What are Fallback Fonts in Email Marketing?
Fallback fonts are alternative
typefaces used in email design when the primary font is not supported by the recipient's email client. Since different email clients support different fonts, it is crucial to specify fallback fonts to ensure readability and maintain the design's integrity.
How to Implement Fallback Fonts?
When coding your email, you can specify fallback fonts using the font-family property in CSS. The syntax allows you to list multiple fonts separated by commas. For example:
font-family: 'Primary Font', 'Secondary Font', 'Fallback Font', sans-serif;
In this example, the email client will try to use 'Primary Font'. If it is not available, it will try 'Secondary Font', and so on, until it finds a supported one.
Why are Fallback Images Important?
Fallback images are crucial to maintain the email’s visual appeal and to convey important information even when the primary image fails to load. Without fallback images, parts of your email might look broken, which can negatively affect the
user experience and decrease
engagement.
How to Implement Fallback Images?
Fallback images can be implemented using a combination of HTML and CSS. One common method is to use the alt attribute within the <img> tag to provide a textual fallback. For example:
<img src="primary-image.jpg" alt="Fallback Text">
Additionally, you can use CSS to set a background image as a fallback:
<div style="background-image: url('fallback-image.jpg');">
<img src="primary-image.jpg" alt="Fallback Text">
</div>
Best Practices for Fallback Fonts and Images
Here are some best practices to follow when using fallback fonts and images in your email marketing campaigns: Test your emails across various email clients to ensure fallback fonts and images display correctly.
Use
web-safe fonts as primary fonts whenever possible to minimize the need for fallbacks.
Optimize your images and provide descriptive
alt text to improve accessibility and provide context if images fail to load.
Consider using a
fallback color or background in case the image doesn’t load, ensuring the design remains intact.