How to schedule a popup for holidays or specific date ranges
Run Black Friday, Mother's Day, or any seasonal campaign on a schedule — start, end, with sensible time-zone defaults.
A holiday campaign that fires on the wrong day isn't just useless — it's noise. Schedule popups against real calendar windows and trust the visitor's local time to do the rest.
TL;DR
Open the campaign's targeting panel, add a date rule, and either pick a holiday preset (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Singles' Day, and a few others) or set a custom start date and end date. Date rules use each shopper's local time, so a Black Friday window of November 28-30 fires when their clock reads those dates. For multi-day promos, pair the schedule with a countdown timer so urgency stays visible. Pause or unpublish the campaign once the window closes.
Step 1 · Pick a holiday preset (the fastest path)
In the targeting panel, add a date rule and choose a holiday preset from the dropdown. Presets auto-fill the correct dates for the current year.
Targeting panel with the holiday preset dropdown open, showing seven preset options grouped by region.
Screenshot coming soon
The presets available today, grouped by where they're commonly used:
- Global — Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Singles' Day (11.11)
- United States — Memorial Day Weekend Sale, Labor Day Weekend Sale, Amazon Prime Day
- United Kingdom — Boxing Day Sales
Presets are the fastest way to ship a campaign that needs to fire on the right day every year — pick one and the dates auto-populate. If your sale is tied to one of these moments, use the preset; if not, skip ahead to custom date ranges.
Step 2 · Set a custom date range (when no preset fits)
In the same date rule, switch to Custom range and pick a start date and end date.
Custom date range pickers showing a start date and end date for a Mother's Day campaign.
Screenshot coming soon
Custom ranges cover what presets don't — Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, anniversaries, restocks, regional holidays. A few guidelines:
- Set the end date to the day after your sale ends, not the day of, if you want the popup to keep firing through the final evening.
- Don't schedule more than four weeks out. Long pre-launch windows leak interest; tighter windows feel timely.
- Stagger overlapping campaigns. If two ranges overlap, decide which gets priority and put a stop date on the other.
Step 3 · How time zones work
Date rules use the visitor's local time — there's no time-zone selector to set.
Storefront preview of a Black Friday popup firing on November 28 from a shopper's perspective.
Screenshot coming soon
Time zones in Nudgesmart use the shopper's local clock. A Black Friday campaign scheduled for November 28-30 fires when each shopper's device reads November 28-30 — not when your store's clock does. A New York shopper sees the popup on their Black Friday morning; a Sydney shopper sees it on theirs.
For global stores, schedule with a small buffer. Bumping the start date 12 hours earlier gives shoppers in earlier time zones a safety net so no one misses the opening hours.
Step 4 · Pair with a countdown timer
For multi-day promos, drop a countdown element into the popup itself so shoppers see how long they have left.
A date range turns the popup on and off in the background, but shoppers only see what's on screen. A countdown element makes the deadline visible. Set its End Date & Time to the moment your sale ends and shoppers in any time zone see the same time-remaining number ticking down. For the full timer setup, see Set up a countdown timer popup.
Recipes
Three example campaigns side by side: BFCM 4-day window, Mother's Day custom range, and Singles' Day 11.11 preset.
Screenshot coming soon
A few quick patterns that work:
- BFCM 4-day window. Run two scheduled campaigns: one with the Black Friday preset and one with Cyber Monday. Together they cover the Friday-through-Monday window without you having to think about dates.
- Mother's Day. Use a custom range starting the Monday before Mother's Day in your target country and ending Mother's Day evening. A week's runway gives shoppers time to act without feeling rushed.
- Singles' Day (11.11). Use the global preset and pair it with a 24-hour countdown timer set to expire at midnight November 11 local time. The preset turns the campaign on; the timer drives action.
For broader scheduling reference, Shopify's guide to scheduling sale prices is a useful companion when you're setting up the underlying discount alongside the popup.
Common pitfalls
- The popup didn't fire on the holiday. Check the date range covers the visitor's local time, not your local time. A New Zealand shopper hits "Black Friday" 18 hours before a California one.
- The campaign keeps showing after the sale ended. Check the end date — it stops at the start of the day you picked, not the end. If the sale runs through Sunday, set the end date to Monday.
- You need a holiday Nudgesmart doesn't preset. Lunar and regional holidays (Eid, Diwali, Chuseok, Lunar New Year) move on the lunar calendar and aren't in the preset list. Use a custom date range and look up the dates for the year you're scheduling.
Frequently asked questions
Can I schedule a campaign to start in the future?
Yes. Set a future start date and the campaign stays inactive until that date arrives in the visitor's local time, then turns itself on. You don't need to manually publish it on the day.
What about Lunar New Year, Eid, Diwali, or Chuseok?
These holidays don't have presets today because their dates shift year to year. Use a Custom range and look up the dates for the specific year you're scheduling. We're tracking demand for lunar holiday presets — if your store relies on these, let support know.
Do date rules combine with other targeting?
Yes. A date rule is one of several targeting layers — you can stack it with page targeting, cart-value rules, or exit intent. A campaign only fires when every layer matches, so a "Black Friday cart-page-only" popup needs both rules to be true at the same time.
Will the campaign auto-update next year?
Holiday presets recalculate each year, so a Black Friday campaign scheduled this year fires next year on the next Black Friday automatically. Custom date ranges are fixed — you'll need to update them yearly.
What to read next
How to target a popup by cart value or specific products
Show a popup only when the cart hits a value threshold, contains specific products, or matches a customer-value tier.
How to control how often a popup shows
Pick the right frequency mode (every page view, every session, once per day, once per week) and stop showing the popup after a visitor converts.