Acknowledge the silence, skip the guilt
"We miss you" works. "We noticed you haven’t opened our last eight emails" does not — it reads as surveillance, and post-MPP it is often not even true.
Preview
What's inside
What's inside this re-engagement email template, module by module.
Read off the file itself, not a spec sheet. This is the module order the download actually ships with, in the order a reader meets them.
- Greeting hero
- What a monthly update looks like
- 2-card grid
- Card 3 — repeatable
- Pre-footer: preferences / unsubscribe, equal dignity
Import
How to import this template into Mailchimp, step by step.
The download is a single HTML file. Here is where it goes in Mailchimp, what the platform expects, and which tags are already wired up.
- Open Email templates and choose Create template.
- Pick Code your own, then Paste in code.
- Paste the downloaded HTML and save the template.
- Replace every placeholder before you send — image sources, link targets, product and price copy, the sender name and the footer address. Anything marked mc:edit is editable in the campaign builder, so most of this needs no HTML.
- Start a campaign from the saved template.
Plan Custom-coded templates are a paid-plan feature. Mailchimp’s free tier does not offer the code-your-own path.
Editing This is a Classic template. Every region marked mc:edit opens in the campaign builder as an editable region with a WYSIWYG toolbar, so a non-technical teammate can change copy and images without touching HTML. Classic and the Drag-and-Drop builder are not interchangeable — an imported HTML template always lands in Classic.
Watch for Do not paste this into the Drag-and-Drop builder. There is no path from custom HTML into a Drag-and-Drop template — importing as code-your-own always yields a Classic template, which is what the mc: regions are built for.
Swapping the placeholder images
A custom-HTML template opens in Mailchimp’s legacy builder. Click the image, open the source view on that editable region, and replace the src with an image from your Mailchimp file manager — those URLs start with mcusercontent.com. The rest of the block can stay as it is.
Shortcut You can skip this entirely. Connect Mailchimp under Connectors in the studio and EmailTemple transfers the files over the API when it pushes the template, so there is no source code to edit. Connectors are on the Starter and Pro plans.
How to use it
When to send this re-engagement email, and what to change first.
When to send it
Make this the last email of a re-engagement flow, sent to supporters who stayed quiet through every earlier step (here, 180 days without an open or click). After it, suppress or archive anyone who still does not respond, so the list stays honest and deliverability holds up. Keep donation asks out of this email. Its only job is the stay-or-go choice.
What to change first
Harbour Hounds Rescue is the placeholder organisation. The headline uses a conditional, so it reads “Should we stop writing, Sam?” with a name and “Should we stop writing?” without one. Rewrite the three “What a month with us looks like” rows so they describe what your monthly update really contains. “Keep me on the list” points at harbourhounds.org, so link it to a page or a Mailchimp tag action that marks the contact as re-engaged. Replace the dog photos, the Halifax address and the social links.
The craft
What makes a re-engagement email worth sending.
Make the exit visible
A preferences arrow-link and a soft "or unsubscribe here" in the pre-footer. Respecting the reader’s choice is part of the voice, and a clean list is worth more than an inflated one.
Protect the sender reputation
Frequency should match engagement — send most often to the recently engaged, and to contacts dormant past six months only inside a campaign like this one. Repeatedly mailing the disengaged is what trains inbox providers to route you to spam.
Or refine this
Make this email template yours.
Generate your own with this template as a starting point. Change the colors, the voice, the offer — describe what you want different and the studio recomposes it. Apply your brand kit and ship in your tone, not the template's.
The download is yours either way.
Open this template in the studio →
Questions
Mailchimp template questions, answered.
Can I import a custom HTML template on Mailchimp’s free plan?
No. The code-your-own path is a paid-plan feature — Mailchimp’s free tier does not expose custom-coded templates. Everything else about this template is free and unrestricted.
Will my team be able to edit this without touching HTML?
Yes, for the regions marked editable. Each mc:edit region opens in the campaign builder with a WYSIWYG toolbar, so copy and images can change per send while the layout stays fixed.
Should a win-back email include a discount?
Only if the reason they left was price. Give them a reason to stay or an easy exit — a reflexive discount teaches the engaged half of your list to wait for the next one.
Does Break-up email for an animal rescue list — Mailchimp hold up in dark mode and Outlook?
Every zone sets its background twice — once as a bgcolor attribute and once as an inline background-color — which is the pattern that survives dark-mode inversion in clients that repaint backgrounds.
The “Keep me on the list” button is a bulletproof VML button, so Outlook on Windows draws a real filled button instead of collapsing it to a bare text link.
The layout is a 600px table backbone with a mobile breakpoint, and the CSS is already inlined for the clients that strip style blocks.
In the studio
Compose your own.
Describe what you want to send. Get a high-converting, dark-mode-safe template in seconds. Free tier, three generations a month, no card required.