Why are fonts important for your business?

As one research says you have about 10 seconds to convince someone to stay and pay attention to what you’re trying to show them, only 10 seconds to catch their interest before they decide to leave your webpage. If done properly, clear, beautiful fonts can help you convey your message fast and on point.

MIT researchers have found that good typography influenced not only comprehension but mood as well. Basically, it means good typography = good mood. So you should choose fonts for your business carefully, so they reflect your brand and go with the type of business you’re in.

Font categories

There are 3 font categories:

• Serif – more formal look (e.g. Times New Roman)
  
  

• Sans-serif – more informal, lighter, modern (e.g. Arial)
  
  

• Script – they look like human handwriting
  
  

The font’s look also depends on the thickness of the letters and spacing between them (kerning).

How to choose the right font for your business?

Most successful eCommerce businesses use 2 typefaces, they are for:

• Headlines
  
  

• Body text
  
  

Don’t use more than 2 (3 max) different fonts so as not to make your page look overcrowded visually. Also, don’t use fonts that are too different, that don’t go together. Pairing fonts is not always as simple as it sounds. It can be really complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing. There are recommendations on what font goes with which one already. 

So what are some of the best fonts for eCommerce, and how do they go together?

1. Roboto

This is one of the most popular fonts, it gives of professional, but friendly mood. Millions of websites use it because it’s functional, but also aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It features a smooth sans-serif design that makes it a great choice for long paragraphs and other body text.

Long descriptions can be problematic if you don’t use clear, simple fonts like Roboto. And yet it doesn’t look too serious. It can be used in tech businesses.

Roboto goes well with Roboto Slab, Lato, Poppins, Playfair Display, Dosis, Open Sans, and many others.

2. Lato

You can find Lato on millions and millions of websites (and on Slack too).

It gives off a warm, yet “business in progress” feeling. It’s modern and fresh, yet holds a bit of seriousness. It can be used if you want your business to look trustworthy, and serious, but still friendly.

Great for product descriptions and to give your brand a friendly yet modern feel, regardless of the field. It pairs nicely with other fonts such as Playfair Display, Open Sans, Roboto, and Montserrat.

3. Open Sans

Another font that is used on millions of websites. Even Google uses it because it has a better user experience (UX) and improves readability. That means that you can read it just fine even when it’s small-sized, making it a great option for product descriptions and ad visuals.

Open Sans goes well with Roboto, Lato, Montserrat, etc.

4. Montserrat

Montserrat has 18 different styles, which is great because it offers a lot of choices for your design.  That makes it popular. This font can be used for both headings and body text. The font goes well together with Roboto, Open Sans. Lora, etc.

Montserrat has that geometric look, has a lot of options, and invokes a feeling of trust. Since it’s designed for fast reading, it’s good for product descriptions, and its aesthetic is appealing to the creatives, and businessmen alike.

5. Playfair Display

Playfair Display is a serif font that is a popular option for titles and headings. It can be used on more formal as well as informal sites. Microsoft uses it a lot.

Playfair Display’s Italic version is very eye-pleasing, therefore it can persuade customers to read further and ultimately buy the product. This font does look beautiful but it’s not recommended for body copy where there’s a lot of text, because it isn’t as readable when used in a smaller size.

This font goes well with eCommerce sites that are more focused on female customers because of its gentle, light feel.

Playfair Display SC is a version of this font that is versatile and has semi-italic look, and there’s also a version with lowercase characters.

Playfair Display can be used to convey a gentle, classic feel of your brand, and goes well with Roboto, Lato, Montserrat, Open Sans, Oswald, or Arvo.

6. Merriweather

Merriweather is a serif font usually used in combination with Lora font, and often with Oswald font too (watches, leather goods, etc.)

Merriweather’s condensed letterform makes it easy on the eyes, and its strong look with high letters helps too. Therefore, it's very readable even in a smaller size.

It has regular, italicized, and bold options, and in all of its versions look classy, sophisticated, and serious, giving customers that feeling that you run a trustworthy business.

The font is both stylish and simple and has many styles to choose from. It even has its sans serif version that’s good for when you need a lot of text on your site. Therefore it’s good for product description.

It combines well with Lora, Oswald, Roboto, Open Sans, etc.

7. Poppins

Poppins is a sans-serif font that has a geometric look. It’s one of the newer fonts, and it’s suitable for headings and body text as well. Poppins have 9 different weights (thickness of the letters) so it’s quite versatile.

It goes incredibly well with Lora, but can also pair well with Playfair Display, Raleway, Open Sans, and others.

8. Lora

Lora is one of the best serif fonts there is. It’s great to use for body text and gives that modern let-me-tell-you-a-story and artsy feel. It’s suited for both the screen and for print.

Lora can help elevate your brand and business with its calligraphic look and an eye-pleasing aesthetic. It helps put your customers in a mood to hear a story that you want to convey to them.

This font goes well in combination with Roboto, Merriweather, Source Sans Pro, Alegreya, Ubuntu, etc.

9. Raleway

Raleway is a sans-serif font that’s very light and elegant. It has 18 font styles (regular, light, semi-bold, bold, and extra-bold styles, and also as regular, light, thin, medium, black, and bold weights), which means there are a lot of options to choose from.

