How to Add Columns in Mailchimp

Most people open Mailchimp, stare at the blank canvas, and paste in a wall of text.

Then they wonder why nobody clicks.

The fix is simpler than you think — columns. A well-structured multi-column layout makes your email scannable, professional, and far more likely to drive action. And Mailchimp’s drag-and-drop builder makes it surprisingly easy once you know exactly where to look.

This guide walks you through every method to add columns in Mailchimp — from basic two-column splits to advanced multi-section layouts — so your emails finally look as good as the message inside them.

Why Columns Matter in Email Marketing

Before jumping into the how, it helps to understand the why — because columns aren’t just a visual preference.

Email engagement data makes the case clearly:

• Emails with a clear visual hierarchy get up to 3x more clicks than plain single-column emails (Campaign Monitor)
• 46% of all emails are now opened on mobile devices, making responsive column layouts essential (Litmus, 2023)
• Marketers who use segmented, well-structured campaigns report up to 760% increase in email revenue compared to generic blasts (Campaign Monitor)
• Multi-column templates are used by over 64% of brands in their promotional email programs (HubSpot)
• Personalized, well-designed emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates than non-personalized ones (Experian)

The takeaway: layout and structure directly influence whether people engage or bounce.

What You Can Build With Mailchimp Columns

Mailchimp’s column blocks let you create layouts like:

• Two-column product spotlights (image left, text right)
• Three-column feature comparisons or team intros
• Mixed-width layouts (wide content block + narrow sidebar)
• Icon + text grids for benefits or feature lists
• Side-by-side CTAs that push readers to two different actions

Each of these starts with the same simple process — adding a column block to your template.

How to Add Columns in Mailchimp: Classic Builder

If you’re using Mailchimp’s Classic drag-and-drop builder (the most common version), here’s how to add columns step by step.

Open Your Campaign or Template

Log into Mailchimp and navigate to Campaigns → Email → Create Email. If you’re editing an existing campaign, click Edit next to the campaign you want to update.

Choose Design Email to enter the email builder.

Locate the Content Blocks Panel

On the right side of the builder, you’ll see a panel with draggable content blocks. These include:

• Text
• Image
• Button
• Divider
• Social
• Multi-Column blocks (this is what you want)

Drag a Multi-Column Block Into Your Layout

Scroll down in the right panel until you see blocks labeled:

• 2 Columns
• 3 Columns
• Left Sidebar (wide right + narrow left)
• Right Sidebar (wide left + narrow right)
• Column + Image

Drag your preferred layout block into the email canvas. Drop it where you want it — above or below existing content sections.

Add Content to Each Column

Once the column block is in place, click inside each individual column to start adding content.

Each column acts as its own container. You can add:

• Text
• Images
• Buttons
• Dividers

Click on a column, then use the editing panel on the right to adjust font, size, color, padding, and alignment.

Adjust Column Width and Padding

Click the column block (not a specific column within it) to access the full block settings. Here you can:

• Adjust padding — controls the space inside each column
• Set background color — useful for differentiating columns visually
• Mobile stacking order — choose which column appears on top when the layout stacks on mobile

This is critical. With 46% of emails opened on mobile, getting your stacking order right directly impacts whether readers see the most important content first.

Save and Preview

Once you’ve added your columns and content, click Preview to see how the layout looks on desktop and mobile. Mailchimp’s preview tool lets you toggle between both views.

If anything looks off — misaligned text, overcrowded images, broken stacking — go back and adjust padding or font sizes.

How to Add Columns in Mailchimp: New Builder

Mailchimp rolled out a newer builder experience for some accounts. The process is similar but the interface looks different.

Access the New Builder

Create a new campaign and select the new builder when prompted. You may see it labeled as the Updated Email Builder or simply the redesigned interface with a different layout panel.

Use the Layout Option

In the new builder, instead of a content block panel on the right, you’ll work with a Layout option at the section level.

Click Add Section at the bottom of the canvas (or between existing sections). A section settings panel appears.

Select Your Column Configuration

When you add a new section, Mailchimp gives you column configuration options:

• 1 column
• 2 columns
• 3 columns
• Custom split (e.g., 33/67, 25/75)

Choose your layout, and the section splits into columns.

Populate Each Column

Click inside any column in the new section and start adding content blocks. The new builder allows you to drag Image, Text, Button, and other blocks directly into each column.

Adjust the Section Settings

Click on the section outline to access settings for:

• Column gap — space between columns
• Section padding — top/bottom spacing
• Background color — at the section or individual column level
• Mobile stacking — which column goes first on mobile

How to Add Columns to an Existing Template

If you already have a template and want to add columns without rebuilding from scratch, follow these steps.

