diff --git a/_includes/lesson_footer.html b/_includes/lesson_footer.html
index e143daa64130d7bd40af62d5dfaa2a376a242258..0424e330956d7f0a22b417aced6b6941545a3570 100644
--- a/_includes/lesson_footer.html
+++ b/_includes/lesson_footer.html
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 	/
 	<a href="{{ site.github.repository_url }}/blob/gh-pages/CONTRIBUTING.md">Contributing</a>
 	/
-	<a href="mailto:{{ site.email }}">Contact</a>
+	<a href="mailto:{{ site.contact }}">Contact</a>
       </h4>
     </div>
   </div>
diff --git a/bin/lesson_initialize.py b/bin/lesson_initialize.py
index 28b2f9075ae640e260d063251640c7ad17f7e5fe..247b425fe556ec97ddb8f24b81eb74bdedded053 100755
--- a/bin/lesson_initialize.py
+++ b/bin/lesson_initialize.py
@@ -181,8 +181,10 @@ carpentry: "swc"
 # Overall title for pages.
 title: "Lesson Title"
 
-# Contact email address.
-email: lessons@software-carpentry.org
+# Contact.  This *must* include the protocol: if it's an email
+# address, it must look like "mailto:lessons@software-carpentry.org",
+# or if it's a URL, "https://gitter.im/username/ProjectName".
+contact: mailto:lessons@software-carpentry.org
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------
 # Generic settings (should not need to change).