How to Create Scarcity With Countdown Timers in 5 EASY Steps

When everything feels available all the time, people hesitate to make decisions. If visitors think they can come back later and get the same deal, they’ll leave without taking action. But what if they knew the offer wouldn’t last?

Scarcity is one of the most effective ways to drive conversions. When people see that time is running out, they act fast to avoid missing out. Top brands use this strategy every day to boost sales, and you can too.

At OptinMonster, we’ve spent over a decade helping businesses increase website conversions. We know that countdown timers are one of the best tools for creating real scarcity that encourages visitors to act now instead of waiting.

In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to create scarcity with countdown timers on your site. In just 5 easy steps!

• How to Create Scarcity With Countdown Timers
  • Step 1: Select Your Campaign Type & Template
  • Step 2: Modify Your Campaign & Add Your Countdown Timer
  • Step 3: Configure Your Countdown Timer’s Settings
  • Step 4: Set Your Targeting Rules
  • Step 5: Integrate Your Email Service Provider

How to Create Scarcity With Countdown Timers

For this tutorial, I’ll build scarcity with countdown timers using OptinMonster:

OptinMonster is the most powerful lead generation tool on the market. It allows anyone to build professional and high-converting campaigns in a matter of minutes.

Plus, you won’t need any technical or design experience to build stunning optin campaigns, including:

• Popups
• Floating bars
• Fullscreen welcome mats
• Gamified spin wheels
• Inline campaigns
• And much more…

Each of these campaign types can get your site MORE conversions. You can add a countdown timer to every single one of these campaign types with a simple drag and drop:

Ready to follow along? Click below to start your 100% risk-free OptinMonster account today. You’ll need the Pro plan or higher to access the Countdown Timer feature.

Remember, OptinMonster can be used with any platform. So if you need some help getting connected, that’s no problem. You can get set up by following  whichever tutorial fits your specific needs:

• How to Connect OptinMonster to WordPress
• How to Connect OptinMonster to ANY Website

Now you’re ready to start building scarcity with countdown timers across your site.

Step 1: Select Your Campaign Type & Template

When you’re in the OptinMonster dashboard, your first step is to create a new campaign.

From your OptinMonster dashboard, click Create New Campaign in the upper right-hand corner of your account:

You’ll be prompted to choose how you want to create your campaign. If you want to design your campaign from scratch, choose Canvas. However, I recommend selecting Template.

Then, you’ll be able to browse OptinMonster’s 700+ premade templates, all of which are already optimized for conversions.

Select the campaign type you want a template for:

You can even filter the results for templates that already include a Countdown Timer:

If you select one of these Countdown Timer templates, you’ll need minimal editing. For example, you could start with this Flash Sale template:

Adjust the percentage if needed and perhaps change some colors to match your branding, and you’ll be ready to go.

However, you can add a countdown timer to any template, so you’re not limited to the options that already include one.

Once you’ve selected the template you want to work with, all you need to do is name your campaign and click Start Building:

Step 2: Modify Your Campaign (& Add Your Countdown Timer)

So far, you’ve chosen a campaign type and a template that fits your brand’s voice and style.

From here, all you need to do is personalize the messaging of your offer, so it resonates with your target audience.

Doing so couldn’t be easier. You can simply select the text you want to change and modify it directly in the campaign builder:

For other elements, simply click on the block to bring up editing options in the left panel:

But what if you chose a template that didn’t already have a countdown timer in it?

That’s not a problem.

You can easily add any type of block, including a Countdown block, into your campaign.

You’ll then be able to edit the styling of the Countdown block in the left panel.

You can add other features, too, like:

• Images
• Videos
• Text
• Custom HTML
• Icons
• Dividers
• And much more…

The bottom line is that OptinMonster makes it EASY to customize your scarcity campaigns.

You won’t need any coding skills, and you’ll have 100% control over the look, style, and messaging of your popup.

Now that we have a campaign with an active countdown timer, let’s find the right settings for your promotional offer.

Step 3: Configure Your Countdown Timer’s Settings

As we mentioned earlier, there are 2 types of countdown timers you can choose from:

• Static countdown timers have a fixed start and end date. These are great for holiday deals like Black Friday and Cyber Monday that have universally known stopping times. They’re also good for flash sales and limited-time offers.
• Dynamic countdown timers give every visitor the same amount of time, regardless of when they see the campaign. For example, you can display an exit popup that offers an extra discount that’s only good for 20 minutes.

