How to track QR code scans

Because the redirect sits between the printed code and the destination, it can record the scan before forwarding it.

Good tracking does not require identifying people. We store a salted hash of the IP address rather than the address itself, plus coarse device data — enough to see patterns, not enough to profile an individual.

A total tells you that people scanned, not where. To compare a poster against a table tent, give each placement its own code pointing at the same destination.

Name each one clearly as you create it, and the comparison writes itself: the menu board against the receipt, the shop window against the shelf edge.

Routing rules can do something similar, but separate codes keep the numbers separate and are far easier to explain to anybody reading the report.

A scan is not a person. One visitor opening a lunch menu on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday counts three times, and a code photographed off a screen and opened later counts as well.

Scans also say nothing about what happened next. High counts with no conversions are telling you the destination failed, not that the code did.

Read the numbers as a measure of attention, then go and look at the landing page yourself.

The value is in comparison, not totals. Give a campaign two weeks, then compare placements, cities and devices against each other.