The Complete Guide to Email HTML Font

Email HTML font is a crucial aspect of email design, and understanding how to use it effectively can make a big difference in how your messages are perceived.

There are several types of font families you can use in HTML email, including serif, sans-serif, and monospace fonts.

Serif fonts, like Times New Roman, are great for body text because they're easy to read.

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Your email code declares font using a CSS property called font-family. This property can have just one font name or multiple font names, often referred to as a font stack.

Including multiple font names ensures that if one doesn’t work, there is a fallback or backup font of your choosing.

The browser reads the font-family property and pulls in the font to use when your subscribers open your email.

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Font licensing can be a bit of a minefield, but it's essential to get it right. Many web font services don't allow use in email because it counts as distributing the font, which goes against their End User License Agreements (EULA).

Some web font providers, however, do support using their fonts in email, but each has a different required license. If you're looking to use a font, you'll need to contact the company directly to find out how they license their fonts.

Here are some email clients that support web fonts:

Licensing is a crucial aspect of using web fonts, especially when it comes to using them in email. The original purpose of web fonts was for websites and mobile applications, and many services don't allow use in email because it counts as distributing the font.

Many web font services have End User License Agreements (EULA) that prohibit distributing the font. In fact, all web font providers we contacted supported using their fonts in email, but each provider had a different required license.

You'll need to reach out to the company to find out exactly how they license their fonts. This is because there isn't a standard way to license fonts in email.

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Some email clients support web fonts, while others don't. Apple Mail, iOS Mail, Android (default mail client), Outlook 2000, and Thunderbird generally have good support for web fonts.

However, web font support depends on the email client and how the web font is embedded in the email. This means that even if an email client supports web fonts, they might not display as intended.

Email clients that support web fonts include Apple Mail, iOS Mail, Android Mail (not Gmail), Thunderbird, and Outlook for macOS. If your subscribers are using Apple devices, you'll have the best luck with web fonts.

But Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, and some versions of Outlook are still unsupportive of web fonts. This means that Gmail users will see a fallback font, such as Arial, instead of your chosen web font.

Here are the preferred or default fonts for the three most popular desktop email clients:

Keep in mind that web font support is not universal, and it's essential to test your emails to ensure your content displays as intended.

Font styling is crucial in email design, and there are some essential things to keep in mind.

To make the right choice when formatting text in your emails, you need to understand font-style, which is the presentation or style of the text. In CSS, font-style can be Normal, Italic, or Oblique.

When it comes to styling fonts for email, it's best practice to apply the original type design rather than relying on email clients or browsers to apply faux bold or faux italic styles. This means including genuine font styles in your @font-face stack.

The best way to do this is by declaring different styles in your @font-face stack, like font-style: italic; which will pull in the genuine 'Roboto-Italic' font. This approach avoids declaring a different font-family for each style, which can create overly-complicated and redundant CSS.

The best font for email is one that is readable, widely supported by major email clients, and fits your brand's preferred style. To ensure this, use font stacks wisely and test your email campaigns before sending to catch any issues with fonts.

Here are the key CSS properties for working with text in an email:

These properties will help you make changes to improve legibility and style adjustments in your email text.

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Font sizes can be defined with pixels (px), points (pt), percentage (%), viewport width (vw), em, and relative em (rem), with pixels being the most common measurement.

Pixels are fully supported among email clients, making them a reliable choice.

To make the text readable and accessible, email marketing best practices suggest using no less than a 14px font-size for email body copy.

Many marketers increase the font-size to 16px or 18px for mobile, which is a good idea considering the smaller screen size.

Using a font-size of 14px or larger is essential for readability, especially on smaller screens like mobile devices.

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There are three main types of fonts for email: Web fonts, Web safe fonts, and Email safe fonts. These categories help you choose the right font for your email marketing campaigns.

Web safe fonts are a subset of Web fonts that are guaranteed to display correctly across all email clients. This ensures that your email looks professional and consistent in every inbox.

Here are the main types of fonts for email:

The presentation or style of the text is determined by the font-style, which can be Normal, Italic, or Oblique in CSS.

Let's break down the different types of fonts you can use in your emails.

Web fonts are a type of font that can be embedded directly into your email, allowing for a wide range of font styles and sizes.

Web safe fonts are a subset of web fonts that are universally supported across different email clients and devices.

Email safe fonts are the default fonts available in inbox service providers and are considered reliable.

Slab fonts like Museo Slab and Rockwell are considered accessible and have thicker lines.

Here are some examples of font types:

A typeface is a series of letters, numbers, punctuation, and other symbols in a collection that share the same basic design features.

Think of a typeface like a family, with different members sharing similar characteristics.

A font is a specific variation in weight, size, slope, or decoration within a typeface.

For example, a typeface might include fonts like bold, italic, and regular.

In HTML and CSS, you can use the "font-family" attribute to specify a typeface for your text.

Testing is key when it comes to web fonts in email HTML. Different email clients will render a web font very differently from one another.

You should carefully select a font that's well-designed to avoid rendering issues. Some typefaces can look poor in certain email clients.

Testing your emails is a good way to catch font problems early. If you find your fonts don't work, consider changing to a web safe font or designing an image with the specialized font you want to use.

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Always test your fonts, as different email clients will render a web font very differently from one another. This means that some typefaces can render poorly in certain email clients.

Careful selection of a font is crucial, as some typefaces are not as well designed as they should be. Testing your emails is a good way to avoid poorly rendered fonts and might influence the selection of one font over another.

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If you test your fonts and find they don’t work, you have options. You might consider changing to a web safe font or designing an image with the specialized font you want to use.

Here are some email clients that generally support web fonts:

If web fonts are not supported, it’s not a total buzz kill, as there are fallback fonts that will be seen instead. In most cases, the fallback fonts will be Helvetica, Arial, or a generic sans serif font.

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