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# ⌚ How to Setup Countdown Timer

Want to add urgency to your storefront and help customers take action before time runs out? ⏳

That’s exactly what the **Hoppy Countdown Timer** is built for.

With this app, you can create countdown timers for:

* 🛍️ **Product Pages** — Show urgency directly on product detail pages  
* 🛒 **Cart Page & Cart Drawer** — Encourage buyers to complete checkout  
* 💳 **Checkout Page** — Add urgency at the final step (Shopify Plus only)  
* 🌐 **Top/Bottom Banner** — Display a site-wide countdown bar  
* 📄 **Landing Page & Custom Positions** — Target specific collections or custom placements

This guide walks you through the essential setup steps so you can get your first countdown timer live quickly 🚀

---

# **📍 Available Countdown Types**

Depending on your campaign, you can choose from several timer behaviors:

* **Countdown to a date** — Ends at a specific date and time  
* **Fixed minutes** — A fixed-length countdown for each visitor session  
* **Daily recurring timer** — Repeats on selected days (e.g., every weekday 9 AM – 11 AM)  
* **Interval timer** — Multiple scheduled start and end times (up to 7 intervals)  
* **Session timer** — A unique countdown that starts fresh for each visitor

The type you select changes which timing options appear in your setup.

---

# **⚠️ Before You Begin**

Before creating a countdown timer, make sure:

* The **Hoppy Countdown Timer** app is installed on your Shopify store  
* You have access to your **Shopify Admin**

### **Enable the App Embed**

For countdown timers to appear on your storefront, the app embed must be enabled inside your Shopify theme.

Go to:

**Shopify Admin → Sales Channels → Online Store → Themes → Edit Theme → App Embeds**

Then:

* Find **Countdown Timers**  
* Toggle it **ON**  
* Click **Save**

💡 If you skip this step, your published countdown timer will not be visible on the storefront.

---

### **Shopify Plus Requirement for Checkout**

If you want to place a countdown timer on the **Checkout Page**, your store must be on a **Shopify Plus** plan. Non-Plus stores will see a plan warning when attempting to create a checkout page countdown.

---

# **🛠️ Step 1 — Create a New Countdown Timer**

Open the **Hoppy Countdown Timer** app from your Shopify Admin.

Then:

→ Click **Create New Countdown**

→ Select the **placement type** that matches where you want the timer to appear:

* **Product Page**  
* **Cart Page**  
* **Cart Drawer**  
* **Checkout Page** (Shopify Plus only)  
* **Top/Bottom Banner**  
* **Landing Page**  
* **Custom Position**

Once selected, the setup editor opens automatically with default settings tailored to that placement.

---

# **⚙️ Step 2 — Configure the Content Tab**

After opening the setup page, you’ll land inside the **Content** tab.

This tab controls:

* 🏷️ Countdown name and messaging  
* ⏱️ Countdown type and timing  
* 🔚 What happens when the timer ends  
* 🌍 Translations (for supported placements)

---

## **🏷️ Countdown Name**

This field is used for **internal reference only** — customers will never see it.

Use a recognizable name such as:

* Summer Sale Timer  
* Black Friday Countdown  
* Flash Sale Urgency Bar

💡 Using clear internal naming makes it easier to manage multiple campaigns later.

---

## **📝 Title & Subheading**

* **Title** — The main message customers see (e.g., "Hurry up\! Sale ends in {timer}")  
* **Subheading** — A secondary line shown below the title on most placements

ℹ️ On **Cart Page** and **Checkout Page** timers, you can use the dynamic variable `{timer}` inside the title to display the live countdown inline.

---

## **🔘 Call-to-Action Button**

For **Top/Bottom Banner**, **Landing Page**, **Cart Page**, and **Cart Drawer** timers, you can choose what happens when customers interact with the countdown bar.

Set the **CTA action type** to:

* **No call to action** — The bar displays text only  
* **Button** — Adds a clickable button below the timer  
* **Make entire bar clickable** — Turns the whole bar into a link

ℹ️ If you select **Button** or **Make entire bar clickable**, the **Button Text** and **Link** fields appear automatically so you can configure where customers are directed.

---

## **⏱️ Countdown Type**

Choose how your timer should behave:

| Type | When to use |
| ----- | ----- |
| **Countdown to a date** | A fixed end date (e.g., sale ends December 31st) |
| **Fixed minutes** | Each visitor gets the same fixed session length |
| **Daily recurring timer** | Repeats on selected days with set start/end times |
| **Interval timer** | Multiple scheduled countdown windows |
| **Session timer** | A fresh countdown for every visitor session |

Once you select a type, the relevant timing fields appear automatically:

* **Date** → Start date and end date pickers appear  
* **Fixed minutes / Session** → A **Minutes** field appears  
* **Recurring** → Day selector and start/end time controls appear  
* **Interval** → Multiple start/end date pickers appear (up to 7 intervals)

ℹ️ **Cart Page**, **Cart Drawer** and **Checkout Page** placements use fixed timing modes and do **not** show the Countdown Type selector. For Cart and Checkout, you set the duration in **Minutes**.

---

## **🕐 Timer Start Settings**

For **Countdown to a date** timers, you can choose when the timer starts:

* **Right now** — The timer begins immediately when published  
* **Schedule to start later** — Set a future start date

If you choose "Schedule to start later," an additional **Start date** field appears.

ℹ️ This option is not available for **Cart Page**, **Cart Drawer**, or **Checkout Page** placements, which use their own timing controls.

