QR code glossary · Dynamic codes and tracking
Smart routing
Also called: Conditional redirect, Rule-based routing
Definition
Smart routing is a feature of dynamic QR codes that sends each scan of the same printed code to a different destination according to rules, such as the phone’s operating system, its language setting, the time of day or the scanner’s approximate location; routing by location is often called geo-routing.
How it works
Because a dynamic code’s short link is resolved by a server at the moment of each scan, the server can look at the request before choosing where to redirect it. The inputs are the same ones scan analytics use: the user agent for device and operating system, the phone’s language preferences, the time, and the IP address for an approximate location.
Rules are usually checked in priority order. Every condition in a rule must match, the first matching rule decides, and anything that matches no rule goes to a default destination. The printed code never changes; only the answer to each scan does.
Why it matters
One code can serve several audiences: iPhones to the App Store and Android phones to Google Play, Spanish-language phones to a Spanish page, a lunch menu before 4 pm and a dinner menu after, or each region to its nearest store. That saves printing several codes and choosing between them.
Its limits come from the inputs. IP-based location is a city-level guess at best and is wrong for VPN users and some mobile networks; exact location needs the page to ask the visitor’s permission through the browser. Language routing reads the phone’s setting, not the person’s nationality. So never rely on routing for anything that must be right for legal or safety reasons, always set a default that works for everyone, and test each rule on real phones before printing.
Example
An app download code with two rules: iOS goes to the App Store listing, Android goes to Google Play, and the default, for desktop scans and anything unrecognized, is a web page with both store links.
In CirculateQR
Rules can use device, language, time and day, a radius around a point (from approximate IP location), weather, scan count and new or returning visitors. Device and language routing are on every plan; time, location, scan-count and returning-visitor rules need Studio or higher, and weather routing Artisan. There is no country condition.
Related terms
- Dynamic QR codeA dynamic QR code is a QR code that encodes a short link to a redirect service instead of the final content, so the destination can be changed after printing and each scan can be counted, for as long as the service keeps the link active.
- A/B testing (QR codes)A/B testing with QR codes means splitting the scans of one printed code between two or more destinations, usually at random by set percentages, to measure which page, offer or message turns more scanners into customers.
- RedirectA redirect is an HTTP response with a 3xx status code and a Location header that tells the browser to load a different address; it is how a dynamic QR code’s short link forwards each scan to the code’s current destination.
- Deep linkA deep link is a link that opens a specific screen or item inside a mobile app, such as a product page, rather than the app’s home screen or a website; in a QR code it is usually an ordinary https address that the phone hands to the installed app.
- Scan analyticsScan analytics are the records a dynamic QR code’s redirect service keeps each time the code is scanned, typically the time, an approximate location from the IP address, the device, operating system, browser and language, summarized into counts and charts.
Learn more
- Smart routing in CirculateQR: Every condition and action, by plan.
- Routing QR code scans by device, location, time or language: How to design and test routing rules.
- App Store QR code generator: Send iPhone and Android users to the right store.
Sources
Last updated . Written by the CirculateQR team; technical facts follow the sources listed above. Example codes and sizes are computed with the open-source qrcode encoder that CirculateQR uses. Spotted something wrong? Email support@circulateqr.com. QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.
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