You’ll need to decide which type of countdown timer is best for your offer.

Once you’ve answered that question, click on the countdown timer block in your builder. This will pull up the editing rules on the left-hand side menu.

Here you’ll be able to set your Static or Dynamic countdown type:

Depending on which you choose, you’ll have different customization options.

Static countdown timers let you change your:

• End date
• End time
• Timezone
• Unit Display Type
• And more

Dynamic countdown timers let you configure settings like:

• End date and time
• Unit display type
• Unit display position
• And more

These settings let you fine-tune your countdown timer to create the right level of scarcity for your offers.

You can also style your timer by clicking the Advanced tab in the left panel settings:

In this tab, you can adjust fonts, colors, background, and more.

Step 4: Set Your Targeting and Triggering Rules

Once you’ve built your scarcity countdown timer popup, you’ve completed half the battle.

The next step is to add a few basic targeting triggering rules, so this campaign appears in the right places, to the right people, and at just the right times in their customer journey.

Start by clicking the Display Rules tab at the top of your OptinMonster dashboard.

By default, you have 2 rules set:

• Time on page is at least 5 seconds
• Current URL path is on any page

You can change those settings and add any of OptinMonster’s powerful display rules to customize your offer.

We won’t get into much detail on all of the display rules OptinMonster has, but here are a few of the most popular:

• Exit Intent® Technology: Recover abandoning visitors as they’re actively leaving your website for good.
• Geolocation: Personalize your offers by targeting people based on their physical location.
• Page-Level Targeting: Boost conversions by matching your offer with the on-page content your visitors are reading.
• OnSite Retargeting®: Keep users engaged by showing fresh campaigns to returning visitors.

These and similar targeting rules are how companies like Crossrope grew their list by 900%.

And countdown timers are how Cracku boosted conversions by 300% AND converted 3.29% of visitors into sales.

Finally, we’re on to the last step: connecting your email service provider (ESP) to OptinMonster.

Step 5: Integrate Your Email Service Provider

This last part is optional but highly recommended.

That’s because OptinMonster gives you the ability to send new leads directly to your ESP.

That way, you can automate your email marketing strategy to save yourself time, energy, and headaches while growing your business.

From the Integrations tab in your OptinMonster dashboard, click Add New Integration:

Then select your ESP from the drop-down menu:

In most cases, you’ll simply need to enter your email provider’s API Key to get everything connected.

Don’t see your ESP on the list? No worries.

Check out this article on how to set up OptinMonster with ANY email provider with webhooks.

But now, let’s take things one step further.

If you’re trying to make the MOST of your email marketing efforts, then you should be organizing your email list into sub-groups.

This is a process called “audience segmentation,” and it’s really important for boosting conversions.

You can create different sub-groups in your ESP based on similarities in buying patterns, purchase history, demographics, and more.

This lets you personalize your messaging, so you can create better and more irresistible offers.

Then, when a user signs up, you can designate which sub-group you want your new leads to go to. And you can do all that from your OptinMonster dashboard.

Once you’ve connected your ESP, simply select the list you want your new leads to go:

And now you have a fully automated email marketing system in place.

Now all that’s left is to save, preview, and publish your campaign!

You can do that by switching to the Publish tab in your OptinMonster editor. Under the Publish Status heading, select Publish.

You’ll select your website platform and follow the instructions to add your campaign to your site.

If you use WordPress, all you need to do is log into your WordPress dashboard and go to OptinMonster > Campaigns.

Then locate your campaign and make sure the status is set to Publish:

You now have a fully functional scarcity countdown timer popup for your website.

Remember, countdown timers can be added just as easily to:

• Floating bars
• Slide-in scroll boxes
• Fullscreen welcome mats
• Gamified spin wheels
• Inline campaigns
• And more…

This gives you plenty of flexibility in creating irresistible offers with limited time for your visitors to act.

If you add one of these campaigns to your current marketing strategy, we’re confident you’ll see higher conversions and MORE sales in no time.

We hope this tutorial helped you add a scarcity countdown timer to your website.

If you enjoyed the post, you’ll definitely want to check out the following resources:

• 34 Clever Scarcity Examples to Skyrocket Your Conversions
• How to Use Urgency to Hack Your Conversion Rate
• Email Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide

These articles will have even more information on how you can grow your list, drive conversions, and increase sales today!