Every QR code is one of two things, and the difference is not visual. Both are black and white squares and neither looks special.
The difference is where the information lives, and that one detail decides everything else you can and cannot do afterwards.
The actual difference
A static code carries your content inside the pattern. A dynamic code carries a short link, and we serve whatever you have pointed it at.
The content is the pattern
- Works with no internet at all
- Nothing to keep running
- Nothing is recorded
- Fixed the moment it is printed
The pattern points at a link you control
- Change the destination anytime
- Every scan is counted
- Rules for time, dates and passwords
- Needs a connection to resolve
The question that decides it
Ask yourself whether you would be able to reprint everything if the information changed tomorrow.
If the answer is no, because it is on a thousand boxes or a sign bolted to a wall, use dynamic. The ability to change it later is worth more than anything else on the list.
When static is genuinely the better choice
Static is not the lesser option. It is the correct option in a few specific situations, and dynamic cannot cover them.
The clearest is Wi-Fi. Someone scanning a Wi-Fi code has no connection yet, which is exactly why they are scanning. A dynamic code would have nothing to resolve with.
- Guest Wi-Fi cards
- A contact code that must work with no signal
- Anywhere you would rather nothing was tracked
- Content that will genuinely never change
The mistake people regret
The common one is choosing static for a printed campaign because it seemed simpler, then needing to change the destination two weeks later.
At that point there is nothing to be done. The pattern holds the old address and the only fix is new printing. Almost nobody regrets the reverse.
See how this applies to Dynamic QR Codes.
Quick answers
Keep reading
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PracticalWhere to put a QR code so people actually scan it
Placement decides scan rates more than design does. A brilliant code in the wrong spot gets ignored, and a plain one in the right spot gets used all day.
AnalyticsWhat QR scan analytics actually tell you (and what they don't)
Scan data is genuinely useful and routinely over-read. Here is what the numbers mean, and the conclusions people jump to that the data does not support.
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