How to track offline links with QR codes?

QR code is a great way to put a link on a business card, print on a poster, brochure or in an offline ad. You can just open a camera app on your mobile and scan the link without retyping it.

How to track entries from QR codes to my website?

You can generate unique QR codes for every campaign/medium that you use and track its effectiveness (as long as on the destination site that you link to, there is a Piwik PRO tag installed).

In order to track a QR code:

1. Create a link with UTM/PK parameters using Piwik PRO URL builder..

For example, if your link was:
https://piwik.pro/switch-from-google-analytics/

It will be transformed to:
https://piwik.pro/switch-from-google-analytics/?pk_campaign=Community_Mar2021&pk_source=offline&pk_medium=QR

If you prefer using utm_* tags, they work as well, so the above link can be coded as:
https://piwik.pro/switch-from-google-analytics/?utm_campaign=Community_Mar2021&utm_source=offline&utm_medium=QR

You can find more about tagging campaign links here.

2. Use a free QR generator tool to create your QR code containing link with UTM/PK tags (e.g. here or here). Make sure to choose “URL” as the QR code type.

The example from above:

(Try it with your phone)

3. You will see the entries via QR code in Piwik PRO Analytics!
Go to Reports → Acquisition → Campaigns. You can also see it in the session log (example below), attribution reports and use it on custom reports and dashboards.

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