Adding a Countdown Timer to Your Upsell Offers

You can add a live countdown timer to your upsell offers to create a sense of urgency and encourage customers to act before the deal ends. The timer appears as a bar inside the offer widget on your storefront, counting down in real time.

Which offers support the countdown timer

The countdown timer is available on these Upsell Builder offer types:

  • Product Bundles
  • Volume Discounts
  • Buy X Get Y (BOGO)
  • Gift
  • Spending Goal

For Volume Discounts, the countdown is available on the Light, Details, Cards and Table layouts. The Badge layout has no countdown bar, so the setting doesn't appear when that layout is selected.

How to add a countdown timer to an offer

  1. Open the Vitals dashboard and go to the Upsell Builder app.
  2. Open the offer you want to edit (or create a new one).
  3. Find the Countdown timer section in the offer's content settings:
    • For Gift and Spending Goal offers, it's in the Widget card on the main offer page.
    • For Product Bundles, Volume Discounts and Buy X Get Y, it's in the content list of the product-page placement.
  4. Turn on the "Add countdown timer" checkbox.
  5. Set the timer Title — this is the text shown on the countdown bar. Use the Insert timer option to place the live countdown inside your text (for example: "Your discount expires in: 12:34"). You can also generate a title with AI using the magic icon next to the field.
  6. Choose how the countdown runs (see the options below).
  7. Save the offer.

Styling the countdown bar

The bar's look is controlled separately from its text and timing. Open the placement's Customize appearance editor, where you can set:

  • Background and Text colors, to match your store.
  • Alignment — left, center or right.
  • Size — the bar's text size in pixels.

Countdown options

  • "Fixed duration" — the timer counts down for the number of minutes you set in the "Duration" field, which defaults to 15 minutes (minimum 1). When it reaches zero, the countdown resets and starts again.
  • "Ends at midnight (user's local time)" — the timer counts down to midnight in each visitor's local time, then resets every day. Great for "today only" style messaging.
  • "Apply set end date from Visibility & schedule" — the timer counts down to the end date set in the offer's Visibility & schedule section, and the countdown bar hides once that moment passes. This option only appears once the offer actually has an end date there — so if you don't see it, set the end date in Visibility & schedule first and come back. It keeps the timer and the actual offer end perfectly in sync.
  • "Set end date" — the timer counts down to a specific date and time you set right in the countdown section, with its own "Timezone", "End date", and "End time" fields. The end date is pre-filled 24 hours ahead, and the timezone is inherited from the offer's scheduling timezone (or your shop's timezone if the offer has none). The countdown bar hides once the time is reached.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my discount stop when the countdown reaches zero?

Not necessarily — the countdown bar is a display element. With "Fixed duration" and "Ends at midnight (user's local time)", the timer resets and the offer keeps running. With "Set end date", the bar simply hides when the time is reached, while the offer itself keeps following its own settings. If you want the offer to genuinely end at a specific time, set an end date in the offer's Visibility & schedule section — and use the "Apply set end date from Visibility & schedule" countdown option so the timer matches it exactly.

How do I show the actual ticking time inside my message?

Use the Insert timer option in the Title field. It places the {{ timer }}  placeholder in your text, which is replaced with the live countdown on your storefront. You can write any text around it, for example "Hurry — offer ends in {{ timer }}!". The Insert timer action disappears once your title already contains the placeholder — that's expected, since only one timer can be shown per title.

Which text does the countdown bar show by default?

The default title is "Your discount expires in:" followed by the live timer. You can fully customize this text, or let AI suggest one using the generate option next to the Title field.

No — the countdown timer is currently available on Product Bundles, Volume Discounts, Buy X Get Y, Gift, and Spending Goal offers.

Can I translate the countdown title for a multilingual store?

Yes. The countdown title is a text you control, and it is translatable like the other customer-facing texts in your upsell offers.

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