Tutorial: How to add a countdown timer in email

More and more brands are using countdown timers in their email design. Countdown timers are dynamic, attention-grabbing, and fun to use. Brands are integrating these timers to encourage subscribers to snag a last-minute deal, register for a workshop, watch an event, and more. In today's workshop, we'll be showing you how easy it is to add a countdown timer in your email messages.

Tools you'll need

Today, we're going to use two tools to build our email with a dynamic countdown timer: an email design tool, and a simple, free-to-use online tool that will generate the HTML for our countdown email timer, creating the countdown as an animated GIF so it will render in email.

Step 1: Design the email

We're going to recreate a countdown timer email that a retailer recently sent its subscribers to announce the last chance for holiday shipping. In the editor, we opened up a basic template and started customizing the email design by dropping in a logo and adding text to the navigation menu, plus an additional image block underneath for the first part of the email.

Step 2: Make the countdown timer

Creating the timer is pretty straightforward. First, enter your end date — most tools let you set a date up to a month out. Then, update the colors; here, all we need is a beige background and black numbers, plugging in the HTML color code from the background of the email for an exact match. After pressing the Generate button, the tool gives you the HTML code and the timer is ready to use.

Step 3: Add the timer to your email

Copy only the link that's in the middle of the code. Back in the email editor, add a new image block in the email and paste the code for your timer in the URL box for the image. Just like that, your timer is active in the email. In preview mode, you can see how the width of the timer adjusts to fit a smaller screen.

Additional tools for creating countdown timers

A number of online platforms offer easy-to-use countdown timers you can add to your email campaigns beyond the one described above, so it's worth shopping around to find the interface and features that fit your workflow best.

Using a countdown timer in email? Go Pro!

We hope you enjoy using countdown timers to jazz up your emails. Let us know if you have any questions about this tutorial, and happy email designing!