When creating a campaign you should be working in the campaign editor. If you are working in the templates area STOP. Editing the master template can render your template inoperable. Please review the documentation provided below on working with your template if you are unsure how to proceed.
Mailchimp Template User Guide
Our complete online Mailchimp template user guide
for templates utilizing variant selection
Quick Navigation
Campaign Creation Tools Key
When hovering over a variant, or section, in the Mailchimp campaign builder a menu of tools will appear allowing you to edit and style your variant content.
Template Terminology
Mailchimp template
A Mailchimp template is a framework or structure comprised of any number of sections or variable content blocks that can be utilized to create Mailchimp campaigns.
Mailchimp campaign
A Mailchimp campaign is an individual email created from a Mailchimp template. Campaigns can utilize all sections found in an email template or only a curated few depending on the purpose of the campaign.
Variant Selection/Selectors
Variant selectors allow you to switch between any number of different content structures or layouts (blocks of HTML or sections) within your template allowing you to create amazingly flexible campaigns utilizing only the content blocks you need and in any order you like.
There are no limits to the number of variants or content blocks your template can contain and you can mix and match them when drafting your campaigns to achieve the exact layout you’re looking for. Every time.
This guide contains important information on working with your Mailchimp template.
If you’re new to Mailchimp or templates utilizing variant selection we recommend you take a few additional minutes to review the documentation we provide in this template guide – most notably the sections on creating a campaign using your Mailchimp template and adding additional variants or content blocks.
Mailchimp Template Quick Start Guide
Five easy, quick steps to getting started with your Mailchimp template
If you’re drafting your newsletter campaigns in a word processing program outside Mailchimp copying and pasting content directly from the program into your Mailchimp campaign can result in additional code being added to your campaign. This code is native to the word processing program and includes styling, padding, etc. that can override the styling of your template.
Mailchimp Template User Guide
A step-by-step, in depth guide to getting started with your Mailchimp template
BEGINNING WITH A SINGLE CONTENT VARIANT/BLOCK
When creating a new campaign from your Mailchimp template you always begin with a single content block, the first one in your template layout. From there you can change the styling of that first section, add and style additional sections, replicate sections, and more.
Creating a Campaign
When creating a campaign you should be working in the campaign editor. If you are working in the templates area STOP. Editing the master template can render your template inoperable. Please review the documentation provided below on working with your template if you are unsure how to proceed.
Using your Mailchimp credentials, username and password, sign into your Mailchimp account.
Adding Additional Variant Content Blocks
If you’re new to Mailchimp and/or you’ve never worked with variant selectors it can be a bit tricky at first so here are a few tips on getting started.
To access the variant styling tools simply hover over the single variant shown when creating a new campaign. When hovering over the variant, or content block, a row of tools will appear allowing you to edit and style your variant content.
Hiding or Removing Variants or Content Blocks
Hover your mouse over the variant or content block you wish to hide, and use the eye icon with the slash through it to hide the selected variant or content block. If not present the block cannot be hidden however you may be able to remove it.
When a variant or content block is successfully hidden it will appear as grayed out in the editor. When a variant is hidden it will not appear in your sent campaign.
Change A Variant or Content Block’s Styling
To update or change the styling of a content block already added to your campaign simply hover over the content block you wish to update and select the appropriate styling from the variant selector drop down menu that appears. The style currently applied will be highlighted to indicate such.
Updating Background Images
If your template contains background images, patterns, and/or gradients you have the ability to update these elements via the campaign editor if needed.
In the campaign editor, using the style navigation to the right, navigate to the section that contains the background element you wish to update.
Legacy Mailchimp templates (prior to June 2017)
Using the Mailchimp File Manager upload the new background imagery you wish to utilize in your campaign and copy the image URL.
Replicating a Campaign Layout
Oftentimes you may create a campaign layout that you want to utilize again in the future. Unfortunately the save as template functionality does not extend to templates utilizing variant selectors – such as ours. Fortunately there is a simple workaround that will allow you to reuse campaign layouts quickly and easily.
Once you’ve created the campaign you wish to reuse in Mailchimp navigate to the campaigns dashboard.
Best Practices
Copying and pasting content directly from your website or a word processing program (such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs) into your Mailchimp campaign can result in additional code being added to your campaign. This code is native to the website’s style sheet and/or the word processing program and includes styling, padding, etc. that can override the styling of your template.
If your campaign is missing the required merge tags, Mailchimp will automatically add a default footer that contains the merge tags to the bottom of your email.
To avoid formatting issues we recommend either drafting your campaigns in a simple text editor such as Notepad or copying and pasting your content into a text editing program before pasting into your campaign. This removes any stray styling code that may be associated with your content.
Merge tags allow you to dynamically add content to your email. They may look a little intimidating, but they’re easy to figure out. Include a merge tag in a campaign and Mailchimp handles the rest. Include something as simple as a subscriber’s first name, add social sharing links, or, if you’re feeling gutsy, create an entire campaign using nothing but merge tags.
The fields that you set up in your list (email, address, name, etc.) will not only become the fields in your list and signup form, but will also have a corresponding Merge Tag.
For example, if you added a “First Name” field in your list (*|FNAME|*), then using the merge tag *|FNAME|* in your campaign content will automatically populate the recipient’s first name.
If your template includes a video variant there’s a good chance it utilizes one of Mailchimp’s video merge tags. If so, you’ll need to update the video merge tag in your campaign to include the appropriate video ID, if needed.
When you add a video variant to your campaign you’ll notice that the video merge tag string, associated with your video hosting service, is already populated for you. Simply update the video ID (instructions below) and go! Mailchimp will go to the video, grab its keyframe (a still image from your video), then overlay some video control elements to make it look playable. Whenever users click, it’ll take them to the hosted version of your video. No need to screenshot anything, upload to Mailchimp, etc. Just use the merge tag, and you’re done.
