Evergreen countdown timer for emails

An evergreen timer gives each subscriber their own deadline, which starts when they first see the email. It suits automated emails, where people arrive on different days.

Create an evergreen timer

Evergreen or fixed date?

A fixed-date timer counts down to the same moment for everyone, such as the end of your Black Friday sale. An evergreen timer counts down a set length of time, such as 48 hours, separately for each subscriber.

Use a fixed-date timer for a sale, launch or event with one real end date.
Use an evergreen timer for welcome offers, abandoned cart emails and other automations, where each person has their own window.

How to set one up

1
Choose Evergreen
Create a timer in SnapTimers, choose the Evergreen type, and set the duration, such as 24, 48 or 72 hours.
2
Select your email platform
When you export, select your email provider. SnapTimers adds that platform's personalization tag to the timer link, so it can tell subscribers apart.
3
Paste it into your email
Add the timer to your email using the steps in the guide for your platform.
4
Test with a real send
Send it to yourself, and check the time keeps counting down when you open it again later. Personalization tags often aren't filled in by preview or test sends.

What each plan includes

Free plan: the deadline is worked out from the moment of each open, so it restarts every time the email is opened.
Paid plans, from $9 a month: SnapTimers remembers each subscriber's deadline, so they see the same countdown every time they open the email.

Be honest about the deadline

An evergreen deadline should be real. If the timer says an offer ends in 48 hours, end the offer for that person when it reaches zero. A deadline that quietly resets teaches people to ignore you, and misleading urgency can create legal problems in some places.

To stop the offer at the right time, use a single-use or time-limited discount code from your store or email platform. The timer only displays the deadline, and doesn't turn off the discount by itself.

Known limits

Apple Mail Privacy Protection can download images when an email arrives rather than when it's opened. For those readers, the deadline may start before they actually read the email.
Your email platform has to fill in the personalization tag. If it sends the tag text instead, SnapTimers treats the viewer as anonymous, so one subscriber's countdown doesn't affect everyone else.
On platforms whose tag is an email address, the address appears in the image link and passes through our CDN and servers. We store only a keyed hash of it.

Questions

When does an evergreen timer start?

On paid plans, when the subscriber's email app first loads the timer image. That is usually when they open the email, but some apps and privacy features load images earlier.

Can I use it in Klaviyo flows?

Yes. Evergreen timers work in automated emails on any platform with a supported personalization tag, including Klaviyo and Mailchimp.

What happens when the timer reaches zero?

You choose. The timer can show zeros, disappear, or switch to a custom image.

Do I need a paid plan?

A paid plan is needed for a deadline that stays the same for each subscriber. On the free plan, the countdown restarts each time the email is opened.