The Email Newsletter block allows you to add a Mailchimp email subscription form to any location in a post or page. This block currently works with the Mailchimp service only.
Before you begin, you’ll need the following items:
- Mailchimp account – If you don’t have one yet, you can sign up for a free account here.
- Mailchimp audience (or mailing list) – This is where your subscribers’ email addresses will be collected. Learn how to create a Mailchimp audience.
Note that composing, editing, and sending emails is handled within your Mailchimp account and not your WordPress® website.1
Table of Contents:
Enter your Mailchimp API Key
Before adding the Email Newsletter block to your post or page, go to Genesis Blocks > Settings > Newsletter in Genesis Blocks Pro, or Genesis Blocks > Settings in Genesis Blocks (free) to enter your Mailchimp API key.
If you don’t have an API key yet, see the About API Keys page on the Mailchimp website to learn how to create your key.
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If you try adding the Email Newsletter block to the post or page before entering your API key, you’ll see a message that states you must define API keys before you can use the block.
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Newsletter settings
After entering your API key, you can now configure the Newsletter settings, as described below.
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- Form Label: The default label is Your Email Address. If you’d like to change this label, place your cursor on the default text and type your own.
- Button Text: The default button text is Subscribe. If you’d like to change this text, place your cursor on the default text and type your own.
- Mailing List: Select the list users should be added to when they subscribe to your email list.
- Success Message: Enter the message to be shown after users successfully subscribe to your email list. After the user clicks the Subscribe button, the form will disappear and this message will be displayed in its place. The default success message is Thanks for subscribing.
- Enable Double Opt-In: Enable this option if you’d like to send users a confirmation email when they successfully subscribe to your list using this form.
Important notes regarding the double opt-in feature:
- When this option is enabled in this block, users will not become official subscribers until they click the button within the confirmation email.
- The content of the confirmation email can be customized within your Mailchimp account. See the About Double Opt-in page on the Mailchimp website for details.
- When this option is enabled in this block, users will receive a confirmation email even if the double opt-in feature is disabled within your Mailchimp account.
Also, it’s not currently possible to add additional fields (like first name, last name, etc.) to the form in this block. If you require additional fields in your form, we recommend generating embedded form code within your Mailchimp account and then using the Custom HTML block to embed the code on your site instead. See the Add a Signup Form to Your Website on the Mailchimp website for details.
General settings
The General settings allow you to determine how much space to display around the form and the size and shape of the button.
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Block Padding: The padding refers to the amount of space displayed around the inside edges of the block. The amount of padding you select will be applied to all 4 sides of the block.
Block Margin Top/Bottom: The margin refers to the amount of space displayed above or below the block.
Button Size: Choose whether the button is small, medium, large, or extra large.
Button Shape: Choose whether the button has square corners, rounded corners, or is “pill shaped” (circular).
Color settings
The Color settings allow you to apply a pre-set or custom color to the whole block and the button.
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- Block Background/Text Color: These settings control the colors of the Email Newsletter block itself. Click the colored circles to select pre-defined colors. Or click Custom Color to select your own.
- Button Background/Text Color: These settings control the colors of the Subscribe button. Click the colored circles to select pre-defined colors. Or click Custom Color to select your own.
Advanced settings
The Advanced settings allow you to add extra styling to the block, if desired.
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- Additional CSS Class(es): You can add one or more CSS class to customize the appearance of this block. After adding the class name(s) here, you can enter your custom CSS code in Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS.