What are Fallback Fonts?
Fallback fonts are secondary fonts that are used when the primary font is not available or supported on a user's device. In the context of
email marketing, fallback fonts ensure that your email content remains readable and visually appealing even if the recipient's device does not support the primary font you have chosen.
Why are Fallback Fonts Important in Email Marketing?
Fallback fonts are crucial in
email marketing because they help maintain the
consistency and
readability of your emails across different email clients and devices. Not all email clients support custom fonts, and relying solely on a single font could lead to rendering issues, making your email look unprofessional and difficult to read.
How Do Fallback Fonts Work?
When you specify fonts in your email's CSS, you can list multiple fonts in a font-family property. The email client will try to use the first font in the list. If that font is not available, it will move to the next one, and so on, until it finds a font that is available on the user's device. For example:font-family: 'CustomFont', Arial, sans-serif;
In this example, if 'CustomFont' is not available, the email client will use Arial. If Arial is also not available, it will fall back to the generic sans-serif font.
Best Practices for Using Fallback Fonts
To ensure your emails look great across all devices and email clients, follow these best practices for using fallback fonts: Use Web-Safe Fonts: Always include
web-safe fonts as fallbacks. Web-safe fonts are widely supported across different platforms and email clients.
Limit Font Choices: Stick to a few font choices to maintain
design consistency and ensure readability.
Test Your Emails: Make sure to
test your emails on different devices and email clients to see how your fallback fonts render.
Consider Accessibility: Choose fallback fonts that are easy to read and consider how they impact
email accessibility.
Common Web-Safe Fonts
Here are some common web-safe fonts you can use as fallbacks in your email campaigns: Arial
Verdana
Helvetica
Times New Roman
Georgia
Courier New
Tahoma
How to Implement Fallback Fonts
Implementing fallback fonts in your email's CSS is straightforward. Here is an example of how to do it:p {
font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
}
In this example, the email client will first try to use 'Open Sans'. If 'Open Sans' is not available, it will fall back to Helvetica, then Arial, and finally to the generic sans-serif.
Conclusion
Fallback fonts are an essential aspect of
email design that ensures your emails remain readable and visually appealing across different email clients and devices. By understanding what fallback fonts are, why they are important, and how to implement them correctly, you can create more effective and professional email campaigns.