Using Countdown Timer Bars & Popups to Create Urgency

If you have an E-Commerce store or sell something online you'll be planning various sales, product launches & promotions throughout the year.

A very easy tactic that many stores use is to use a bar to let users know exactly how much time they have to order an item or redeem a specific promotion.

This leverages the psychology of urgency to provoke the user to take action in a subtle but not forceful way. You can run this type of promotion in specific sections of your site or across every page.

You can also interrupt your user with a popup that uses the same psychology. A popup can be jarring to the user, but it can also force them to make a quick decision on the spot (which can have positive or negative influences on your conversion rates).

Creating countdown bars and popups is incredibly easy with Gleam's Capture app. All you need to do is choose our Countdown template and select either the Popup or Bar layout and customise your countdown timer so it's look exactly how you want it to.

When you create a countdown bar you can completely customise everything including the text, fonts, colours, logos and of course, when you're counting down towards.

You'll also need to decide what happens when users engage with your countdown bar and click on your link. You can do this in the Post Capture tab of your Capture setup.

The best option is to simply redirect users to your sales page where they can follow through with the purchase (or other action) you're trying to drive.

Putting together a countdown popup with Capture is very similar to creating a countdown bar. You will need to customise your text, imagery, and timer. Only this time you'll have a different format to work within.

When you create a countdown popup you have two different options for what happens when users interact with your popup:

The first option is to simply capture clicks and redirect users to your sales page. You can do this by selecting Clicks under Capturing in the Layout tab of your Capture setup.

This is a great option for drawing attention to a limited time offer on your site.

The second option is to collect the names and email addresses of interested users who interact with your popup. All you need to do is select Email or Name + Email under Capturing in the Layout tab.

This is a highly effective approach to take, as it gives you the opportunity to use time sensitive offers and discounts to not only drive immediate action, but also generate leads which will give your future promotional efforts are major boost.

Once users sign up you can choose to:

• Redirect sign-ups to exclusive sales pages (perfect for special discounts, limited edition products and pre-release tickets).
• Give out discount codes using a thank-you message and direct users to you store to redeem their code and make a purchase.
• Email users an exclusive discount code to redeem at your store (just make sure they know it's on its way).

No matter what approach you decide to take, countdown timers are always a fantastic way to build urgency and encourage immediate action anytime you run a sale or promotion on your website.

Start Building Urgency With Countdown Bars & Popups

Check out our helpful documentation for step by step instructions on setting up your own Countdown or get started right away!