What you need to know about QR code reporting

A lot of clients using QR Codes are wondering, with reason, how to measure QR code usage. After all, a vital part of any marketing goal is measuring it. Just like measuring click-through’s of an email, measuring QR code usage helps marketers tweak and judge effectiveness of communications with an audience. So saddle up and grab your stetson as I compare the ways to track usage of QR codes you’re using in print material, web-content, and swag.

The Wild West

It’s important to note that the way we use emerging web technologies can be likened to the wild west, where anything goes. With time, best practices & standards emerge. Sadly, I can’t show every possible wayto track QR code usage, but, that being said, these methods are the best and most relevant options that I’ve rounded up.

The Unique URL method.

Probably the most straight-forward of the options – if you’re only going to read one of the following this should be it. In order to differentiate between regular traffic and QR traffic there, in general, needs to be something different about the URL you use for your QR Code.

Note: Adding text to the end of the URL can be foreign territory for some readers. If you’re unsure about whether or not something is a proper, working, URL you should test before you putting it in the QR code.

Using URL Shortening Services
URL shortening services like bit.ly commonly incorporate tracking and analyzing services after you’ve set up an account. Bit.ly will actually give you a QR code to use for your link (stick “.qrcode” at the end of your bitly URL to find it). The only problem is that these services don’t give you a unique shortened-URL each time you shorten. That means that you can’t create a separate bit.ly link for a URL you’ve already shortened (or will at some point shorten again).

To get around this use an anchor tag in your URL to create a unique URL to shorten ( i.e. www.yoursite.com#qr). Anchor tags are basically links that link to a certain spot within a web-page. If you’ve ever been to wikipedia, links inside the table of contents are anchors. Whether or not you knew what was happening, when you click one it’s adding that #something_or_other to the end of your URL. If there’s no spot on the web-page tied to that anchor tag it’s essentially a harmless addition. If there is then it will bring the user to that specific spot on the webpage. In addition to this method you could also use the query string method which I explain next.

Using Google Analytics
Since Google Analytics by default disables tracking of anchor tags, to create a unique URL for tracking you need to use query strings. It’s only essential in this discussion to know what query strings looks like. Query strings come at the end of a URL and look like “?referrer=qrcode”. They can basically take the form of any words or numbers you want to use, but it’s a good idea to avoid spaces. Using a unique URL with a query string allows you to, in Google Analytics, filter traffic in a content report by this query string. In the example I filtered the Google Analytics report by a query string, “?media=code”, which was in a QR code I tested with my Android’s QR scanner.

Downside?

• Shortened URLs or URLs with query strings may deter users from clicking through (www.silversquareinc.com looks more friendly than bit.ly/1hC2uO or silversquareinc.com/?referrer=qrcode).
• Tracking using bit.ly or a similar service means extra hassle if you’re already using Google Analytics.
• Query strings at the end of a URL may in some cases interfere with a website’s functionality.

Unique landing pages method

Creating unique landing pages such as yourdomain.com/qrcode1/ allow you to track page hits using Google Analytics, the most widely used web traffic reporting service, assuming you only link to this page in the QR code. In addition having a separate landing page gives you the option of crafting a specific page just for the QR campaign. Doing this offers increased control and would likely be the best way to follow up after the user scans. This effectively hedges your bets that whatever purpose you wanted a client to scan for gets achieved.

Downside?

• Increased cost involved with creating a whole new webpage

Google Analytics Campaign Tracking method

Campaign Tracking, a more sophisticated function in Google Analytics, can be utilized to track and analyze detailed information on a QR code scan.

Thanks, qrstuff.com.

The campaign tracking parameters that you can use are:

• utm_campaign – The broad campaign title eg; “Spring Sale”
• utm_medium – How the campaign is being “pushed”. Just “QR Code” in most cases
• utm_source – Where the QR code was placed eg; “Flyer”, “Magazine”, “Billboard”, etc
• utm_content – Convenient for sub-dividing the source or campaign parameter eg; “April 2011

Putting these all together will give you an awfully large, but jam packed full of descriptive tracking data, URL.

Downside?

• Learning curve involved with learning how to use campaign tracking
• Large URL’s can be unappealing for users to read

QR code tracking services method

These, perhaps for-pay, services allow for tracking and analytics as well as a set of features designed specifically for QR codes. If QR codes are a consistent and vital part of your business something like this might make sense.

• http://www.qrstuff.com
• http://www.qrme.co.uk/qrme-dynamic-qr-codes/qrme-set-up-.html
• http://www.hswsolutions.com/services/mobile-web-development/qr-code-tracking-reporting/
• http://qreateandtrack.com/features/measure-qr-code-success/

Downside?

• Pay services commonly require a monthly cost.
• Requires using a separate service for tracking if you’re already using something like Google Analytics.

Well that about raps up this palaver. I hope you’ve found a solution that works for you. If you have any questions on QR code tracking feel free to email Clay or myself.