Email fonts best practices

Here is our best practice guide to using fonts in your email templates.

See also: Can I use custom fonts?

Font size

Use a font size of at least 14px. 

Many people read their emails on mobile devices, so it's important to use a font size that is easy to read on a small screen.

Number of fonts

Limit the number of fonts you use.

Using too many fonts can make your email look cluttered and unprofessional. 

Stick to one or two fonts throughout your email.

Formatting fonts

Avoid using ALL CAPS or excessive bolding.

Using all caps or excessive bolding can make your email look like it's shouting, so use these formatting options sparingly.

Custom fonts

If you want to use custom fonts, you'll need to have the font files added to your template. 

Not all email clients (Yahoo, Outlook, etc.) support custom fonts, so you should use font-family:

font-family:arial, sans-serif;
font-family:'custom font', arial, sans-serif;
font-family:times, times new roman, serif;

font-family tries to use the first font in the list, and if that’s not possible, works through the list in order. 

See also: Can I use custom fonts?

A list should comprise all serif fonts or all non-serif fonts, and they should be as similar as possible.

You should only use one custom font in a list, and it should always be the first in the list.

After that you can use a non-custom font, e.g. Trebuchet or Garamond, then a web-safe font.

Lastly, an instruction for the email client (Yahoo, Outlook, etc.) to use whatever standard serif or sans-serif font they have.

Web safe fonts