Email guide

How to add a countdown timer to HubSpot

HubSpot marketing emails render external images out of the box, so a tikio countdown needs no marketplace app: one image URL in a rich text module and every open shows the live time remaining — for webinar registrations, deal deadlines or product launches.

Create your free countdown Jump to steps

  1. Design your countdown in tikio

    Create a timer in the tikio editor: pick colors, fonts, labels and the languages you need. What you see in the editor is exactly what lands in the inbox — the timer is delivered as a regular animated image.

  2. Get the code

    Click Get code, choose “In an email”, pick how the countdown works — until a date, a personal timer per subscriber, or repeating on a schedule — and copy the code. The link stores the timer, so you can change the deadline any time, even after sending: emails already sent pick it up within minutes.

    URL 
    https://t.tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif

  3. Insert the timer into your HubSpot email

    In the HubSpot email editor, open a Rich text module’s source code view (or drag in a custom HTML module) and paste the snippet below. HubSpot personalization tokens work inside image URLs, which enables per-contact deadlines.

    HTML 
    <img src="https://t.tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif" alt="Offer ends soon" width="480" style="border:0;max-width:100%;height:auto;" />

Per-recipient evergreen deadlines

Use HubSpot’s {{ contact.hs_object_id }} token as the recipient key to give each contact a personal evergreen countdown — the deadline starts at their first open and survives reopens.

HTML 
<img src="https://t.tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif?uid={{ contact.hs_object_id }}" alt="Offer ends soon" width="480" style="border:0;max-width:100%;height:auto;" />

Evergreen countdown timer in HubSpot workflows

HubSpot marketing emails have no built-in countdown block. In workflows, where every contact is enrolled at a different time, create a Personal timer in tikio and choose HubSpot: the contact ID token gives each contact their own window from their first open. Always test with a real contact — test sends may fill tokens with placeholder values.

HTML 
<img src="https://t.tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif?uid={{ contact.hs_object_id }}" alt="Offer ends soon" width="480" style="border:0;max-width:100%;height:auto;" />

Timer that starts when the email is sent

For “this code expires 24 hours after this email”, the deadline should count from the send, not from the open. Create the link through the REST API or MCP with a deadline that comes from the recipient and offset_seconds: 86400, then put {{ unixtimestamp(local_dt) }} — the send time — into target= in the image URL. tikio adds the 24 hours, so there is no date arithmetic in your platform. HubSpot gives milliseconds, which tikio accepts, but it is the moment the email was scheduled or rendered, not delivered: a campaign scheduled for later counts from the scheduled time. A personal timer is different: it counts from each subscriber’s first open.

HTML 
<img src="https://t.tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif?target={{ unixtimestamp(local_dt) }}" alt="Offer ends soon" width="480" style="border:0;max-width:100%;height:auto;" />

FAQ

Questions, answered

Do I need a HubSpot marketplace app?

No. The timer is a standard image URL — it works in any HubSpot plan that sends marketing email, with nothing to install.

Can I use a HubSpot date property as the deadline?

Yes, through the REST API: create the link with a deadline that comes from the recipient, then put a token that resolves to a date — ISO with a timezone offset, or unix seconds — into target= in the image URL, e.g. an offer-expiry contact property.

Will the timer render in previews and test sends?

Yes, previews load the same live image. Note that in test sends personalization tokens may resolve to placeholder values, so evergreen keys are best verified with a real contact.

Other email platforms

Your first countdown is minutes away

Free during early access — no credit card required. Design once, paste one snippet, and the timer ticks on every open.

Create your free countdown