How to add a countdown timer to Mailchimp

Mailchimp doesn’t ship a built-in countdown timer, but it renders external images in every layout — which is all a tikio timer needs. You design the countdown once, paste one image URL into your campaign, and every open shows the real time left.

  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. Publish and copy the image URL

    Hit Publish and copy the public image URL. The deadline lives in the URL as a parameter, so the same link works for every campaign — change the date, not the link.

    https://tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif?target=2026-08-01T20:00

  3. Insert the timer into your Mailchimp campaign

    In the Mailchimp email builder, add a Code content block where you want the timer and paste the snippet below. (Image blocks in Mailchimp expect uploads to the Content Studio, so a Code block with an <img> tag is the reliable way to use an image by URL.) Wrap the image in a link to your offer so the timer is clickable.

    <img src="https://tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif?target=2026-08-01T20:00" alt="Offer ends soon" width="480" style="max-width:100%;" />

Per-recipient evergreen deadlines

For a personal deadline per subscriber — e.g. “24 hours from your first open” — switch the URL to duration and add Mailchimp’s *|UNIQID|* merge tag as the recipient key. Mailchimp replaces it with a unique ID per subscriber at send time, and each recipient gets their own countdown that doesn’t reset on reopen.

<img src="https://tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif?duration=86400&uid=*|UNIQID|*" alt="Offer ends soon" width="480" style="max-width:100%;" />

FAQ

What does *|UNIQID|* do?

It’s a Mailchimp merge tag that resolves to a unique identifier for each subscriber. tikio uses it as the recipient key, so each subscriber’s evergreen countdown starts at their first open and stays consistent across reopens.

Will the timer keep updating after I send the campaign?

Yes. The timer is rendered at the moment the email is opened, so every open shows the exact time remaining. The deadline is fixed in the URL when you send — to end a timer early you can revoke the link or set an expiry.

Does it work in the Mailchimp free plan?

Yes — the timer is just an image URL, so it works in any Mailchimp plan and any template.

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