How to Track QR Codes with Google Analytics Moz

A QR code on a flyer or poster without tracking is a huge blind spot in your marketing. You can see your design and your offer, but you have no idea if people are actually scanning it or if it's driving any traffic to your website. This article breaks down exactly how to track your QR codes step-by-step using Google Analytics, so you know precisely which offline campaigns are hitting the mark.

Why You Need to Track Your QR Codes

QR codes have made a massive comeback. They seamlessly connect your physical marketing efforts - like event banners, business cards, mailers, and product packaging - to your digital properties. But if you simply generate a QR code pointing to your homepage, you’re missing the entire story. The data from that QR code scan will just get mixed in with all your other "Direct" traffic in Google Analytics, giving you zero credit for your efforts.

Imagine you run a coffee shop and place flyers with a QR code in three different locations around the city: a local university, a co-working space, and a community bulletin board. Without tracking, you’d just see a potential small lift in overall website traffic. You wouldn't know:

• Which location is sending you the most visitors?
• Are scans from the university more likely to result in online orders than scans from the co-working space?
• Is the time of day people are scanning related to the location?
• Is your flyer campaign worth the printing cost at all?

Tracking solves this. By attaching special parameters to the URL behind your QR code, you can tell Google Analytics exactly where that user came from. This allows you to measure the exact return on investment (ROI) of each physical ad, compare the performance of different placements, and make data-driven decisions about future campaigns.

The Solution: UTM Parameters Explained

The secret to tracking offline campaigns like QR codes is using Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) parameters. That sounds complicated, but it's really just a set of simple tags you add to the end of your URL. These tags don't change the destination page for the user, but they carry valuable information for Google Analytics to read and report on.

There are five main UTM parameters, but for QR code tracking, you'll mainly focus on the first three:

• utm_source: This identifies the specific source of your traffic. Think of it as answering the question, "Where is the user scanning this from?" For a QR code, this might be something like flyer, event_banner, or business_card.
• utm_medium: This identifies the marketing channel. For our purposes, the medium is consistently the QR code itself. A common value here is simply qr_code or sometimes print for broader categorization. This helps you group all your QR-based traffic together.
• utm_campaign: This identifies the specific marketing campaign. This is how you differentiate between efforts. For example, fall_festival_promo, new_store_opening, or q4_sale_2024.

Putting it all together, a regular URL like https://www.yourstore.com transforms into a trackable URL that looks something like this:

https://www.yourstore.com?utm_source=event_poster&utm_medium=qr_code&utm_campaign=summer_conference

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating Your Trackable QR Code URL

You don't need to build these URLs by hand. Google provides a free and easy-to-use tool called the Campaign URL Builder that does all the work for you.

Step 1: Choose Your Destination URL

First, decide where you want to send people when they scan your QR code. Avoid sending them to your generic homepage. Instead, direct them to the most relevant page possible to create a smooth user experience. If your flyer is advertising a 20% discount, the QR code should link directly to the page where they can get that discount, not the homepage where they have to hunt for it.

Step 2: Fill Out Google's Campaign URL Builder

Head over to Google's Campaign URL Builder. You'll see several fields to fill out:

1. Website URL: Paste your destination URL here. Example: https://www.mycoffeeshop.com/rewards-program
2. Campaign Source (utm_source): Enter the specific source of the QR code. Be descriptive! Example: in_store_table_tent
3. Campaign Medium (utm_medium): Define the channel. Example: qr_code
4. Campaign Name (utm_campaign): Give your campaign a name so you can compare it to other efforts. Example: loyalty_program_launch

As you type, the tool will automatically generate your fully tagged URL at the bottom of the page. It will look like this:

https://www.mycoffeeshop.com/rewards-program?utm_source=in_store_table_tent&utm_medium=qr_code&utm_campaign=loyalty_program_launch

That's the link you'll use to create your QR code. Copy this entire URL.

Step-by-Step Guide: Turning Your URL into a QR Code

With your new trackable URL in hand, it's time to generate the actual QR code that your customers will scan.

Step 3: Choose a QR Code Generator

There are dozens of free QR code generators online. Simply search for "free QR code generator" and you'll find plenty of options. Most of them work in a similar way and offer basics like:

• The ability to input a URL.
• Options to customize the color or add a logo.
• The ability to download the QR code as a high-quality image file (like .PNG or .SVG).

Step 4: Generate, Customize, and Download Your QR Code

In your chosen generator, find the field for the website URL and paste the full, UTM-tagged URL from the Campaign URL Builder. As you paste it, the tool will generate the QR code image.

If you'd like, you can customize its appearance. Adding your brand colors or a small logo in the center can build trust and encourage scans. Once you are happy with the design, download the image file. A higher-resolution format like .SVG is great for print materials because it can be resized without losing quality.

Most importantly: ALWAYS test your QR code before you print 1,000 flyers! Open your phone's camera, scan the code, and make sure it takes you to the correct, non-broken URL. Check your browser's address bar to ensure the UTM parameters are still attached to the end of the URL. If they are, you’re ready to go.

Finding Your QR Code Data in Google Analytics 4

Once your QR codes are out in the world and people start scanning them, the data will begin to flow into your Google Analytics account. Here’s how to find it:

1. Log in to your Google Analytics 4 property.
2. In the left-hand navigation menu, find Reports.
3. Under the Acquisition section, click on Traffic acquisition.

This report breaks down your website traffic by different channels. Your QR code data will be neatly organized based on the UTM parameters you set up.

The default "Session default channel group" view might be too high-level. To see your custom parameters, click the dropdown menu on the primary dimension (usually the first column of the table) and switch it to one of the following:

• Session source: This will show you the utm_source values you created (e.g., in_store_table_tent).
• Session medium: This will show the utm_medium (e.g., qr_code).
• Session campaign: This will show the utm_campaign (e.g., loyalty_program_launch).

By changing this primary dimension to "Session campaign," you can easily see your campaign's performance metrics side-by-side, such as Users, Sessions, Engaged Sessions, and, most importantly, Conversions. This allows you to directly attribute online orders, sign-ups, or any other valuable action back to a specific QR code.

Best Practices for Flawless QR Code Tracking

Now that you know the basics, here are a few extra tips to ensure your tracking is consistent and clean.

• Use a Consistent Naming Convention: Decide on a format for your UTMs and stick with it. It’s best to use lowercase letters exclusively and use underscores instead of spaces (e.g., event_banner instead of "Event Banner"). Keeping a simple spreadsheet of all the trackable links you create can prevent inconsistencies.
• Track Different Placements Separately: If you're using the same QR code design in multiple locations, create a unique tracked URL for each one. For example:
• Create QR codes with a Purposeful Call to Action: A QR code is a tool, not a solution in and of itself. The graphic design your QR code is a part of should explain what happens next - e.g., "Scan to sign up for rewards" so potential customers know why scanning is better than typing in your website manually.

Final Thoughts

A QR code without proper tracking is essentially a mystery. By following the simple steps of creating a UTM-tagged URL and plugging it into a generator, you turn that mystery into measurable data. This allows you to connect your offline marketing directly to online results, prove its value, and make smarter budget decisions.

Once this data starts pouring into Google Analytics along with data from your paid ads, email campaigns, and social media, the next step is making sense of it all. We built Graphed to make this part simpler. Instead of piecing together reports from a dozen different places, we let you connect all your data sources and ask questions like, "Compare conversions from my QR code campaigns to my Facebook ads last month." Graphed instantly builds you a real-time dashboard, so you spend less time gathering data and more time acting on it.