In marketing materials, every little detail matters. Each word, image, and offer has an impact on your response rates, which influences your investment return. One small misstep could throw off your prospective member and sends them in the wrong direction. The text people see in print advertising is very crucial. Choosing the right text, including fonts and sizes, is one of the critical details. Your chosen font is what your prospect reads and experiences. Their impression of you depends entirely on how your direct mail spoke to them.
Two Types of Fonts
The two types of fonts are serif and sans serif. Serif fonts have short lines and other little features that extend from the edges of the letters. This type of font adds a decorative touch to dress up the font. But they also make printed words easier for people to read by giving each letter a more individual appearance that’s easily recognizable. Times New Roman is a commonly used serif font.
Sans serif fonts are plain without extra flourishes or details. These fonts are usually used for text on a website because the simple shades display better electronically. Arial is a frequently used sans serif font.
Choose Two Fonts
You should use more than one font in direct mail. Using two fonts creates a contrast that’s visually appealing and helps your reader quickly assimilate your message. But if you go overboard, you will end up with a design that overwhelms your message. Using too many fonts creates a visual scramble that is hard for the eye to follow and for the brain to understand. That’s why industry experts recommend choosing two fonts instead of more or less.
Which two fonts you choose can drastically change the look and feel of your direct mail. You want to use fonts that match your branding, but you also want to focus on readability. Choose styles that reflect your type of organization and which will appeal to your target audience. Some fonts naturally evoke an old-fashioned ice cream parlor or an engraved invitation.
Headline Font Is Critical
It would be best if you had an attention-grabbing headline. Your headline should be big, bold, and short. Use a sans serif font for your headline. Keep in mind that some of these fonts are very heavy looking, so they may be too much for a postcard, and they take up plenty of space. But also remember very narrow fonts appear cramped and may be tough to read. A great middle ground that is eye-catching but friendly on the eyes is best, like Helvetica, Optima, or Lucida.
3 of the Best Fonts
Century Gothic, Helvetica, and Verdana are three of the best fonts for direct mail.
- Century Gothic is a sans serif font created for monotype imaging. It’s neat and easy to read, which makes it an excellent choice for printed materials. It’s also a great headline font because people can read it from a distance.
- Helvetica is a commonly used sans serif font with a clean, simple feel and is easy to read. It’s a great option for more detailed information within a flyer or brochure. You may recognize Helvetica because several brands use it, including Microsoft, Panasonic, and Evian.
- Verdana was designed specifically for Microsoft and is also a part of the sans serif font choices. Its design purpose was for people to have an easy time reading it on a screen. But it works great for direct mail because of its flexibility. Verdana’s design was with small text in mind, but it looks great in large sizes too. It’s a great choice if you want a consistent look at your mailer’s headings and body. You may recognize Verdana from PayPal.
3 of the Worst Fonts
The three worst fonts for direct mail are Comic Sans, Segoe Script, and Impact.
- Comic Sans may appeal to a younger audience, but it can be challenging to read on paper. This font’s designed to look like comic book fonts, and many designers believe that’s where this font should stay.
- Segoe Script isn’t easy to read, and it doesn’t complement with many other fonts. The sentences can come across as one long line of text, which can result in the reader getting lost while reading the information. Some handwritten fonts can appear stylish, but it’s best to avoid Segoe Script.
- Impact‘s font design is to cause an impact when printed. It has ultra-thick strokes and a compressed letter structure. Impact font is hard to make out, and you should certainly avoid using it in your direct mail.
Choosing the Perfect Font with Valtim
Valtim offers a large selection of fonts for direct mail. We will help you choose an eye-catching headline font and recommend a font for your text’s body. Each font you select will complement one another and encourage your prospect to read all your information. We also offer a fantastic handwritten appearance font called MyFont. Contact Valtim to hear more about our selection.
