LunaMetrics recently published a great blog on using and measuring the success of QR codes. They included a link to a reliable QR code generator, as well as a few best practices — like always using shortened URLs, which are easier for phones to scan and easier to type (for potential visitors without a scanner.) They also provide a link to Google’s URL generator, which will create vanity URLs that track success metrics by campaign in your Google Analytics account. This means anyone with a GA account can easily track activity on their site by code. But what if you…

Are new to interactive marketing and don’t yet have an analytics solution?
Are driving traffic to a site you do not host? For example, you’re sending traffic to the Apple store (hoping people download your app), or you’re posting the newest cat meme to your Facebook wall (and need to know how many friends you delighted.)

First, think of QR codes just like any other link — just fancy. Now let’s talk options.

QR Code Tracking 101

The blog above outlines how to track QR codes (and in that way other links) using vanity URLs in Google Analytics. But let’s say you don’t have GA installed on your Web site and need a quick fix. No sweat! (We all start somewhere.) And while you should try to launch an analytics solution as soon as possible, you can, in the mean time, start tracking your QR codes with Google’s URL shortener. Google’s shortener stores clicks by URL. All you need is a Google account. If you have a Gmail account, then you already have a Google account. If not, then setting one up is an easy way to get started with all of Google’s tools. You can, however, set up an account without one.

The image above shows some of the URLs I recently shortened. Note you can view clicks by the pre-set ranges listed in the upper-right hand corner. If you click the details button to the right of each URL, then you can view some very basic visitor data: location, referring site, operating system, etc. I wouldn’t rely on the referring sites data here though. Instead, get your feet wet tracking campaigns by simply making different shortened URLs and placing those links/QR codes in different sources. Then you can see which one received more scans/clicks — answering questions like: did the Facebook, LinkedIn, or promotional in-store flyer receive more scans/clicks? You can log into your Google account from any device in any browser — your data will be there.

QR codes are awesome! But this functionality works great for just shortened URLs too. (Nothing about it necessitates a QR code; that’s just another application.) So the next time you post a hilarious link to your Facebook page, replace the URL with a shortened one and check back to see how many friends you delighted. (It’s sort of creepy and sort of fun!)

This isn’t my first rodeo — I just don’t host every site on the web

Let’s say you have an analytics solution, you’re fairly knowledgeable in it, and you’re looking for more robust metrics than a default shortened URL will offer. You should create landing pages and drop analytics code on those. Redirect traffic through those pages before bouncing them over to the third-party site you don’t host. This is a much higher level of effort requiring the help of a developer. So it works best for businesses trying to prove ROI on market spend.

Check back soon for a follow up blog on how to launch this more advanced tracking!