Web fonts transformed the web, but email never caught up: Gmail and Outlook ignore @font-face entirely. Whatever custom font you specify, most of your audience sees a fallback — so the fallback is your design. Only Apple Mail, iOS Mail and a few others load web fonts.

The stacks that work everywhere

  • Modern sans: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif — the default for a reason.
  • Geometric sans: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif — wide and highly readable at small sizes.
  • Humanist sans: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif or 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif.
  • Serif: Georgia, Times, serif — the best-looking cross-client serif.
  • Monospace: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace — for code or receipts.

Using a brand font anyway

Treat web fonts as progressive enhancement: declare your brand font first, followed by a metrically similar system stack — e.g. 'Inter', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif. Apple Mail users get Inter; everyone else gets a clean fallback. Test that your layout survives the fallback's different letter widths — line breaks move.

Our template builder only offers stacks that render everywhere, so the design you approve is the design subscribers receive. Grab a free template and switch stacks in one click.