately, the goal is effective communication. By simplifying the application of typographic best practices, a system ensures messages are readable, accessible, and professional. Intuitive tools within your existing workflow encourage attention to detail like font choices. This contributes to better campaign performance and demonstrable ROI through clear, real-time analytics, vital when serving clients and helping them boost sales and customer retention. This, in turn, enables creators to build stronger, long-term client relationships and unlock recurring revenue streams.

While good email typography principles are universal, a WordPress-native toolkit like Send by Elementor can simplify their implementation. Features like intuitive builders, ready-made templates, and seamless WordPress integration help create emails that are visually appealing, highly readable, and effective. This empowers web creators and simplifies their workflow.

Common Mistakes to Avoid with Email Fonts

We’ve covered best practices. Now, let’s look at common pitfalls.

Using Too Many Different Fonts:
- The Problem: Creates visual chaos and looks unprofessional.
- The Fix: Stick to a maximum of two font families. Simplicity is key.
Choosing Overly Decorative or Unreadable Fonts:
- The Problem: Script or heavily stylized fonts hurt legibility, especially for body copy.
- The Fix: Prioritize readability. Choose clear, simple fonts.
Insufficient Color Contrast:
- The Problem: Makes text hard to read for everyone and impossible for some.
- The Fix: Always use a contrast checker to meet WCAG AA standards.
Forgetting Fallback Fonts:
- The Problem: If a custom font isn’t supported and no fallback is set, the email client chooses a default, potentially altering your design drastically.
- The Fix: Always include web-safe fallback fonts in your CSS.
Not Testing on Mobile Devices (and Various Email Clients):
- The Problem: What looks great on desktop might be unreadable on mobile or in different clients.
- The Fix: Test thoroughly using email testing services or your own accounts.
Making Body Text Too Small:
- The Problem: Causes reader frustration and is inaccessible.
- The Fix: Aim for 14px-16px for body text.
Using Images of Text:
- The Problem: Bad for accessibility (screen readers), users with images off, scalability, and file size.
- The Fix: Use HTML text for all important content.
Inconsistent Font Usage:
- The Problem: Different font sizes or link stylings in various sections look sloppy.
- The Fix: Establish and apply clear, consistent typographic styles.

Avoiding these mistakes leads to more professional, readable, accessible, and effective emails. It’s about prioritizing the reader’s experience.

Conclusion: Elevating Your Emails with Thoughtful Typography

Email font best practices are about much more than looks. They’re about clarity, accessibility, brand consistency, and user experience. Get your email typography right, and your messages become easier to read, your brand appears more professional, and subscribers are more likely to engage.

Key Takeaways to Remember:

Prioritize Readability: Choose clear fonts at appropriate sizes (14-16px for body).
Ensure Consistency: Use web-safe fonts or have solid fallbacks. Maintain brand consistency.
Embrace White Space: Use adequate line height and paragraph spacing.
Check Your Contrast: Ensure text meets WCAG guidelines against its background.
Design for Mobile First: Ensure fonts scale well on smaller screens.
Test Everything: Preview emails across multiple clients and devices.
Use Emphasis Sparingly: Bold and italics should highlight, not overwhelm.

Implementing these practices pays off. It can impact open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. For web creators, mastering this adds even more value for clients.

Tools designed to simplify marketing and amplify results, especially those integrating well into WordPress, make adhering to these best practices manageable. The right toolkit empowers you to focus on effective communication.

So, next time you craft an email campaign, give your fonts the attention they deserve. Your subscribers (and your clients) will thank you for it.

What are Email Font Best Practices?