Measuring the Effectiveness of Your QR Code with QR Code Management Systems

If you’re running marketing campaigns for your business, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve used QR codes at least once. QR codes are a pretty handy way of spicing up the traditional system of hyperlinking and allow your audience to easily get on the desired landing pages within a matter of seconds. While the factor of convenience favors QR codes, they can be used for much more than just redirecting customers to your website. Modern-day QR Code Management Applications are now providing valuable analytics to tap into customer behavior and optimize the journey from a person being a potential customer to an actual customer.

A Peek into the History of QR Codes

QR codes didn’t start in marketing. It was used as an alternative to bar codes. First invented in 1994, it was used by the Japanese company Denso Wave to keep track of vehicles during the manufacturing process. Back then, QR codes could only be scanned using a designated scanner. However, as technology kept progressing, we now have the option to scan QR codes from our smartphones. And, this is where QR codes made their way from inventory management to the marketing industry.

But, What Exactly Does Tracking QR Code Mean?

There are two types of QR codes available for use. The first is the common type known as a static QR code. These codes cannot be edited once they are created and can only be tracked with a URL shortener service such as Bitly or TinyURL. On the other hand, the second type of code is dynamic QR codes. These codes are trackable as they usually come with analytical tools. Let’s talk about what trackable means.

QR code tracking stores specific data and statistics that allow users to make calculated marketing decisions to maximize the potential of their campaigns. These statistics include things like the location, timing of the scan, and the device used to make that scan.

You might be thinking about why this is so important. Let’s consider an example. You’re running an application that’s only available on the Apple Store. But, the majority of the people scanning the QR codes on your advertisements are using Android devices. This means that there’s a significant flaw in your marketing techniques that is causing your ads to target the wrong demographic. The main purpose of your campaign is to get the word out to users who can make use of your product. If your ad campaign is reaching a lot of Android users, something needs to be changed.

This is just one example. Here are all the benefits of tracking QR codes.

Pros of QR Code Tracking

Given the revolutionary nature of the technology at hand, it has the potential to transform marketing platforms and strategies being used. It has room to evolve itself for the better and add to the ease and the convenience of the users.

Modifying Your Marketing Funnel

QR codes are vital to marketing funnel in the way that it enhances the “awareness stage” of marketing. It allows you to track your conversion rate without having to guess what your consumers want at any given time. The multitude of information it provides include:

• Knowing the exact time when most QR code scans were made.
• The demographic of the individuals carrying out the scans.
• The location where most of the scans were made.
• The devices the QR codes were scanned through.

Having such information at hand can allow you to track your QR statistics and relay information that aids your marketing campaigns.

Running A/B Tests

A/B testing is a marketing campaign that is often used to check and compare two or more marketing campaigns to figure out which one has the potential to produce a better result. If such campaigns are supplemented with trackable QR codes, the business has the option to devise the perfect marketing campaign for themselves and give their businesses the boost it needs. Here, QR code scanning allows you to find out:

• The most impactful marketing pictures and styles.
• Different modes of Call to Action (CTAs).
• Targeting a wide variety of demographics.
• Data that shows the most successful aspects of any campaign.

While running A/B tests has a lot of scope and several benefits associated with it, the process takes a whole lot of time. Thus, you must have ample time on your hands and the patience to see the process through when choosing to go this way.

Deeper Focus on Demographics

Marketing research has provided a unique insight into how QR codes have the potential to serve as a vehicle that can not only evoke consumer response but can also track the type of behavior consumers have exhibited at the time.

This includes the positive relationship that exists between the product on sale, the device being used to scan the code on, the age group of people buying the product, the regions where the specific product is being bought, and the timing at which this product is being checked out by the potential customers. This information can allow marketing teams to prepare their strategies on the collected data and how to customize their campaigns.

Different Metrics and Their Uses

So, when we say ‘trackable’ QR codes, what exactly are we tracking? How is that information useful to us? Here are all the metrics that can be tracked and used for marketing purposes.

Operating System

With QR codes operating from multiple cellular platforms, people have the option to use several devices to fulfill their needs. This gives QR code operators to not only target the audience using a certain device with a certain operating system but also understand how that particular operating system is of use to the associated business. This information gives businesses the chance to expand their sources of revenue and also focus their revenue on segments that have the most spending potential.

