Collect Subscribers with a Countdown Timer

A countdown timer is a virtual clock set to expire at a given time, usually indicating the beginning or end of an offer. The display helps generate awareness while creating a sense of urgency and scarcity that encourages shoppers to expedite their purchase decision. Countdown timers are an essential component of any business' conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy, as they leverage the innate power of FOMO (fear of missing out) to generate more conversions.

Create the display

To create a countdown timer:

Navigate to Convert > Templates and select Collect Email Subscribers from the left side menu.
Locate the Countdown with Discount - Email + Name template, click Get Started, and proceed to customize the display using the designer to match your branding and style.
Adjust the Coupon, Start date, Start time, End date, and End time of your timer. The selected coupon is provided to visitors who sign up for the display via the thank you page and the optional follow-up email.
Click Continue to start customizing the display's design.

✅ You can also add the Countdown Element to any existing display.

Target the right audience

As with all Privy Templates, a recommended target audience has already been selected for your display. In this case, a countdown timer with signup appears immediately for all audiences (everyone). To change these default settings, click on the appropriate card and update the settings.

Triggers and Visibility determine when and how the display appears to the visitor.
Audience Targeting targets the specific segment of visitors outlined in the section above. Learn more about attributes, activities, and behaviors.
Scheduling determines how long the display will appear to visitors and serves as the end of your countdown. Update the setting to display the timer on your design.
The optional Coupon setting allows you to change the coupon associated with the display

Advanced Settings

Advanced settings give you even more control over the behavior of your display.

Sign Up Rules control how often a contact can sign up for your display. By default, this is set to once.
Opt-in: Single opt-in - Subscribe new contacts to your email list upon signup. Contacts become mailable upon form submission. Double Opt-in - Send new contacts an opt-in confirmation email upon signup. Contacts become mailable after they confirm via email. Learn More.
Sync Integrations, once set up, will automatically sync each contact that signs up to your preferred ESP.
Profile Attributes automatically collect data from your sign ups, without requiring your customers to fill out a form field. Learn More.

Follow-up the display

Enable and customize the default after-signup email to send an email to the individuals who decided to sign up for the display.
Select the Add Email to Series option to send additional after-signup emails.
Select the Create After Sign Up Text option to send an after-signup text message to the individuals who decided to sign up for the display.

Note: The text message option requires a Privy Text subscription. Additionally, a customer is only eligible to receive texts if their phone number was collected via a Privy display using the phone field, they checked the text opt-in checkbox, and they answered "YES" to the double opt-in message sent to their number.

Launch the display

Once the display has been created, the target audience selected, and any desired follow-up messages configured, select the Publish button at the upper right of the Follow-up step and confirm your decision in the prompt.

The countdown timer display is now live and will appear to your qualifying customers.

Review the results

After a display is published, you can dig into its performance by navigating to the All Displays dashboard, selecting the display, and clicking the Reporting option.