Edit the Existing Template

Go to Audience → Templates (or Campaigns → Templates depending on your Mailchimp plan). Find your template and click Edit.

Add a New Content Row

In the builder, scroll to where you want to add a column section. Click the + icon between existing rows to insert a new row.

From the row options, select a multi-column layout.

Match Your Existing Styling

To keep the template looking consistent, match the background color, font, and padding of the new column row to the rows above and below it. Mailchimp doesn’t auto-match styles, so this is a manual step.

Building a Three-Column Layout That Actually Works

Three-column layouts are popular for product features, team spotlights, and icon grids. But they can easily go wrong if you overload each column.

Rules for an effective three-column layout:

• Keep text in each column under 40 words
• Use a consistent image size in all three columns (Mailchimp recommends 200px width per column for standard 600px email widths)
• Add a single CTA button per column only if each column has a distinct action
• Leave enough padding between columns — at least 20px gap prevents a cramped look
• Test on mobile — three columns almost always stack to single columns on smaller screens

Common Problems When Adding Columns (And How to Fix Them)

Columns Not Stacking Correctly on Mobile

This is the most frequent complaint. Mailchimp’s responsive design stacks columns automatically, but the order matters.

Fix: Go to the column block settings and look for Mobile Layout or Stack on Mobile options. Choose which column appears first when stacking occurs. Lead with your most important content.

Images Looking Stretched or Distorted

If you drag an image into a column and it looks stretched, the image dimensions don’t match the column width.

Fix: Resize your image before uploading. For a standard 600px email with two equal columns, each column is approximately 260px wide after padding. For three columns, aim for 160-180px images.

Text Too Small on Mobile

Column text that reads fine on desktop can shrink to tiny sizes on mobile.

Fix: Set minimum font size to 14px for body text inside columns. In Mailchimp’s style settings, you can set global text sizes or adjust per-column.

Inconsistent Column Heights

When one column has more content than another, the columns look uneven.

Fix: Add a spacer block or increase padding at the bottom of shorter columns to even out the visual weight. Alternatively, use background colors to frame each column clearly so height differences look intentional.

Tips to Make Your Mailchimp Column Layouts Convert Better

Adding columns is only step one. Making them work for your goals is step two.

Use contrast to direct attention. Put your primary CTA in the left or top column — readers naturally scan left-to-right and top-to-bottom. A study by Nielsen Norman Group found that F-pattern reading is extremely common in email and web content.

Limit columns to two or three maximum. More than three columns in a standard email (600px wide) creates a cluttered experience. Email clients like Gmail and Outlook can also render wider column setups unpredictably.

A/B test your column layouts. Mailchimp’s built-in A/B testing lets you test two versions of the same campaign. Marketers who regularly A/B test emails see 37% higher returns compared to those who don’t (Invesp).

Align images consistently. If you’re using images in a multi-column layout, center-align all of them. Mixing centered and left-aligned images inside adjacent columns creates visual noise.

Use white space intentionally. Don’t fill every column with dense content. White space improves readability and makes your most important elements — like CTAs or product images — stand out.

Mailchimp Column Stats Worth Knowing

• The average open rate for Mailchimp emails across all industries is 21.33% (Mailchimp internal data)
• Emails with one clear CTA see 371% more clicks than emails with multiple competing CTAs (WordStream)
• Adding personalization to well-structured emails increases click-through rates by 14% and conversions by 10% (Aberdeen)
• Segmented email campaigns see 14.31% higher open rates and 100.95% higher clicks than non-segmented campaigns (Mailchimp)
• Emails with optimized mobile layouts see a 15% increase in click-to-open rates versus non-optimized emails (Litmus)

These numbers point to the same conclusion: structure and targeting matter as much as the copy inside.

Conclusion

Adding columns in Mailchimp is one of the fastest ways to make your emails look more professional and perform better. Whether you’re building a product spotlight, a feature comparison, or a team intro, the drag-and-drop column blocks in both the Classic and New Builder make it accessible — even without design experience.

The key is matching your layout to your goal. Two columns for focus and contrast. Three columns for structured grids. Sidebar layouts for content + CTA pairings. And always, always test on mobile before hitting send.

Well-structured emails generate more clicks. More clicks generate more pipeline. And pipeline — no matter how it’s built — is what actually grows a business.

If you want that pipeline flowing even faster, email marketing is just one piece of the outbound puzzle. Reaching decision-makers directly on LinkedIn — without fighting spam filters or deliverability issues — is where the 15–25% response rates live.