QR Code Event Tracking: Deeper Analysis of User Behavior

QR Codes are the most famous and commonly used O2O technologies today. They are being used for both promotional and operational use cases across various industries.

Many factors have led to their massive adoption across the globe. For example,

• Their ability to store a wide variety of content. From text and alphanumeric information to weblinks and multimedia content
• Fast scanning capabilities make them come alive within a second or two of scanning
• Increase in smartphone penetration and access to high-speed internet
• The contactless nature that makes them the safest technology amidst the pandemic

Hence, from grocery stores to tourist spots and monuments, they are everywhere.

Besides these, QR Codes (dynamic ones) are also editable. That means you can edit the content stored in them anytime. Yet your QR Code will remain the same.

In addition, they are trackable too. Hence, you can keep an eye on the scanning activity of your QR Code campaigns. For example:

• The geographical location of scans (City, country) and time (date)
• Devices used to scan the QR Code
• Browser used
• Exact GPS location of scans
• Details of the end-users (for lead-generation enabled QR Codes)

Hence, they are the marketer’s favorite. And you’re planning on using QR Codes too. Plus, you want to track their scanning details. But here’s the thing—you want to dig deeper into scan tracking. You want to understand the exact user experience. Introducing—Event Tracking.

In this article, we will discuss what is the event tracking feature in a QR Code and how you can leverage it.

A. What is event tracking in QR Code technology

Event tracking is a step ahead of usual QR Code tracking. While you can still see all the analytical details related to the scanning activity, event tracking helps you dig deeper.

It helps you see how the end-users behave with the content after scanning the QR Code.

For example, say you have creed a Social Media QR Code. When people scan it, it shows them a landing page with links to all your social media profiles. For example, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.

Now you’d want to know all the scanning-related details. It will include details such as the location, time, device, etc. of scans.

In addition, you’d also want to know how many people clicked on LinkedIn, how many selected Facebook, and so on.

This can be done only with the event tracking feature offered by QR Code technology.

So in a nutshell, event tracking helps you see how end-users interact with the QR Code’s content after scanning it.

Before we talk about how to set up event tracking, let’s see the additional benefits that QR Codes offer.

B. Benefits beyond event tracking

QR Codes offer many benefits. Here are some of them:

1. Ease of access

A camera-enabled smartphone is all that people need to scan a QR Code. All they need to do is to launch open the camera and hold it in front of the QR Code. A message will pop up and the QR Code will be scanned.

In case it doesn’t get scanned, any free third-party QR Code scanner can be installed.

2. Flexibility in design

QR Codes don’t need to be exclusively black-and-white like barcodes. You can add colors and logo or background image to them.

In fact, for QR Codes that are promotional in nature, adding a design is recommended. Why?

Because customized QR Codes attract 50%-200% more scans than black-and-white ones. And more engagement is just what any marketer would want.

3. Multiple content categories

Did you know that QR Codes have more than 25 content categories? So depending on what you’d want the end-users to see, you can select the one that suits you the best. Here are some of them:

• Website URL QR Code
• Business Card QR Code
• Image QR Code
• Product QR Code
• Wedding QR Code
• Event QR Code
• Landing Page QR Code

4. High-resolution images

QR Codes can be exported in high-resolution vector formats such as SVG, EPS, and PDF. These formats are suitable for print purposes. That’s because they do not pixelate despite any resizing.

On the other hand, raster formats (such as PNG and JPG) are more suitable for digital resolutions.

C. How to create a QR Code with the event tracking feature

Using the Scanova QR Code generator, below is a detailed guide on how you can go ahead. Also, note that this feature is only available for the Pro and Enterprise plans.

1. Create a QR Code

a. Go to Scanova and log in to your account

b. Now go to the Settings section on your dashboard

c. Here, click on the Event Tracking button on the screen and enable it

d. Now go to Create QR Code option from the menu bar on the left

e. Here, select the QR Code category of your choice. For a demo, we’ll use the Custom Page option

f. Here, let’s create two buttons. Say the first one redirects the end-users to https://scanova.io and the other one to https://ticket-generator.com

g. Against each button, there will be Track Clicks option. Click on it. It will then ask you for a tracking ID. A unique tracking ID will be required for every button you want to track

h. For the first button, let’s add “scnv” as the ID and for the other, let it be “tg”

i. You can customize the rest of the page the way you want. Once done, click on Continue

j. On the page that loads, enter a name for the QR Code. Next, click on Create

k. On the page that loads, you will see the QR Code along with the Edit Design option

In case you want to design the QR Code, you can follow this detailed guide.

l. Once everything is finalized, you can go ahead to download the QR Code. You’ll then see a window asking you to specify the QR Code image’s size and format

m. Once you specify these details, click on Export

Your QR Code will be created.

2. Test scan the QR Code

Now scan the QR Code to see if event tracking is working properly.

Let’s follow these steps:

a. Scan the QR Code. The landing page will be loaded

b. Click on the first button and the Scanova website will open. Scan it again and click on the second button and the Ticket Generator website will open

c. Now from your Scanova account, go to the Analytics section

d. Choose the required QR Code and the date you wish to monitor the analytics for

e. Then click on Get Analytics

f. The analytics data will be loaded. You can scroll down to the Event Tracking section

g. First you will see the Engagement Rate. This will tell you the percentage of people who have scanned the QR Code and engaged with buttons on the page

h. There will also be the Total Engagement graph that will show all the data in absolute numbers

i. Next, you will see the graph on Engagement by QR Code. This will give you the number of clicks by buttons (or the tracking IDs that we had added)

j. If needed, you can also choose to export the analytics

That’s all you need to know about event tracking using QR Code technology. You can now go ahead to set-up event tracking for your own QR Code campaign: