How to Schedule Pop-ups for Campaigns

Overview

Scheduling pop-ups allows you to prepare campaign messaging in advance and activate it automatically when needed. This is especially useful during a busy event cycle, where deadlines, launches, and promotions often need to go live on specific dates.

By creating pop-ups ahead of time and setting publication rules in ShowOff, you can reduce last-minute admin and make sure your campaigns appear at the right moment.

Why Schedule Pop-ups?

Scheduling helps you:

• plan activity around your event timeline

• prepare seasonal or deadline-driven messaging in advance

• avoid rushed website updates

• keep campaigns consistent across your team

Typical scheduled uses include:

• stand sales launch

• early bird registration

• speaker announcements

• last chance reminders

• post-event content promotion

How to Schedule a Pop-up

1. Build your pop-up in Panels

2. Add the image, copy, and CTA

3. Keep the panel inactive until ready

4. Open the Publishing tab

5. Set the date and time for the pop-up to go live

6. Save the panel

You can prepare multiple pop-ups at the start of a campaign and activate each one on its own publication schedule.

Planning Around the Event Cycle

A useful approach is to build pop-ups around key phases of your campaign, for example:

Pre-launch

• announce key dates

• open enquiries

• invite speaker applications

Sales push

• book your stand

• register now

• sponsor opportunities available

Final countdown

• last chance to register

• limited availability

• download the event app

Post-event

• watch sessions on demand

• register interest for next year

• subscribe for updates

Tips for Scheduling Effectively

• build all core campaign pop-ups early

• use clear internal naming conventions

• check the live date and time carefully

• test links before the pop-up is scheduled

• avoid overlapping too many pop-ups at once

Added Best Practice

Google’s guidance is especially relevant when scheduling promotional overlays: avoid configurations that block the entire page content unnecessarily, particularly on mobile devices. Smaller, less disruptive prompts are often a better long-term choice for user experience and search visibility.

Summary

Scheduled pop-ups help you stay organised and campaign-ready. By building them in advance and timing them carefully, you can support conversions without relying on last-minute changes.