It started as a font that had that old-style look, but these style versions turned it into a geometric-looking font. It’s best used for headings and other places where a large-sized font is needed, such as the hero section, but also is great for product package branding.

Raleway, along with Cinzel is a fantastic option for businesses revolving around food and drinks. A combination of these two fonts can be seen used a lot in menus, Cinzel for the item’s name, and Raleway for item explanation (e.g. dish details).

Besides Cinzel, Raleway goes well with Roboto, Merriweather, Open Sans, Bitter, and others.

10. Oswald

Oswald is best used for headings and titles of modern websites. Oswald is made to be well-used across web browsers and devices.

It’s one of the web’s most popular fonts. Oswald headlines, particularly the ones done in all caps are fantastic for grabbing the attention of your readers/customers.

It pairs well with Roboto, Merriweather, Open Sans, Quicksand, etc.

11. Source Sans Pro

Source Sans Pro is Adobes’ professional-looking font. This font is immensely popular (millions of websites use it) because it’s designed to read well over longer periods of time. It doesn’t tire the eyes as many other fonts do.

It combines well with Montserrat, Lora, Alegreya, and Ubuntu.

12. Rubik

Rubik is a sans-serif font. This font is ideal for websites’ headings and titles. It has 5 different styles and 5 weights.

Rubik is a futuristic-looking, minimalistic, very popular, and therefore good for product websites. It gives that clean look and makes it easier to browse products seamlessly.

It pairs well with Roboto and other toned-down fonts.

13. Ubuntu

Ubuntu is the default font of the Linux-based operating system (with the same name). This is very noticeable with the letters “u” and “n”, for example.

Ubuntu goes well with Lora, Source Sans Pro, etc.

14. Cinzel

Cinzel is made with classical proportions and with Roman 1st century writings in mind but also retains that modern look because of its thin lines. This font is a great choice for headlines, and it looks even better paired with Raleway.

Besides Raleway, other fonts that go well with Cinzel are Playfair Display, Poppins, etc.

15. Alegreya

Alegreya is a very dynamic font but also gives a harmonious feel while reading. That’s not surprising considering that it was first created for reading. But this font’s look that’s rooted in calligraphy is aesthetically pleasing but also gives it freshness.

That’s why Alegreya’s style grabs attention and is great for headlines, as well as for body text. It gives a certain luxury feel to the products, so the owners of jewelry, lingerie, and similar shops should pay attention to this font.

Alegreya goes well with Lato, Source Sans Pro, Open Sans, Roboto Slab, etc.

16. Bitter

Bitter has been designed with easy reading in mind, across devices. The Creator of Bitter wanted to give a certain rhythm to reading in this font, and that makes it a great choice for all kinds of eCommerce businesses.

Bitter pairs well with Raleway, Roboto, Open Sans, Source Sans Pro, and so on.

17. Berkshire Swash

Berkshire Swash has a feminine, yet bold feel to it. This font is a great choice if your business revolves around handmade cosmetics, jewelry, sweets and treats. The type of businesses that are predominantly run by women, therefore feminine and strong is the way to go with fonts in these cases.

Berkshire swash goes well with Raleway, Oswald, Open Sans, etc.

18. Abril Fatface

Abril Fatface is part of the Abril family, which has18 styles for both titles, headlines, as well as body texts use. The weights of this font give, along with strong contrast, a neutral yet powerful feel to the readers/customers, and that successfully attracts their attention.

Abril Fatface specifically is inspired by bold-titled British and French 19th-century advertising posters. This font possesses a refined touch that can give your headline or title an elegant look.

This font pairs well with Roboto, Lato, Merriweather, Montserrat, etc.

19. Exo

Exo is a sans-serif with a modern, geometric-looking typeface that while looking elegant still gives that futuristic, tech feel. Exo has 9 weights (the maximum on the web), each with an italic version, therefore it’s quite versatile.

It looks great on any device display, and it also works great when it comes to small and medium-size texts as well.

Exo pairs well with Open Sans, Poppins, Abril Fatface, Dosis, etc.

20. Amatic SC

Amatic SC is one of the bolder choices for a website because it’s a script type of font. It stands out because of its handwritten (script) look than differs very much from many other fonts. It gives an uplifting, cheerful feel that usually accompanies the creative work, therefore it’s a good choice for websites in that field.

Amatic SC can be used by artists, musicians, photographers, and other creatives that are trying to sell their work. It is one of the best eCommerce fonts when selling fun, lighthearted, spirited art, but it isn’t recommended for more serious artwork. Because it’s more lighthearted, it’s usually accompanied by brighter colors. Pastels and watercolors go really well with this font.

Good font pairings with Amatic SC are Roboto condensed, Josefin Sans, etc.

Conclusion

As you can see, there’s no shortage of great-looking fonts for your use. Keeping your brand/business in mind, and knowing your audience/customers will go a long way when choosing the right font for you. 

The right font can help nurture your brand image and inspire a positive reaction from your customers. 

Choose fonts that “speak” the same things that your brand or business is trying to convey. 

And on that part, Glorify can help you.

Create your account for free, and choose the perfect font combination for your ecommerce business now!