Customize Your Footer Content

If you’ve switched to our new email builder, some steps in this article may not apply. To learn how to use the new builder, check out Design an Email with the New Builder.

The footer at the bottom of your email is intended for content that's critical to the health of your audience. You can make your footer as simple or elaborate as you want, as long as you include certain information required by anti-spam laws and our Terms of Use.

In this article, you'll learn about different ways to customize your footer content.

Before you start

Here are some things to know before you begin this process.

• You must include an unsubscribe link and physical address with every marketing email you send. To learn more about the required footer content, read About Email Campaign Footers.
• The footer content in Mailchimp is in English by default. To translate your footer content into another language, read Translate Footer Content.
• When you use merge tags in your footer and elsewhere, it's important to Preview and Test Your Email Campaign before you send.

Ways to edit footer content

Whether you use the built-in content block that comes with each of our default templates, or a custom HTML template, you can customize the footer like any other part of your email. Use merge tags to pull in audience-specific data, or manually add your own details.

Use the footer content block

Our email designer features a drag-and-drop Footer content block, which contains merge tags that automatically populate required and recommended content from your audience data. To learn how to insert and edit the Footer content block, read Use Footer Content Blocks.

Custom code your footer

If you custom code your emails and templates, it's important to design a clean, readable footer that includes all the information required by anti-spam laws and our Terms of Use.

This sample HTML code contains the required unsubscribe link, physical address, and Referral badge, as well as additional details like the audience name, copyright year, Forward to a Friend link, and Update Your Preferences link.

If you need some help with your custom code, copy and paste this into your template code and modify it as needed.

<p>*|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* <br />

<br />

<a href="*|UNSUB|*">Unsubscribe</a> *|EMAIL|* from this list.<br />

<br />

Our mailing address is:<br />

*|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|*<br />

<br />

Copyright (C) *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|* All rights reserved.<br />

<br />

<a href="*|FORWARD|*">Forward</a> this email to a friend<br />

<a href="*|UPDATE_PROFILE|*">Update your preferences</a><br />

<br />

*|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*</p>

If you use the sample code, the footer should look something like this.

Add footer merge tags

These merge tags pull in important information about your audience from the Required email footer content and elsewhere. This information is typically included in the footer section, but you can use these merge tags anywhere in your email.

Getting Started With Merge Tags
Troubleshooting Merge Tags
All the Merge Tags Cheat Sheet

Required footer merge tags

Recommended footer merge tags

Change the required email footer content

Required footer content appears in default audience information throughout your Mailchimp account, including email footers and your signup forms and response emails. When we use merge tags to add your physical address, permission reminder, and other details, information is pulled from a section in your audience called Required email footer content.

You can view or change this information from your audience settings or the classic builder.

From the audience settings

To change the required footer content from the audience settings, follow these steps.

1. Click Audience.
   
2. Click Audience dashboard.
   
3. If you have more than one audience, click the Current audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.
4. Click the Manage Audience drop-down and choose Settings.
5. Click Required email footer content.
   
6. Make your changes, and click Save.
   

From the classic builder

To change the required footer content from the classic email builder, follow these steps.

1. In the Content section, click Edit Design.
   
2. On the design step, click the Footer content block to edit it, or drag a new Footer content block into your layout
   
3. Click Edit Contact Info.
   
4. Make your changes in the Edit List Contact Information pop-up modal, and click Save.
   

Troubleshooting the extra footer

Our system checks your email content to make sure you've included the required merge tags. If certain merge tags are missing, we'll automatically add a default footer that contains the merge tags to the bottom of your email, which will look something like this.

If an extra footer was added to your email, here are a few possible reasons.

• The unsubscribe merge tag is missing.
  You're required by law and Mailchimp's Terms to include the *|UNSUB|* merge tag in all emails. Write an unsubscribe message, like "Unsubscribe from this list," and use the *|UNSUB|* tag in a hyperlink, in place of a URL.
• The Referral badge is missing.
  If you're on the Free plan, your emails must include the *|REWARDS|* merge tag. To learn how to change the look of your Referral badge, read about how to Set the Default Badge.
• Microsoft Word added excess code to your HTML.
  We don't recommend you use Microsoft Word or any other rich text editor to create your content. These programs weren't made to convert to HTML and can add excess code that interferes with our system's ability to recognize merge tags. If you must copy and paste content from a rich text editor, first use the Clear Styles button in the editor toolbar to remove the extra HTML code. You'll then need to re-apply styles to your text in the email builder.
• An HTML tag or merge tag was left open.
  If any tag is left open in a custom HTML template, the system may not see your *|UNSUB|* merge tag. Review your code and be sure that all tags, including both HTML and merge tags, are closed.