---

## **🔚 Once It Ends**

This setting controls what happens when the countdown reaches zero.

Available options depend on your placement and countdown type:

**For most placements:**

* **Unpublish Timer (Hide)** — Hides the countdown automatically  
* **Show custom message** — Displays a custom title/message you define  
* **Extend timer** — Adds extra time and shows an extended message  
* **Do nothing** — Leaves the timer visible at zero

**For Cart Page, Cart Drawer, and Cart Standalone:**

* All of the above, plus:  
* **Restart Countdown** — Resets the timer automatically  
* **Delete cart products** — Removes items from cart when the timer ends

**For "Fixed minutes" type on other placements:**

* Also includes **Restart CountdownFor Checkout Page:**

* **Unpublish Timer (Hide)** only  
* **Do nothing**

ℹ️ If you select **Show custom message** or **Extend timer**, additional text fields appear automatically so you can enter the message content.

---

# **📍 Step 3 — Configure the Placement Tab**

Next, open the **Placement** tab to control where the countdown appears and who can see it.

---

## **🎯 Select Pages or Products**

The available targeting options depend on the placement type you chose in Step 1\.

---

### **🛍️ Product Page**

* **All products** — Show on every product page  
* **Specific products** — Hand-pick individual products from your store  
* **All products with specific tags** — Target products matching tags you define  
* **All products in specific collections** — Show for products within chosen collections  
* **Custom position** — Place manually using the Countdown ID or Liquid snippet

---

### **🛒 Cart Page & Cart Drawer**

* **At the top of the cart** — Default placement above cart items  
* **Custom position** — Place manually using the Countdown ID or Liquid snippet

---

### **🌐 Top/Bottom Banner**

* **Show on every page** — Site-wide visibility  
* **Show on home page only** — Restrict to the homepage  
* **Show on all product pages** — Appear on every product page  
* **Show on specific product pages** — Hand-pick individual products  
* **All products in specific collections** — Target products within chosen collections  
* **Show on all collection pages** — Appear on every collection page  
* **Show on specific collection pages** — Hand-pick individual collections  
* **Custom position** — Place manually using the Countdown ID or Liquid snippet

---

### **📄 Landing Page**

* **All collection pages** — Show on every collection page  
* **Specific collection pages** — Hand-pick individual collections  
* **Custom position** — Place manually using the Countdown ID or Liquid snippet

---

### **💳 Checkout Page**

* **Custom block placement** — Add via the Shopify Checkout Editor

---

ℹ️ If you select **Custom position**, the app provides a **Countdown ID** and a **Liquid code snippet** after saving. You can use these inside your theme editor or code to place the timer exactly where you want.

---

## **⏳ Time-on-Site Targeting**

Choose when the countdown should appear:

* **Always Show** — Displays immediately when the page loads  
* **Show after a while** — Delays appearance by a set number of seconds (1–300)

---

## **👤 Customer Targeting (Optional)**

You can refine visibility based on:

* **Login status** — Show to all customers or only logged-in customers  
* **Show bar to** — All customers, customers with specific tags, or customers based on lifetime spent  
* **Hide bar from** — Exclude specific customer tags or lifetime spent ranges

ℹ️ These settings are optional. For most setups, the default **Show to all customers** works perfectly.

---

## **🌍 Geolocation Targeting (Optional)**

By default, your countdown is visible worldwide.

If you want to restrict it to specific countries, select **Specific countries** and choose the allowed locations from the country selector.

---

# **🎨 Step 4 — Customize Design (Optional)**

Open the **Design** tab to change how your countdown looks.

You can quickly apply a **pre-made template** or manually customize:

* Position (top or bottom)  
* Background color or gradient  
* Timer style (flip clock, tiles, plain numbers, and more)  
* Fonts, spacing, and button styling

💡 If you’re in a hurry, start with a template and fine-tune later.

For a full breakdown of every design option, see the **Design & Styling** documentation.

---

# **💾 Step 5 — Save Your Setup**

Once your content and placement are configured:

→ Click **Save**

The save bar appears at the bottom of the screen whenever you make changes. Saving stores your configuration but does **not** make the timer live yet.

---

# **🚀 Step 6 — Publish the Countdown**

After saving:

→ Click **Publish**

Once published:

* The countdown becomes visible on your storefront according to your placement and targeting rules  
* A green **"Published"** badge appears next to the countdown name

⚠️ **Important reminders:**

* If the app embed is not enabled in your theme, the countdown will not appear — even after publishing  
* For checkout page timers, only **one** published checkout countdown is allowed per store  
* You can unpublish anytime by clicking the **Unpublish** button

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# **✅ Final Step — Confirm It’s Working**

After publishing:

1. Open your storefront in an **Incognito or Private** browser window  
2. Navigate to the page where the countdown should appear  
3. Verify the timer is visible and counting down correctly

If the countdown does not appear:

* Re-check that the **App Embed** is enabled and saved in your theme  
* Confirm the countdown is **published**  
* Try a **hard refresh** (`Ctrl + Shift + R` on Windows / `Cmd + Shift + R` on Mac)  
* Check that your scheduling or targeting rules are not hiding it

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# **🎉 Final Result**

Once configured successfully:

✅ A countdown timer is live on your selected pages ✅ Customers see real-time urgency messaging ✅ The timer automatically hides or extends based on your end-action settings ✅ Your storefront feels more dynamic and time-sensitive ✨

A well-placed countdown timer can help nudge customers toward faster purchase decisions throughout their shopping journey 🚀