QR Codes, also known as Quick Response Codes, are an amazing tool for O2O transitions. That means many marketers and other business professionals use them to connect people from offline media to digital content.
And to do that, they don’t even have to put in much effort. All they need to do is—launch open the camera and hold it in front of the QR Code (as if clicking its picture). And within a second or two, the QR Code gets scanned.
So you want to create a QR Code too. But did you know that they can be of two types? Yes, QR Codes can be static or dynamic.
As the name suggests, dynamic ones can accommodate changes in them. That’s because they don’t store the target content directly. They rather store a redirecting URL on which the target content is stored. Hence, they offer you the flexibility of edits.
On the other hand, static QR Codes directly store the target content. That’s why they are permanent in nature.
No wonder why the static counterparts are also called permanent QR Codes. In this article, we’ll discuss everything about them in detail.
Also read: Types of QR Codes
A. Permanent QR Codes: A quick guide
As explained already, these are permanent in nature. Now that means once you’ve created the QR Code, you can’t edit it.
In fact, if you want to update the existing QR Code, you’ll rather have to create a new one from the scratch.
These are often used in inventory tracking, payments, and other such operational use cases. That’s because such use cases don’t generally require you to edit the encoded content.
Let’s dive a little deeper into the pros and cons of permanent QR Codes.
B. Benefits and drawbacks of permanent QR Codes
Permanent QR Codes have their own share of both ‘goods’ and ‘bads’. Get started here:
1. The benefits
First, with the permanent QR Codes, your content works forever. That’s right. That’s pretty great if you’re planning to use the QR Code for a use case that may last beyond decades. Why?
Because that means if, by any chance, your service provider shuts its operations, your QR Code still works. No need for you to worry.
That’s why it’s recommended for people who want to get tattooed with a QR Code to choose a permanent one in nature.
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Second, permanent QR Codes also come with unlimited scans. While so do the dynamic ones, some QR Code generators put a limit on the number of scans. They restrict them based on the subscription.
However, this doesn’t hold true for all the QR Code generators. Some of them (such as Scanova) don’t restrict the performance of dynamic QR Codes based on subscription.
2. The drawbacks
As mentioned earlier, permanent QR Codes can’t be really be edited after you’ve created them. So if you ever want to update the QR Code with up-to-date content, you will have to create a new one.
In addition, permanent QR Codes are not trackable. That means you can’t track the campaign performance with them. For example:
- How many people scanned the QR Code
- Where were they scanned from
- The time users scanned them
- The browsers and handsets they used
All that data can help you gauge how did your campaign perform. And needless to say, it can help you draw insights to plan your future campaigns better.
However, you can still track the performance of permanent QR Codes to some extent. This is possible if you need to add a website URL to them. You can then use UTM tracking to track the performance.
Lastly, with static QR Codes, you don’t get access to a lot of advanced features. For example:
- Password protected QR Codes
- Lead generation
- Custom forms in-built into the QR Code
- Event tracking to see how your audience behaves after scanning the QR Codes
- Tracking down the exact GPS location of the end-users
You are now aware of all the basics of permanent QR Codes. So now is the time for you to get started with how to create them.
In the next section, we’ll show you how you can do so in two different ways.
C. How to create static QR Codes
Based on how many QR Codes you want to create, here are the two alternatives you have:
1. For a limited number of QR Codes
Do you need only a couple of QR Codes? Then this one would work fine for you. Using Scanova QR Code generator, here’s a little brief on the whole process:
a. Go to your Scanova account and select a relevant QR Code category
b. After adding the required content, proceed ahead to name the QR Code
c. Next, you can add design to your QR Codes (if you’d like to). If you go ahead with it, make sure to update the changes
d. After you’re done, you will only have to specify the format and size of the QR Code image. Next, just click on Export
That’s it. Your QR Code will be downloaded. You can then just test it out and go ahead to add it to the required creatives.
Related : Best QR Code Generator
2. For multiple QR Codes (even in hundreds or thousands)
To do this, you will need a bulk generation service. To help you out, here’s a detailed comparison of the best bulk generation services available out there.
Using QR Batch for a demo, here’s how you can do it:
a. Prepare a spreadsheet having the data you need to add to the QR Codes. Here, the first column would be the filename. Second column onwards, add the data to be encoded in the QR Codes. Then, just download the spreadsheet in XLS, XLSX, or CSV format
b. Go to QR Batch and quickly sign-up for free. You’ll not have to add your credit card details while doing that
b. Then, select how you’d like to export the QR Codes
c. Now upload the spreadsheet. Next, review the data in the spreadsheet with the dropdown menu
d. On the next page, you can add design to your batch of QR Codes
e. After you’re done, you’ll be able to see all the batch-related details. If everything looks good, you can get started with making the payment to download the QR Codes in a zip folder
If you are still reading then you’ve learned everything about permanent QR Codes. Just make sure you test the QR Codes before putting them to use. That’s because you’d not like to be stuck with a QR Code that doesn’t work when the actual campaign starts.
That’s it. You can now get started and create your own permanent QR Codes right away.
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