QR on two posters: measure visits without calling them scans

Define the question before printing

You are announcing an event with one poster at the entrance and another at reception. Both lead to the same page, but you want to distinguish visits associated with each location. If both display the same QR with the same address, the link contains no distinction. The proposed solution is two identifiable campaign variants sharing content and destination. You do not need to invent separate pages to compare distribution.

Also decide what your result means. This guide focuses on visits and campaign data collected on a website you can measure; it does not promise to count every camera reading. Google defines a session as a period of interaction with a website or app. Scanning, opening the page and recording an interaction are different steps. Someone may read a QR without continuing, repeat an attempt or share the link with someone else.

Give each variant a stable label

Use a convention for this example: cartel as source, offline as medium and jornada_octubre as campaign. Distinguish entrada and recepcion in content. The examples use example.invalid, a fictional destination you must replace with your real page. Keep these words as identifiers in your campaign records even when translating poster text. Translating the identifiers would create additional data variants.

Google documents utm_content for distinguishing creatives and notes that values are case-sensitive. Keep the two chosen variants exactly consistent. The medium offline is a naming choice in this example rather than a promise about the automatic channel shown in your report. Record placement, version and installation date alongside each URL. You will then know which design corresponded to each label instead of guessing later.

https://example.invalid/jornada?utm_source=cartel&utm_medium=offline&utm_campaign=jornada_octubre&utm_content=entrada
https://example.invalid/jornada?utm_source=cartel&utm_medium=offline&utm_campaign=jornada_octubre&utm_content=recepcion

Prepare both addresses before generating the QR codes

In WikiURL’s UTM builder, paste the real page and complete source, medium and campaign; add the first variant’s content. Generate the address and save it with its placement. Repeat with the other content value. Check the destination is identical and only the intended distinction changes. The builder constructs the URL; it does not install Analytics or automatically turn a poster into a statistics source.

Then paste each complete address into the QR generator and keep the files separate. Make sure you do not accidentally reuse the entrance image at reception. If you choose an intermediate short link, check its destination preserves the campaign and its state permits opening. This guide does not assume every redirect retains tags: inspect the actual route your recipients will use.

Test the address returned by scanning

Prepare a sample of each design and read the QR with your phone. Compare the obtained link with the saved variant and check the final address when opening. Do not stop at seeing the correct page: a redirect may have loaded it after removing campaign data. If tags disappear, locate where the route changes before a large print run. Save observations separately for each sample.

DENSO WAVE explains that QR capacity depends on data amount and type, version and error correction. Adding parameters lengthens the address and can affect the required symbol. Do not shrink it by intuition to fit the poster. Test reading at the intended scale and distance. Perform the practical check on the final version rather than merely an enlarged screen image.

Check collection in your analytics property

With measurement installed at the destination, make a test visit through each variant and inspect data in your property. Google states that Traffic acquisition shows session campaign dimensions such as source and medium. Confirm the campaign and period you are viewing. If you need to separate content, use a view or exploration with the corresponding dimension; do not conclude both variants are identical simply because they appear aggregated.

If the destination belongs to another platform where you cannot install measurement, UTMs do not grant access to its analytics. Do not expect one record for every camera reading either: the visit must reach the destination and be collected under that site’s conditions. Do not mistake missing data for no interest before reviewing installation and collection. Results describe what your system recorded, rather than all physical actions in front of the poster.

Compare results in context

Record when each poster was visible and where. One displayed for a week and another for a few hours do not provide equivalent comparisons. Separate your tests from production when interpreting the launch period. If a link is forwarded, its label may continue to describe the original poster even though the new visit did not result from a scan there. That is a reason to avoid calling the whole set of tagged visits scans.

Before repeating the campaign, save final addresses, files and labels. Document any location or version change to interpret history. Use campaign names without personal information, passwords or private identifiers. The useful conclusion is which recorded visits correspond to each variant and what limits apply, rather than presenting a figure as an exact count of people pointing cameras at each poster.