Time trigger
The Time trigger shows a widget after the visitor has spent a set number of seconds on the page, or, with Relative to the whole session, on your site during the current session. It's a common choice for newsletter popups and offers that shouldn't interrupt visitors the moment they arrive.
Available on: all platforms.
How it works
On the page (default)
The countdown starts when the page loads. When Delay seconds have passed, the trigger fires and the widget is shown if its conditions and trigger-time rules pass.
- The delay is counted from page load, not from the moment the widget became eligible, so time spent waiting for visitor or cart data is included.
- The countdown keeps running if the visitor switches to another tab. The widget can then be waiting for them when they come back.
- On themes that change pages without a full reload, the countdown restarts with each detected page change.
Within a session
With Relative to the whole session ticked, the trigger adds up the time the visitor has spent on your site in the current session, including earlier pages, and fires on the page where the total reaches Delay. The summary then reads "When the visitor spends Ns on the website within a session."
- If the session total has already passed the delay when a page loads, the trigger doesn't fire on that page, or on any later page in the same session. It fires only on the page where the threshold is crossed.
- Time on an earlier page counts until the visitor left it or switched to another tab.
- A session lasts while the visitor has your site open in at least one tab. It ends when they close every tab of your site. There's no inactivity timeout.
Configuration
Option | What it does | Values / default |
|---|---|---|
Delay | Seconds before the trigger fires | Number, min 0, default 7 |
Relative to the whole session | Count time across the session instead of on the current page | Off by default |
Conditions: Max scroll reached | Only fire if the deepest scroll on this page is more (or less) than N% | Optional |
The Time trigger doesn't offer the "Time spent" condition, since the delay already covers it.
Behavior details and limitations
- It fires once per page. If the scroll condition fails when the delay ends, the trigger doesn't try again on that page.
- Rules are checked at page load. If the page-load rules don't pass, the countdown never starts. Target, Query string and Widgets interaction are checked when the delay ends.
- A delay of 0 behaves like the Landing trigger.
- Session mode suits "after a while on the site" offers, but a visitor who browsed past the delay on earlier pages won't see the widget again in that session, even if it never appeared (for example because a page-load rule blocked it there).
- "Max scroll reached" uses the deepest scroll on this page, not the current position. A page too short to scroll counts as 100%.
Examples
- Newsletter popup: Time trigger, 15 seconds, Frequency "Pause for 7 days after close".
- Browsing offer: Time trigger, 90 seconds, Relative to the whole session, shown on whichever page the visitor reaches the 90-second mark.
- Engaged readers only: Time trigger, 30 seconds, condition "Max scroll reached more than 40%", Pages /blogs/**.
Troubleshooting
- Session-mode widget never appears → the visitor had already passed the delay on earlier pages, or the session is older than the delay. Test in a new private window.
- Widget shows earlier than expected → the delay is counted from page load, not from when the visitor started reading. Increase the delay.