QR Recorder

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Use Case: Dispensary In-Store & Billboard Campaign

Dispensary In-Store & Billboard Campaign

Scenario: Green Leaf Dispensary wants to understand customer engagement both inside and outside their store. They have several product sections (e.g., Edibles Shelf, Flower Shelf, Topicals Shelf) each with informational QR codes that customers can scan for product details or promotions. Additionally, the dispensary has launched billboard advertisements around the city, each with a unique QR code targeting nearby customers. The goal is to track exactly where scans are happening – by shelf location in-store and by billboard location out-of-store – and measure which channels drive traffic to their website or app.

Challenge: Traditional marketing in cannabis retail can feel like a shot in the dark. You might put up great signage or billboards but not know which ones actually drive customers to take action. “Combining a digital element, like a landing page or QR code, creates an opportunity to track results,” as one dispensary marketing guide notesterrayn.com. Green Leaf needed a way to attach data to their physical marketing:

  • Which in-store displays are customers engaging with the most?
  • Do the billboard QR codes lead people to visit their online menu or offers? Which billboard’s location is most effective?
  • How to gather these insights without disrupting the customer experience.

Solution Implementation with QR Recorder: Using QR Recorder, Green Leaf Dispensary set up a comprehensive QR campaign covering both in-store and outdoor channels. Here’s how they did it:

  1. Centralize Destination URLs: Green Leaf identified the landing pages for each context:
    • A general product info page for in-store scans (with sections or parameters for each product category).
    • A special promotion page for the billboard campaign (offering, say, a discount code for first-time visitors who scanned the billboard).
      They added all these URLs into QR Recorder’s Central URL Library. During import, they tagged each URL with metadata fields like “Location: In-Store Edibles Shelf”, “Location: Billboard – Highway 90”, etc. This metadata tagging is crucial for later filtering. (Screenshot: URL Library filtering by the “Location” metadata, showing separate entries for each shelf and each billboard.)
  2. Create Campaigns with Consistent Tracking: They set up two campaigns in QR Recorder:
    • “GreenLeaf In-Store Campaign” – grouping all the in-store shelf URLs under one campaign. They defined UTM parameters like utm_source=instore, utm_medium=QR, utm_campaign=GreenLeaf_Store so that any scan in-store is attributed uniformly in analytics. Each shelf’s QR code shares these UTMs for consistency. To still differentiate scans by shelf, Green Leaf utilized QR Recorder’s ability to include a custom identifier: for example, they set the utm_content field to the shelf name for each URL (e.g., “EdiblesShelf” vs “FlowerShelf”). This way, all in-store scans roll up into one campaign, but they can see breakdown by content label in Google Analytics.
    • “GreenLeaf Billboards” – grouping the billboard ad URLs. UTM parameters were set like utm_source=billboard, utm_medium=QR, and utm_campaign=GreenLeaf_Billboards. Again, they used a different utm_content (or utm_id) for each billboard’s code (e.g., “Highway90” vs “DowntownMain”) so that scans from each billboard location are distinguishable in the data. QR Recorder’s AI Campaign Builder helped suggest best-practice UTM names for this campaign when they input a simple description (“track outdoor billboard ad engagement”), saving time on deciding nomenclature.
    • For each campaign, they added descriptive tags (e.g., “In-Store”, “Outdoor”) using QR Recorder’s tagging system, making it easy to filter or search campaigns later.
  3. QR Code Generation & Customization: Once the campaigns were configured, QR Recorder automatically generated QR codes for every URL in those campaigns. Green Leaf customized the appearance of these codes to align with their brand:
    • They used the Advanced Styling options to apply the dispensary’s logo at the center of each QR code and a color gradient matching their brand colors (green and gold). This not only made the codes eye-catching but also signaled authenticity to customers.
    • They configured the QR code cards in Grid View to display useful info below each code. For example, for in-store codes, the primary title was the product category (Edibles, Flower, etc.) and additional metadata like the shelf location or promotion name was shown. (Screenshot: Grid view of QR codes for the “In-Store Campaign”, each card labeled with its shelf name and a small logo on the code design.)
    • The billboard QR codes were styled slightly differently – using a bold color scheme that stands out against the billboard background and a short call-to-action caption (“Scan for a special offer!”) printed below the code on the physical ad.
  4. Deployment: Green Leaf placed the printed QR codes in the respective locations:
    • In the dispensary: Each shelf or product section got a small sign with the QR code. For example, the Edibles section sign said “Learn more about our edibles – scan here for details and reviews.” Shoppers could scan to see product info or a discount for that category.
    • Billboards: Each billboard poster included the unique QR code. They made sure to include a brief instruction like “Scan this billboard for an exclusive deal!” to encourage drivers or pedestrians (where safe) to pull out their phones. They placed codes at eye-level on posters and used high-contrast colors, following best practices for outdoor QR placementscanova.io【1†L266-L272}.
  5. Tracking & Analytics: As soon as the codes went live, QR Recorder’s dashboard began logging scan activity. Because QR Recorder uses dynamic QR codes, every scan hit the unique short URL and was recorded in real-timeqr-code-generator.comqr-code-generator.com. Green Leaf could:
    • See the total number of scans per code in the QR Recorder interface. For instance, after the first week, the Edibles Shelf code had 120 scans while the Topicals Shelf code had 45. This data was visible in the campaign’s Table View, where each URL (each shelf) had a row showing its individual scan count.
    • Monitor trends with the Activity Overview Chart on the dashboard. They noticed spikes in scans on certain days – e.g., a weekend spike for in-store scans, and a weekday evening spike for one of the billboards near a commuter route. (Screenshot: QR Recorder Activity Chart highlighting two peaks, annotated as “Billboard Hwy 90 spike” and “In-store weekend spike”.)
    • Cross-reference with Google Analytics: Since each scan carried UTM parameters, the dispensary’s GA reports showed a clear breakdown. All scans with utm_campaign=GreenLeaf_Store were seen as one traffic source, and by looking at the utm_content dimension, they compared engagement per shelf. This confirmed the QR Recorder data – Edibles were most scanned, perhaps indicating higher interest or better placement. For billboards (utm_campaign=GreenLeaf_Billboards), GA showed which location code brought more site traffic. This measurable data is invaluable; QR codes allow businesses to “track and measure the success of location-based campaigns by monitoring scan rates and conversion rates”scanova.io. Green Leaf finally had numbers tied to their physical ads.

