Email guide

How to add a countdown timer to Adobe Marketo Engage

Marketo tokens work inside URLs, which is all a live countdown needs. Instead of producing a new image for every webinar, launch or trial expiry, you publish one design and give each program its own link — or, through the API, let a token in the URL carry the deadline.

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 Marketo email

    In the Marketo email editor, edit the HTML of the element where the countdown belongs and paste the snippet below. Tokens are resolved per lead at send time, inside the URL as well as in body copy.

    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 {{lead.Id}} as the recipient key for a per-lead deadline that starts at first open. Because it is an internal identifier rather than an email address, nothing personal ends up in the image URL.

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

FAQ

Questions, answered

Can I use a My Token for the program deadline?

Yes. The simplest way is one link per program: every email in the program uses its code, and moving the deadline on the link updates all of them, even those already sent. Through the REST API you can also create a link whose deadline comes from a program token in target=.

Can a lead field drive the deadline?

Yes, through the REST API: create the link with a deadline that comes from the recipient, then pass a date field such as a trial end or renewal date in target= — ISO with a timezone offset, or unix seconds.

Does the timer affect deliverability?

It is one more image request, the same as a hero image. The timer is served from a dedicated hostname, so it does not touch your sending domain’s reputation.

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