Countdown Timers in Newsletters Motivate People to Take Urgent Action

Emails and newsletter are not the most advanced marketing tools, but they do a great job in building customer interactions. Where social media and advertising help businesses reach out to a large group of customers, emails help in building a personal relation with individuals.

However, the effectiveness of email marketing relies on how smartly a business utilizes it. One of the best ways to motivate your audience to take your emails seriously is by using countdown timers in your newsletters.

Before we explain the benefits of countdown timers in emails, we first need to understand why these timers are so important in the first place.

Why Are Countdown Timers In Newsletter So Important?

Can you remember the last time your mind was completely still and free of all thoughts? Trying to remember something like that is itself a thought process. Our brains are working 24x7, thinking and processing loads of information every second. Since we can’t fit every bit of information in our mind, we mostly remember things that are important, serious in nature, or urgent.

And even when things are urgent, we still have to face a mental battle – something we like to call “Procrastination vs. Panic.” A lot of people get trapped in this battle. They put things off and procrastinate until the last minute, and only take action when panic starts to kick in. Even urgent things skip our mind until there’s only a little time left.

Most emails are read but don’t get any response because they are just a piece of information for people. If you want to push customers to take action, your email must have a sense of urgency, and a deadline to remind them that they don’t have much time. Can you think of any easier way to do this than by simple putting in a countdown timer?

So the bottom line is that countdown timers are very important for newsletters because they add the aspect of urgency to your emails.

Benefits of Countdown Timers in Emails and Newsletters

Let’s take a look at the benefits of adding countdown timers in emails.

1. Attracts visual attention

Let’s say a business has decided to sell their products for a huge discount for a limited time. They draft an email notifying the customers to take advantage of the offer. Many customers receive the mail and open it. They proceed to read the subject, perhaps the first few lines, and then they close the mail thinking it’s not important.

You must have done this many times as well. It may be because you were busy, or you were so distracted that you didn’t pay attention. Whatever the reason may be, a lot of people quickly ignore emails if it’s not from work or someone they know.

Add in a countdown timer to the same email, and the results will be very different. When a person opens the email, the first thing that will catch their attention is that timer. So in just a few seconds, the countdown timer will serve its first purpose – driving attention to the email.

2. Piques curiosity

Now that your email has managed to capture the reader’s attention, the next thing you want is to make the customers curious. Continuing the same example as discussed above, what will happen when a person receives an email that has a big countdown timer which caught their attention? It’s simple – they will be curious.

They’ll see the timer and want to know what is that the timer is counting down. With a countdown timer, your emails will not just grab attention but capture your customer’s interest too. And if they are interested in your email, that’s already a much better response than having your emails ignored.

3. Influences their decision by creating a sense of urgency

You’ve already managed to make your customers curious. Next, they’ll read the content of the email so they can make a decision. After reading the mail and checking out whatever it is that you’re offering, they have to decide if they want it or not. Countdown timers play a major role in influencing their decisions.

Remember the part above where we talked about urgency, panic, deadlines, and how it motivates people to act? The timer will give people an immediate idea about how much time is left for them to act. It gives them a deadline and a reason to act urgently before the valuable offer expires.

4. Creates a fear of missing out

Have you ever been in a situation where you do something that you weren’t interested in, just because you didn’t want to miss the opportunity? For example, your friend is shopping and you tag along, but don’t plan to buy anything yourself. Then you see a pretty dress that is being sold at 50% discount and you buy it because you don’t want to miss the offer.

A countdown timer will do the same for your emails, what the ‘50% off’ tag did for that pretty dress in the above example. Countdown timers tell people that what you’re offering is scarce, cheaper than usual, or available for a limited time. Even those who are not interested in the offer may end up getting it just so they don’t miss out.

Some tips to use countdown timers properly

If you want to make the most out of countdown timers, there are a few things that must be considered.

1. Be honest. If you are advertising false offers, are creating fake deadlines with the timers just to boost sales - this is dishonest and very unethical as a business method. Don’t put these timers just for the sake of influencing your customers.
2. Add timers to genuinely interesting offers. The countdown timer will definitely create a sense of urgency. But they won’t be effective if what you are offering is not interesting. The effectiveness of the timers will depend on how exciting your offer is in the first place. That is why you will see that these timers are used most often for discounts, vouchers, coupons, and festive sales.
3. Make your timer as eye-catching as possible.
4. Use the countdown timers more towards the end of your offer. For example, if your business is organizing a festive sale, the timers will be more effective towards the end of the sale. The less time the customers have, the more motivated they will be to make a purchase.

A countdown timer is not a magical button that will give you a positive response for any email sent to customers. They need to be used at the right time for the right reasons. When used properly, they can significantly improve your sales and revenue.

Now that you know the basics of a countdown timer, and why you should include it in your newsletter, it makes sense to integrate the timer with your newsletter. How do you do that? Mailpro will help out. Check now.