How to set triggers and timing
This guide explains how to control when a popup fires and how long after page load it waits before appearing.
Display Trigger field
Open the popup editor at Content > Ultimate Popups, select or create a popup, and find Display Trigger under the Trigger & Timing subgroup of the Display card. Like the other display settings it is per device — Tablet and Mobile inherit the Desktop trigger until you unlock them (see appearance guide). The trigger is evaluated once, for the device the visitor loads the page on.
Immediately (on page load)
The popup fires as soon as the page finishes loading. This is the default.
With a delay: if you enter a value in Delay (seconds), the plugin waits that many seconds after page load before opening the popup. Entering 5 means the popup opens five seconds after the visitor arrives on the page.
Leave Delay empty or set it to 0 to open the popup with no wait.
Exit Intent (when leaving page)
The popup fires when the visitor moves the mouse cursor toward the top of the browser window (toward the address bar or close button). This is a common pattern for cart-abandonment messages and last-chance offers.
On touch devices (phones and tablets without a hover-capable pointer), exit intent cannot be detected. On those devices the plugin automatically falls back to a timed display: it waits the device's configured Delay and then shows the popup, defaulting to 30 seconds when no delay is set. (Set the device's Delay to 0 for immediate display.) For full control on phones, unlock the Mobile tab's trigger and set it to Immediately with your own delay.
The exit-intent listener is attached once and removed immediately after the popup opens, so the popup fires only once per page load regardless of how many times the visitor moves the cursor toward the top.
Delay (seconds) field
Only visible when Display Trigger is Immediately (on page load).
Enter a positive integer to delay the popup. The minimum accepted value is 0 (no delay). There is no enforced maximum — but keep delays reasonable (under 30 seconds) to avoid the popup opening after the visitor has already left.
Waiting for cookie consent
If the Required cookie consent field (under Trigger & Timing) lists one or more cookies, the trigger does not arm until the visitor has accepted all of them in the storefront cookie-consent banner. As soon as they accept, the trigger arms and the popup fires per its normal trigger/delay. Use this when the popup loads consent-requiring content such as a third-party newsletter form. Leave the field empty to fire regardless of consent. See Concepts → Consent gating.
Interaction with Display Frequency
The trigger determines when the popup attempts to open. The Display Frequency setting determines whether to open it at all, based on whether the visitor has seen it before. The trigger runs first; if the frequency check passes, the popup opens.
Examples
| Goal | Display Trigger | Delay |
|---|---|---|
| Show immediately on page load | Immediately | (empty) |
| Show 5 seconds after page load | Immediately | 5 |
| Show when visitor tries to leave | Exit Intent | n/a |
| Exit intent on desktop, timed on mobile | Exit Intent | falls back to 30 s on touch (automatic) |