Testing and efficiency for e mail countdown timers
After you’ve completed your designs, it’s time for testing.
How you can check your countdown timer
Right here at Litmus, we’re a bit of obsessive about pre-send testing, which we at all times advocate for any new aspect in your e mail (particularly with e mail shopper help altering with out warning typically.) You possibly can preview your countdown timer instantly in Litmus Personalize, so that you don’t have to attend for a check ship or toggle between a number of instruments to know precisely the way it seems.
Ought to I A/B check my countdown timer?
Along with pre-send testing, countdown timers are an excellent aspect to A/B check in your emails. Each viewers is totally different, and each marketing campaign is totally different, so it’s one of the best ways to seek out out if it actually does add a way of urgency and enhance conversions or fall flat. Be sure to have a particular speculation behind your check – why will the countdown timer enhance engagement. If there isn’t a purpose for a countdown timer to be in an e mail, you may not see the enhance in engagement that you simply’re searching for.
Can I monitor the efficiency of countdown timers with Litmus?
Sure! Litmus Electronic mail Analytics exhibits your e mail efficiency, from open to learn charges . You too can use your e mail service supplier to take a look at your efficiency.
To find out whether or not or not your countdown timer was profitable, return to your marketing campaign’s targets. Is it to encourage extra folks to re-open the e-mail, like our NYE Swag Drop Email, or to get extra conversions, like for a Black Friday or Cyber Monday marketing campaign? Check out how your countdown timers make it easier to obtain these targets (or not!) as you consider it for future campaigns.
How you can create an e mail countdown timer with Litmus Personalize
You don’t must know easy methods to code HTML to create a countdown timer in your e mail campaigns. Steps to embed your individual e mail countdown timer in Litmus Personalize:
Go to your Campaigns tab. There you’ll discover a library of e mail templates you should use as a place to begin. Underneath Templates, click on Countdown Clocks > New Template.Add a background picture that may seem behind the day, hour, minutes, or seconds within the countdown timer.Add blocks to fill within the numbers, after which customise your countdown timer to the font, coloration, and sizing that matches your model and e mail design from the editor on the best.If you wish to create a particular expiration message, scroll down on the best hand aspect underneath Expiration State and select a customized message utilizing the identical background coloration to edit or add your individual picture. Equally, create a fallback for e mail shoppers that don’t help countdown timers by going to MPP Fallback state to decide on whether or not to cover the countdown timer solely or create a fallback possibility. If you’re prepared, click on Preview and double test that it seems accurately. If it seems to be good, click on save and identify your timer.
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Examples of countdown timers within the wild
Countdown timers are extraordinarily versatile. It’s a standard tactic to advertise gross sales or occasions, however that’s only the start of what you should use them for:
How retailers use countdown timers
In retail, they’re predominately used to countdown till the beginning or finish of a promotion. They’re additionally used lots to visually present supply data (e.g. two hours left to buy next-day supply). Manufacturers additionally use them for product launches, stock drops, or in-store occasions.
This timer from Kate Spade, positioned instantly beneath the emblem, is a beautiful instance of a small, punchy timer that captures consideration.
How monetary providers can use countdown timers
Whereas monetary companies have extra laws round what they will and can’t ship of their emails, they will nonetheless use personalization successfully. Arduous deadlines—round tax season, retirement contributions, your insurance coverage protection, or different utility dates—can all use a countdown timer.
We created this instance in Litmus Personalize to point out you what it may appear to be.
How journey and hospitality makes use of countdown timers
For accommodations, airways, and eating places, countdown timers can construct a whole lot of pleasure. It could be a countdown till your check-in time or flight, for when tickets go on sale for a particular occasion or dinner, or to a sure native vacation.
P&O Ferries makes use of a roundel for his or her countdown timer to let clients know the way lengthy that they had left to vary their departure dates for no additional price. Easy, but efficient!
How B2B corporations use countdown timers
We’re massive followers of the concept that B2B doesn’t should imply boring. Embed a countdown timer to shock clients for his or her loyalty anniversary, remind new clients about their free trial ending, or promote your largest sale of the 12 months.
This instance from Wix exhibits how one can make the countdown timer entrance and middle in your e mail, with just a few supporting particulars on the promotion, to actually make an impression.
How nonprofits and better ed use countdown timers
They might use a countdown timer to create urgency round a donation matching time interval or round utility deadlines for college, a grant, or scholarships.
We created this instance in Litmus Personalize to point out you what it may appear to be.
Have interaction with 1:1 experiences
Ship personalised content material at scale. Use stay polls, dynamic content material, and superior focusing on to drive outcomes.
