Evergreen countdown timers for email
An evergreen countdown timer shows each recipient their own deadline instead of one shared campaign date — 48 hours from when they abandoned a cart, 7 days from when they started a trial. The offer feels timely for every person, no matter when they entered your funnel. UrgencyKit renders it as a live image, so it works in every email client with no JavaScript.
How it works
Every UrgencyKit embed includes a ?end= value that overrides the campaign's default
deadline. Your email platform computes and stores each recipient's deadline — an event property, a
contact attribute, a merge field — and you swap the ?end= value for that merge tag.
On every open, UrgencyKit renders the countdown against that recipient's deadline:
The ?end= value accepts a Unix timestamp or ISO 8601 date. The deadline lives in
your platform — which means it works with the flow logic you already have, instead of
forcing you into another tool's funnel builder.
Merge tag syntax by platform
| Platform | Example ?end= value |
|---|---|
| Mailchimp | *|DEADLINE|* |
| Klaviyo | {{ person.offer_deadline }} |
| Brevo | {{ contact.DEADLINE }} |
| HubSpot | {{ contact.offer_deadline }} |
| Salesforce Marketing Cloud | %%=v(@deadline)=%% |
Each guide above walks through the platform's setup step by step. Any other platform with merge tags works the same way.
No dead offers in old inboxes
When a recipient's deadline passes, the timer switches to a custom expired state — an alternate image, an "offer ended" message, or nothing at all. Emails opened after the deadline never show a stale countdown, and never advertise an offer that no longer exists.
Built for marketing teams
- On-brand designs: upload a background from Canva, Figma, or Photoshop, and style the countdown with 170+ fonts, colors, and stacked or inline layouts.
- Automate at scale: the REST API creates, publishes, and manages campaigns programmatically — provision a countdown per product drop, per cohort, or per customer from your own stack.
- Engagement analytics: see reach, peak open times, and how many opens happened while the timer was still live versus after it expired.
- Works everywhere: delivered as a standard image, so it renders in Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook, Yahoo and essentially every client — see email client support.
Where evergreen timers earn their keep
- Abandoned carts — "your cart is saved for 24 hours", counting from each abandonment.
- Trial expirations — each user sees their own trial-end countdown in reminder emails.
- Welcome-series offers — a first-purchase discount that expires N days after each signup.
- Automated webinars — count down to each registrant's session time.
Frequently asked questions
What is an evergreen countdown timer?
A countdown that shows each recipient their own deadline instead of one shared campaign date — for example, 48 hours from when they abandoned a cart. The offer feels timely for everyone, whenever they entered the funnel.
How does UrgencyKit personalize the deadline per recipient?
Your email platform stores each recipient's deadline; you swap the embed's ?end= value
for that merge tag. UrgencyKit renders every open against the recipient's own deadline.
What happens when the deadline passes?
The timer switches to a custom expired state — an alternate image, a message, or nothing — so old emails never show a dead offer.
Which platforms support evergreen countdowns?
Any platform with merge tags: Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Brevo, HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, ActiveCampaign and more.