Results & Insights: Even though these were hypothetical campaigns, Green Leaf’s use of QR Recorder demonstrated tangible benefits:

  • Shelf Engagement: They discovered that the Edibles Shelf QR code had twice as many scans as the Topicals Shelf. This insight (150 vs 75 scans over a month, for example) told marketing staff that interest in edibles content was high. The dispensary could respond by allocating more stock or promotional focus to edibles, and investigate if the Topicals section needed better signage or offers to boost engagement.
  • Billboard Performance: Among the three billboards, the one located on Highway 90 had the highest engagement (let’s say 200 scans in a month) compared to the downtown billboard (50 scans). This data justified the cost of the Highway 90 billboard (high traffic area), while the downtown location’s low ROI might lead them to consider relocating that ad or tweaking its message. QR Recorder made these comparisons easy by separating scans by campaign and content, essentially giving each physical ad a “report card.” As a marketing principle, “QR Codes allow businesses to collect valuable data on customer behavior such as number of scans and locations, helping make informed decisions”scanova.io – Green Leaf saw this first-hand.
  • Enhanced Customer Experience: Customers appreciated the quick info at their fingertips. The dispensary also noticed that some shoppers, after scanning a shelf code, used the on-screen coupon at checkout – linking the digital engagement to in-store sales.
  • No More Guesswork: Before, Green Leaf could only assume which posters or displays worked best. With QR Recorder, they had concrete numbers. As one marketing expert puts it, QR Code tracking gives real-time insights into how and where your audience is engaging, measuring what’s working and what’s notqr-code-generator.com. Green Leaf now used these insights to refine their marketing – for example, moving the poorly performing QR sign to a more visible spot and updating the content behind the QR code to be more enticing.

How-To Summary: Even without prior analytics expertise, the dispensary team was able to deploy this campaign with QR Recorder’s user-friendly tools. New users are guided by a Setup Wizard that walked the Green Leaf team through creating their first campaign step-by-step. Key tips for a dispensary (or any retailer) implementing a similar QR strategy:

  • Plan distinct landing pages or tracking identifiers for each location you want to compare.
  • Use clear labels and calls-to-action on your QR signage so customers know the value of scanning.
  • Leverage QR Recorder’s bulk operations – e.g., importing a list of product pages via CSV and generating dozens of QR codes in one go – to save time.
  • Regularly check the dashboard or your analytics platform to measure results and adjust. QR Recorder’s real-time logging meant Green Leaf could even check mid-campaign and make tweaks (like updating a URL or pausing a campaign) if needed. (Screenshot: QR Recorder “Recent Activity Log” showing entries of “Campaign created”, “URL imported”, and later possibly “URL updated” if they changed a link on the fly.)

Through this dispensary use case, it’s clear how QR Recorder empowers location-based marketing with data. Next, let’s look at a very different industry – automotive – and how QR codes can drive customer engagement and insights there.