Personalize now
Finest practices for utilizing countdown timers
Like every e mail advertising tactic, you don’t wish to overdo it. Whereas they are often highly effective parts so as to add to your emails, keep away from utilizing countdown timers too steadily. Right here’s easy methods to benefit from them:
Electronic mail advertising technique for countdown timers
In case you’re doing a countdown in an e mail, be certain it’s tied to the remainder of your promotional technique. Will this be the final sale of the season, for instance? Or the very best one of many 12 months? Ask your self these questions as you propose your subsequent e mail advertising marketing campaign:
What forms of campaigns are e mail countdown timers finest fitted to?
Use them for giant occasions, pricing promotions, or private issues like a birthday or vacation countdown. “We solely add them to an e mail marketing campaign or promotion that ends,” says Carin Slater, Lifecycle Electronic mail Advertising Supervisor right here at Litmus. “We used to place countdown timers in all of our occasion webinar emails, for instance, however we discovered that as a result of webinars are recorded, there wasn’t sufficient urgency there.”
Countdown timers may also be utilized in transactional emails (or operational emails). Under is an instance from a transactional ship to Litmus Reside 2022 attendees that includes a countdown timer not essentially to drive motion however extra so create pleasure for an upcoming occasion.
How lengthy is just too lengthy for a countdown timer?
Countdown timers don’t create a way of urgency and shortage on their very own. They work along with the remainder of your promotion to take action—that’s why it is best to solely run a countdown timer on a marketing campaign that truly ends. We’d additionally advocate not utilizing timers when the promotion ends too far sooner or later as a result of brief time home windows imply openers are extra inclined to take motion.
Do countdown timers have an effect on your deliverability?
Like something with deliverability…it relies upon. (We all know! So irritating!) There’s nothing inherent a couple of countdown timer that journeys a spam filter, for instance. However in the event you overuse countdown timers—or constantly pretend out your subscribers and lose belief with them—it may impression your engagement, which might negatively impression your sender fame in case your subscribers resolve to begin marking your emails as spam
Are you able to embrace different kinds of personalization with a timer?
Sure, in fact! Litmus Personalize lets you add a number of layers of real-time personalization in your emails alongside a countdown timer. An awesome instance of pairing a countdown timer with different stay content material is with personalised pictures. Making a dynamic, individualized expertise at scale? *chef’s kiss*
This timer from trend retailer Topshop consists of the recipient’s identify (through personalised imagery) above the countdown timer, including a contact of personalization in addition to urgency to buy.
It nonetheless blows our minds that 56% of entrepreneurs personalize lower than 25% of emails they ship. Countdown timers are only one solution to personalize your emails—the extra you should use subscriber knowledge and habits to construct a dynamic, individualized e mail, the higher efficiency you’ll see.
A part of why entrepreneurs don’t use personalization as a lot as they may is as a result of it has a fame for being finicky and tough to implement with e mail shopper help and coding hoops you must leap by means of. With Litmus Personalize, you possibly can simply add all types of dynamic content material without having to be a coding whiz. The extra inventive, the higher.
A word on the ethics of utilizing a countdown timer
Urgency and shortage are each efficient psychological instruments to encourage extra folks to enroll or buy from you. However it is best to use them sparingly, and ethically.
Don’t mislead your subscribers by making them assume a sale is ending if you’ll be operating one other one in 24 hours or telling them there are just a few gadgets left in inventory when you’ve warehouses filled with stock. Countdown timers can create a way of urgency round an occasion or promotion, however provided that the occasion or promotion really has an finish date.
“In case you say one thing goes to finish, then it has to finish,” says Slater. “In any other case, it’s a breach of belief. It’s just like the boy who cried wolf, primarily. Folks aren’t going to belief you after that. Particularly in the event you do it repeatedly.”
In case you create a false sense of urgency with a countdown timer your subscribers will keep in mind and including a countdown timer to your subsequent e mail may not have the impression that you desire to.
How you can message and label your countdown timers
For max impression, clear messaging is important to creating a countdown timer significant and straightforward to grasp. In some instances, we’ve seen countdown timers positioned on the high of an e mail with out some other data. “If it’s only a banner throughout the highest with no rationalization or purpose as to why it’s there, it gained’t carry out as effectively. Why are we counting down? Why ought to I be enthusiastic about this?” says Slater.
This instance from lingerie retailer Boux Avenue makes use of clear, informative messaging, however nonetheless retains the model’s id on the forefront.
Then, be certain to place time labels on each countdown timer so recipients know the way lengthy they’ve left earlier than the timer runs out. Don’t neglect to incorporate days, hours, minutes, or seconds to make it clear to subscribers what you’re counting all the way down to. Keep away from solely utilizing numbers as this may be complicated.
On this instance from sports activities vitamin and wellness retailer Bulk, they’ve clearly marked out the hours, minutes, and seconds within the header picture. This looks as if a easy step, nevertheless it’s one too many manufacturers neglect.
Improve conversions with Litmus Personalize
It doesn’t take fancy coding so as to add a countdown timer or different highly effective personalization techniques to your subsequent e mail marketing campaign. Use Litmus Personalize to create beautiful e mail designs tailor-made to particular person subscribers. Study extra >
