TEMPLATES

1. Sign in to your Mailchimp account.
2. Select the Mailchimp template you want from the list above. It will be brought into your Mailchimp account.
3. For our purposes, this “Template” is actually your email and will produce the code you’ll be sending. Select “Edit” and rename the template to something that fits your campaign. Then, edit as desired. See http://kb.mailchimp.com/ to learn how to add and subtract fields, edit text, upload images and other tasks.
   • You will need to create a header image to replace the one in the template. Pixlr (https://pixlr.com/editor/) is an online image editor you can use if you do not have one installed on your computer, and HWCOE logos are available at https://www.eng.ufl.edu/marcom/resources/branding-style-guide/.
   • Header image should be 600px wide, and we recommend the height not exceed 400px.
   • Add alt text to all of your images.
   • Make sure to edit your address and the links in the footer, as well as social media links if applicable.
     • ***Federal regulations require that accurate contact information and a link to unsubscribe from future emails appear in any marketing or solicitation email you send.***
4. When you’re done editing your email, select “Preview and Test” (top right corner) and then “Send a Test Email.” Enter your own @ufl.edu email address in the address field and choose “Send Test.”
5. Once the test email shows up in your Outlook inbox, choose “Forward” (select “Yes” in the dialog box that pops up asking if you want to download external content) and then remove the header information from the top of the email, edit the subject line and send to your recipient list.
6. To create another email, make a copy of one of your existing emails: go to your Templates list in Mailchimp and choose Edit > Replicate next to the desired email. Then edit that copy as needed, send a preview and forward to your recipient list as in steps 3-5 above.

1. Sign into your Mailchimp account.
2. Select the Mailchimp template you want from the list above. It will be brought into your Mailchimp account.
3. Edit your email as desired. See http://kb.mailchimp.com/ to learn how to add and subtract fields, edit text, upload images and other tasks.
   • You will need to create a header image to replace the one in the template. Pixlr (https://pixlr.com/editor/) is an online image editor you can use if you do not have one installed on your computer, and HWCOE logos are available at https://www.eng.ufl.edu/marcom/resources/branding-style-guide/.
   • Header image should be 600px wide, and we recommend the height not exceed 400px.
   • Add alt text to all of your images.
   • Be sure that your address, social media links, etc. in the footer are correct.
   • Ensure the link in the preheader that says “View this email in your browser” goes to *|ARCHIVE|*
4. Send to your email list. See http://kb.mailchimp.com/ for instructions on how to set up Lists.

Submitting your email request

1. Submit a project request (Graphic Design/Branding > Emails > Send my email via Salesforce) with your project name, desired send date, subject line and preheader text, and your mailing list (if you have it).
   • The project name should be descriptive and short (e.g. CISE Fall 2024 Newsletter Chairs; MSE 2024 Holiday Card; ISE 2024 Magazine, etc.)
   • Important: UF Advancement requires at least 2 weeks’ notice for an email send request. This time is increased if you need a list of alumni pulled (see #2 below).
2. If sending to alumni: Contact Meghan Jacobsen in the Engineering Development office to request an alumni mailing list to your specifications.
   1. This may take a week or more to come back; build this time into your project.
   2. As soon as you get the list, send it to marcom@eng.ufl.edu and note the project name.
3. We’ll contact UF Advancement and request an email send.

Using the Mailchimp template

1. Sign into your Mailchimp account.
2. Select the Mailchimp template you want, and it will be brought into your Mailchimp account (NOTE: these have been updated Feb. 2026 with code required by Salesforce, so make sure you have the SALESFORCE version of the template).
   • Single Column
   • Two Column
3. For our purposes, this “Template” is actually your email and will produce the code you’ll be sending. Select “Edit” and rename the template to something that fits your campaign. Then, edit as desired. See the Mailchimp Help Center to learn how to add and subtract fields, edit text, upload images and other tasks.
   • You will need to create a header image to replace the one in the template. Pixlr is an online image editor you can use if you do not have one installed on your computer, and college logos are available in the branding and style guide.
   • The header image should be 600px wide, and we recommend the height not exceed 400px.
   • Make sure to add alt text to all of your images.
4. When you’re done editing your email, select “Save and Exit” (lower right corner)
5. From Campaigns > Email templates, mouse over your email and choose More options > Export as template; confirm “Export Template” in the dialog box. This will download an HTML file.
6. Open your downloaded HTML file in a text editor and make the following edits:
   • Ensure the link in the preheader that says “View this email in your browser” goes to
     %%view_email_url%%
   • Add the following at the end, just above the closing </body> tag:
     <custom name="opencounter" type="tracking"></custom>
   • You may add your department/office address in the footer, but make sure the following lines in the footer stay intact. Salesforce will not send without these lines.
     

     %%Member_Busname%%<br />
%%Member_Addr%%<br />
%%Member_City%%, %%Member_State%% %%Member_PostalCode%%</p><p><a alias="Manage Subscriptions" href="%%subscription_center_url%%">Unsubscribe/manage subscriptions</a> &bull; <a alias="Manage profile" href="%%profile_center_url%%">Manage your profile</a></p>

   • Copy and paste the entire email’s code into HTMLEmail; save the result into a new file. This is the file you will provide to MARCOM to add to Salesforce.
7. Open your HTML file in a browser window and test that all of the links work properly and that all your images have alt tags (right-click > inspect each image to view the source code and see if an alt tag exists).
8. Download the Plaintext Email Template. Open the downloaded file in a text editor, add your subject line and body text and save.
9. Send us an email with your project name, attaching your HTML file and your edited plaintext.txt.
10. We’ll load it into Salesforce and reply with test emails.