About Email Footers
The email footer includes required content, such as sender information and links, at the end of emails. Get tips for editing your email footer.
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Note
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.
Here are some things to know before you begin this process.
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.
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.
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.
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
Element | Merge Tag | What it Does |
---|---|---|
Unsubscribe Link | *|UNSUB|* | Inserts a link to your unsubscribe form. Use this tag in a hyperlink, in place of a URL. |
Physical Address | *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* | Inserts your physical address and an "Add us to your address book" link that points to the vCard (.vcf) file with your address details. |
*|LIST:ADDRESS|* | Inserts your mailing address as plain text. | |
*|LIST:ADDRESSLINE|* | Inserts your mailing address as plain text on a single line. | |
Referrals (Required for Free Users) | *|REWARDS|* | Adds the Referral badge to your email. |
Element | Merge Tag | What it Does |
---|---|---|
Contact Details | *|LIST:COMPANY|* | Inserts your company or organization name set in the Required email footer content for the audience you send to. |
*|LIST:PHONE|* | Inserts your telephone number set in the Required email footer content for the audience you send to. | |
*|LIST:URL|* | Inserts the website URL set in the Required email footer content for the audience you send to. | |
*|ABUSE_EMAIL|* | Inserts the email address set in the Required email footer content for the audience you send to. | |
vCard | *|LIST:ADDRESS_VCARD|* | Inserts an "Add us to your address book" link that points to the vCard (.vcf) file with your address details. |
*|LIST:ADDRESS_VCARD_HREF|* | Inserts a text URL that points to your vCard (.vcf) file of your address details. Use this tag in a hyperlink, in place of a URL. | |
Subscriber engagement | *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* | Inserts your audience's permission reminder. |
*|UPDATE_PROFILE|* | Inserts a link for your contacts to update their preferences. | |
*|LIST:NAME|* | Inserts the name of your audience. | |
*|ABOUT_LIST|* | Creates a link to the About your list page. | |
*|LIST:SUBSCRIBE|* | Inserts the URL for your audience's hosted signup form. | |
*|EMAIL|* | Inserts your subscriber's email address. This can help your subscriber know which address will be removed if they click Unsubscribe. | |
*|FORWARD|* | Inserts the URL to your audience's Forward to a Friend form. | |
Other | *|CURRENT_YEAR|* | Displays the current year. This is great if you include a copyright date in your email, because it will update automatically every year. |
*|LIST:UID|* | Inserts your audience's unique ID from your audience's hosted forms. |
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.
To change the required footer content from the audience settings, follow these steps.
To change the required footer content from the classic email builder, follow these steps.
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.
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The email footer includes required content, such as sender information and links, at the end of emails. Get tips for editing your email footer.
Merge tags let you insert dynamic content in your campaigns. Get a list containing each merge tag and how to use it.
The Footer content block pulls in all content that is required under CAN-SPAM laws and our Terms of Use. Learn how to change the style and settings.