Location

Similar to the operating system, using QR codes can also relay information about where the QR codes are being scanned from. Businesses can work with locations in multiple ways. QR code scans can pick up on the regions where most of the code is being used and choose to invest their resources in that particular channel to maximize their returns.

Total Scans

Apart from the operating system and the location, another metric that the QR code scan can easily keep track of is the total number of scans carried out. These scans can be filtered on the basis of months, weeks, days, hours, and even the specific time of the day. This data can allow companies to know which products in their line-up have the most spending potential and what type of marketing strategy they should bank on in the grand scheme of things.

Time

Among the many metrics that are in play concerning QR code scanning, time is perhaps one that is given the least importance. However, it is this data that allows marketing strategists to know the best time to release an ad campaign and how well that campaign would be received by the masses. It not only saves organizations on the revenue front but also allows them to use their time efficiently and effectively.

Not all QR Code Management System have the same generic list of available metrics. The ones we mentioned above are the ideal metrics that you need to make the most of your QR code tracking. It’s also worth mentioning that some of the tools providing these services contain a few of these metrics as a ‘premium feature’ that require a payment. It practically boils down to what you need and what you’re looking for.

Selecting the Right QR Code Management System

So, let’s get down with the details of how to track QR codes. If we look at things from a broad perspective, there are two ways to track QR codes. We’ll talk about both briefly down below.

QR Code Generators

A QR Code Generator, as the name suggests, is an online tool to create QR codes. There are loads of generators available online. Most of them are non-trackable generators that only redirect a user to a page without any sort of tracking metrics whatsoever. However, you can go for the more advanced ones that do produce trackable codes, and these are the ones we’re interested in.

It’s also worth mentioning that the generators producing trackable QR codes are usually going to be paid. They are offering a SaaS kind of deal and will ask you to purchase their products. However, you can look for free alternatives as well. There are lots of reputable providers of free services. But, they might not provide as much data from the trackable codes. They might provide some rudimentary data like the locations but might not be able to tap into the premium features that require a payment. It comes down to your preferences and what data you’re looking for. If your requirements are fulfilled by using a free tool, then, by all means, continue without paying a dime.

URL Shorteners

Another way to create trackable QR codes is with the help of URL shorteners. URL shorteners are widely used to make links more manageable and sharable. This is particularly helpful with links that are long and wordy for SEO reasons, or contain tons of numbers and random characters.

For example, imagine two scenarios. In the first scenario, you’re asking your customers to enter the URL tinyurl.com/XYZEvent. In the second scenario, you ask customers to use the URL www.facebook.com/events/1a2n4a8s2412. In which situation are you much more likely to get traffic and conversions? This is how URL shorteners help. And, in the link above, we used TinyURL as an example. TinyURL is one of the most commonly used URL shortener in the world, and we’re going to show you exactly how you can use it to create a trackable QR code.

1. Go to tinyurl.com.
2. Paste the URL of the page you want to shorten.
3. TinyURL will generate a shortened URL. There will be a QR code button below the link you just shortened that will allow you to download a QR code.
4. You can sign up to TinyURL to access basic analytics. For detailed analytics, you would need to consider the paid options.

Final Verdict | Is QR Code Tracking Worth the Hassle?

In the past decade alone, the term “digital age” has evolved itself into a completely new entity. It has not only increased the parameters that were frequently used in the past to design, strategize, and carry out marketing campaigns but has also added a layer of complexity while dealing with the said parameters.

Traditional rules and concepts do not apply anymore, which makes the use of QR code tracking all worth the hassle and more. It not only provides you access to your target audience but also provides you data in real-time on how you could improve your service for the better. Thus, QR code tracking is a really powerful tool in your hands and has a lot of scopes both in terms of its use as well as its implementation that companies should invest in.

Where to generate QR code? 

You can generate a multitude of QR code types with our free QR Code generator. 

You don’t have to worry about being a designer since the app is user-friendly. You just pick a design, enter the required field(s), and then voila, you can download your QR code. 

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Credits

Photo by Mitya Ivanov on Unsplash

Photo by Jonathan Francisca on Unsplash