Add Urgency to Your Checkout with Countdown Timers

Countdown timers are one of the most effective ways to drive conversions on your checkout pages. They create urgency, reduce hesitation, and give customers a clear reason to act now rather than later.

We've just added a powerful countdown timer feature to CheckoutJoy that gives you complete control over how you create urgency in your sales process.

Why Countdown Timers Work

When customers see time ticking away, it triggers a psychological response. They don't want to miss out on an offer, and they're more likely to complete their purchase instead of abandoning their cart. It's simple, but incredibly effective.

The key is authenticity. Your timer needs to be real, and the consequences need to be real. That's why we've built flexibility into how you set up your timers.

Two Types of Timers for Different Strategies

Absolute Timers are perfect when you're running a flash sale or limited-time promotion. Set a fixed date and time, and every customer sees the same countdown. When that deadline hits, the offer genuinely expires. This works brilliantly for product launches, holiday sales, or promotional campaigns.

Relative Timers create a personal deadline for each customer. From the moment they first visit your checkout page, they have a set amount of time (like 5 hours) to complete their purchase. If they come back later, the timer picks up where it left off. This is ideal for evergreen offers where you want to create individual urgency without being tied to a specific calendar date.

Complete Control Over Display

You can choose between two layout options:

Inline timers sit at the top of your checkout page, clearly visible but not intrusive. Customers can close them if they want, but the timer keeps running in the background.

Overlay timers appear as a modal at the top or bottom of the page, demanding more attention. They're harder to ignore, which can be exactly what you need for high-value offers.

We've also included three visual styles—Simple, Compact, and Big—so you can match the timer to your brand and the importance of the message. The color is fully customizable too.

What Happens When Time Runs Out?

This is where it gets interesting. You have two options:

Soft urgency: Leave the expired redirect URL empty. The timer creates urgency during the countdown, but customers can still access the page after it expires. It's a nudge, not a hard cutoff.
Hard urgency: Set an expired redirect URL. When the timer hits zero, anyone who tries to visit that checkout page gets redirected to a different page instead. This is where you tell them the offer has expired, suggest they reach out, or present an alternative.

The choice depends on your offer and how you want to position it.

Setting It Up Takes Minutes

In your CheckoutJoy editor, you'll see a new "Countdown Timers" option in the menu. From there:

Enable the timer
Choose your timer type (absolute or relative)
Set your expiry (fixed date or time interval)
Pick your layout and position
Customize the text and design
Add an expired redirect URL if you want hard enforcement

That's it. Save your changes and the timer goes live.

See It In Action

Watch the full tutorial above to see exactly how to set up and customize your countdown timer.

The Bottom Line

Countdown timers work because they give customers a clear reason to act. But they only work if they're believable and if there are real consequences when the time runs out.

With CheckoutJoy's countdown timer feature, you get the flexibility to create authentic urgency that fits your offer, your brand, and your sales strategy.

Try it out on your next checkout page and see the difference it makes.

Questions about countdown timers or want to see how they could work for your business? Reach out to us at hello@checkoutjoy.com or jump into your CheckoutJoy dashboard to start experimenting.