Hey there, Mandy!
There are a couple of options for adding some extra text around the form. Under “Settings” -> “MailChimp Setup”, there are a couple of areas that allow you to add your own text (and HTML!) to the form. For the area right above the Email field, you’ll generally want to use the “Sub-Heading” area.
From there, you can add a quick blurb right above the first field in your list. Here’s how things will look:
Screenshot — http://cl.ly/1c0p3s1Q2P2g2z1n0s1R
The “Header content” will give you the “SIGN UP FOR COPY OF THIS IS A TEST LIST!” portion of the screenshot and the “Sub-Header content” will give you the “TEST!!” portion.
As far as adding text in the “Email” field, there are a couple of options, available for that as well!
The easiest way to do something like that is to add a “pre-defined value” to the merge field in your list.
How do I set default merge values (like Dear Customer)?: http://eepurl.com/hcDC
After adding that value, you’ll also want to update your list setting in the WordPress plugin, as well. Just go to “Settings” -> “MailChimp Setup” -> “Update List”.
There’s also a more advanced way to do this, as well. However, this other way includes modifying the plugin’s code, which we can’t support if things go wrong. For more information on that method, check out this post:
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-mailchimp-list-subscribe-form-request-add-placeholder-text-for-mailchimp-widget?replies=12
Let us know if we can assist with anything else.
Cheers
