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Evergreen timers and stable recipient identity

Give each person their own window without accidentally restarting it or sharing it with everyone.

3 min read

Screenshots show the real application in an isolated demo environment with fictional example data. Setup notices and controls may differ by environment, plan and role. Click an image to view it full-size, and always use the values generated in your own workspace.

Duration is not an end date

An Evergreen timer assigns a duration to an identified visitor or recipient. A 60-minute campaign means one window of up to 60 minutes from that identity’s configured start event. It does not mean that every image request should create a fresh hour.

Review the start policy in the publishing/timer behavior settings. First-open-style starts are based on the first qualifying request, not proof that a human read the message. Send-time setups require the corresponding deadline information to be supplied by your sending workflow.

Evergreen campaign editor showing its duration settings
In the application Evergreen uses a duration rather than one shared end date. Keep the same opaque recipient identity when you publish it across channels. View full-size screenshot (opens in a new tab)

Use an opaque recipient key

The vid value carries a stable recipient/visitor identifier. Give each recipient a unique value and reuse it in the image URL, smart link and subsequent website request. Prefer an opaque ID, not an email address, telephone number or other personal detail in a public URL.

For providers with a supported contact ID, use their generated merge-tag recipe. For others, create and populate a countdown_id custom field. A literal unexpanded merge tag, missing value or single shared value can produce the wrong identity behavior.

Anonymous website visitors

Website delivery can use its visitor identity mechanism when no explicit recipient ID is provided. A different browser, device, private session or cleared storage may be treated as a different anonymous visitor. If cross-device consistency matters, your application must securely pass a stable identity instead of assuming browser storage follows the person.

A practical test

  1. 1Create a short-duration test campaign and use two distinct opaque values, such as demo-contact-a and demo-contact-b.
  2. 2Open the first identity, wait, then open it again. Confirm it keeps counting toward the original window.
  3. 3Open the second identity and check its separate window. Follow the first identity’s smart link to verify channel handoff.
  4. 4If using a send deadline, test the exact generated URL through a real provider send. Do not treat a bare dashboard sample as a recipient window.
Note. A recipient deadline is a timing record, not purchase authorization. Enforce eligibility and the closing time in your checkout system.

Related articles

Hard stops, overrides, phases, urgency and extensionsUse advanced timer behavior deliberately, with clear limits and consistent offer rules. Email provider setup and merge-tag recipesUse Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, ConvertKit, GetResponse, AWeber, SendGrid, HubSpot or a connected sender. Smart links: live and closed destinationsSend customers to the right destination for the current campaign state. Personalized copy and cross-channel recipient workflowsUse supported text placeholders, stable IDs and recipient events without exposing private data.