QR code tracking answers a simple question: did anyone scan the thing you printed, and how often. It lets you compare a poster with a flyer, one shop window with another, or this month's mailing with last month's, using a number instead of a guess.
Tracking needs a trackable QR code, which means a dynamic one. The printed pattern holds a short link, each scan passes through it, and the count goes up before the phone is forwarded. MakeQR records when each scan happened and what kind of phone made it, and deliberately nothing about who the person is.
Setting up a tracked code
Sign in and stay in dynamic mode
Tracking only exists on dynamic codes, so the generator on this page starts in dynamic mode. You need a free account with a verified email.
Make one code per placement
To compare the window sign with the flyer, each needs its own code. One code on both gives you one number for both.
Name each code after where it goes
A name like Flyer, spring, door-to-door keeps the count meaningful later. Folders, from Starter, help once you have many.
Check the numbers once it is live
Scan once yourself to confirm it counts, then leave it. The free plan shows the total count; Starter and up show the time and device type of each scan.
What a trackable QR code records, and what it does not
Scan statistics are deliberately narrow. They answer how much and when, not who.
Recorded
That a scan happened, the time it happened, and the device type: iPhone, Android or other.
Not recorded
IP addresses, location, names, phone numbers or anything else that identifies the person holding the phone.
Out of reach
Whether the person bought something or filled in a form. That happens on your own site, after the redirect, and belongs in your own analytics.
How to track QR code scans on a static code, and its limits
A static code sends the phone straight to the address in the pattern, so nothing in between can count. The workaround is UTM parameters on the link, such as ?utm_source=flyer&utm_medium=print, read in your own web analytics.
That only works for web addresses, counts page loads rather than scans, and misses browsers that block analytics. The parameters also make the code denser. A dynamic code counts at the redirect, and UTM parameters on the destination reach your analytics without adding a module to the print.
Reading scan numbers without fooling yourself
A scan count counts scans, not people: the same person can scan twice, and staff testing the sign count too. Compare codes that were out over the same dates, and look at timing as well as totals. Device type shows whether people scanning a sign use iPhone or Android, which matters if the page promotes an app.
What a tracked code contains
The short link and nothing else. Your destination address, UTM parameters included, stays in your account. When a phone opens the short link, the scan is counted and the phone is sent on to your page.
https://makeqr.ai/r/p4Tn8cPlacing tracked codes for a fair comparison
Tracking only helps if the codes you compare had an equal chance: similar heights and sizes, the same call to action, the same dates. Size follows the usual rule of about ten times the code width for scanning distance: 25 mm on a flyer, 20 cm on a poster read from two meters.
Print it at least 20 mm (2.0 cm) wide
Tracking mistakes that make the numbers useless
One code across every channel
A single code on the poster, the flyer and the website gives you one total. Make one code per placement.
Trying to track a WiFi or contact code
Those payloads are read by the phone directly and cannot pass through a redirect. Track a link to the contact page on your own site instead.
Expecting to learn who scanned
Scan statistics show when and on what kind of phone, never who. If you need names, ask for them on the landing page with a form.
Why tracking means dynamic
Counting needs something between the scan and your page, and a static code has nothing there, so this page opens the generator in dynamic mode.
The same redirect that counts also lets you change the destination later. Two tracked codes are free forever with an account and show the scan count; Starter at $7 a month adds per-scan time and device type for up to 10 codes.
How dynamic QR codes workWhat people track with QR codes
- A real estate agent compares scans on yard signs across four listings to see which street gets attention.
- A café uses different codes on its window poster and its receipts to learn where loyalty sign-ups begin.
- A band gives each tour stop its own poster code and checks the timing of scans against ticket sales.