Should You Use Custom Fonts in HubSpot Marketing Emails?
Summarize this insights post with:
HubSpot Makes Custom Fonts Easier Than Ever
For years, using custom fonts in HubSpot marketing emails required custom-coded templates and extra development work.
Now, HubSpot allows marketers to upload custom fonts directly into the Brand Kit, making them available in drag-and-drop email templates and custom modules. It’s a welcome update for marketing teams that want their emails to better reflect their brand identity.
Enabling custom fonts only takes a few steps:
- Open Settings → Brand Kit in HubSpot.
- Upload your custom font files.
- Assign a fallback font.
- Open a drag-and-drop email.
- Select your custom font from the typography options.
The Benefits of Custom Fonts
Stronger brand consistency
Typography is one of the most recognizable parts of a brand. If your website, landing pages, social media, sales presentations, and downloadable content all use the same typography, it makes sense to extend that experience into your email marketing. Custom fonts help create a more cohesive experience across every customer touchpoint.
A closer match between design and production
Creative teams have traditionally designed beautiful email mockups using brand fonts, only for marketers to rebuild those emails using Arial or Helvetica. Now designers and marketers can stay much closer to the original creative, reducing compromises and speeding up production.
Better use of HubSpot’s Brand Kit
Housing your fonts inside HubSpot’s Brand Kit means your typography becomes part of your centralized brand system alongside logos, colors, and other design assets. That creates a more consistent experience for anyone building marketing assets inside HubSpot.
A more polished first impression
Good typography communicates professionalism. While most subscribers won’t consciously notice your font choice, they will notice when your emails feel polished, consistent, and aligned with the rest of your brand. Sometimes those small design details help reinforce trust.
The Drawbacks You Need to Understand
The biggest limitation is that many won’t actually see your custom font. While HubSpot makes it easy to add custom fonts to your emails, support still depends on the recipient’s email client.
Many of the most popular email clients, including Gmail, Outlook (especially Outlook for Windows), and Yahoo Mail, don’t fully support custom web fonts. Instead, they’ll display your designated fallback font. Apple Mail and iOS Mail do support custom fonts, but many business users primarily read email in Outlook or Gmail.
Your fallback font becomes part of your brand
Many marketers spend hours selecting the perfect brand font. Then they spend about five seconds choosing the fallback. That’s backwards. For many recipients, the fallback font is the only version they’ll ever see. Choose a fallback that closely matches your primary font’s personality, proportions, and readability.
SmartAcre Tip: Don’t think of your fallback font as a backup. Think of it as a second brand font.
Layouts may render differently
Different fonts have different character widths, spacing, line heights, and letterforms which means your email can wrap differently depending on which font the email client displays. A headline that fits perfectly in your custom font could wrap to three lines when Outlook switches to Arial. This is why testing across multiple email clients is still an important part of email QA.
Custom Fonts vs. Email-Safe Fonts
| Feature | Custom Fonts | Email-Safe Fonts |
|---|---|---|
| Brand consistency | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Gmail support | Uses fallback | ✅ Native |
| Outlook support | Uses fallback | ✅ Native |
| Apple Mail support | ✅ Supported | ✅ Native |
| HubSpot setup | ✅ Easy | ✅ Easy |
| Rendering consistency | ⚠️ Medium | ✅ High |
| Visual flexibility | ✅ High | ⚠️ Limited |
When We Recommend Using Custom Fonts
Custom fonts are a great choice when:
- Your typography is a meaningful part of your brand.
- Your fallback font closely matches your primary font.
- You’re willing to test emails across multiple clients.
- Minor rendering differences won’t impact readability.
When to Stick with Email-Safe Fonts
Traditional email-safe fonts still make sense when:
- Readability is your highest priority.
- You’re sending business-critical communications.
- Most of your audience uses Outlook or Gmail.
- Pixel-perfect consistency matters more than brand styling.
Final Take
HubSpot’s support for custom fonts is a meaningful improvement for marketers who want stronger brand consistency without relying on custom-coded templates. However, this isn’t a feature you should turn on simply because it’s available. Think of custom fonts as another tool in your design system. Use them when they strengthen your brand, choose your fallback fonts with just as much care, and always test your emails in the clients your audience actually uses.
Ultimately, your subscribers won’t judge your emails by the font you selected. They’ll judge them by how well they read, how professional they look, and how consistently they represent your brand.
Before You Publish Your Next Email
Before sending an email that uses a custom font, ask yourself:
□ Have I selected an appropriate fallback font?
□ Does the fallback match my brand’s look and feel?
□ Have I tested the email in Outlook, Gmail, and Apple Mail?
□ Does the layout still work when the fallback font is displayed?
□ Is the custom font improving the experience, or just changing it?
If you can answer “yes” to all five, you’re in a good place to take advantage of HubSpot’s newest typography feature.
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