Static, dynamic and smart QR codes: what a small business should know

Every QR code is a picture of a short piece of text, usually a web address. What separates the three kinds of codes is what that address is, and who decides where it leads.

Static codes: fixed forever

A static code holds your destination directly: the picture is yourrestaurant.com/menu. Free QR generators make these, and they work forever, as long as that exact page exists.

The catch: you can't change it. If the menu moves to a new address, the website gets rebuilt, or you misspell the link, every printed copy is wrong, and the only fix is to print again.

Dynamic codes: change it whenever you like

A dynamic code holds a short link that belongs to the QR service instead, like smqrcode.com/tz4a98xx. When someone scans it, that short link looks up where it currently points and sends them there.

Because the printed picture never changes, you can:

• Fix a typo or update a link after the code is printed
• Reuse signs and stickers for a new menu, listing or promotion
• Count scans, since every scan passes through the short link

A dynamic code still sends everyone to the same place. When you want it somewhere else, you go in and change it.

Smart codes: change on their own

A smart code is a dynamic code with rules. Instead of one destination, it picks one for each scan, based on conditions you set:

• Time of day: breakfast menu in the morning, dinner menu at night
• Day of the week or dates: the specials page on Tuesdays, the holiday menu from December 20 to January 2
• Language: the Spanish page for phones set to Spanish
• Location: the open house sign-in for people standing at the house
• Device: the App Store for iPhones, Google Play for Android
• A/B split: half the scans to one offer and half to another, to see which works

When a condition is met, the code switches on its own, and when it isn't, scans go to the code's main link. Nobody has to remember to change anything. There are guides on menus by time of day, real estate signs and Spanish menus.

The catch with dynamic and smart codes

The short link only works while the service behind it keeps it running. Many QR services deactivate codes when a free trial ends or a subscription lapses, which turns every printed copy into a dead end until you pay up.

Before you pick a service, check:

1. What happens to my codes if I stop paying? With Smarter QR Code, free codes never expire, and if a paid account lapses, its codes fall back to the free plan and keep working.
2. Are there ads? Some free plans show an ad page before redirecting. Ours never shows ads; free scans see a short hold page with where the scan is going and a link to report a code that looks wrong.
3. Can people see where the code goes? Scammers sometimes stick their own codes over real ones. A hold page that names the destination helps people spot a code that's been tampered with.

Which one do you need?

• Static is fine for things that will never change and don't need counting: a Wi-Fi password, a contact card, your own home page.
• Dynamic is the safe default for anything printed in bulk, posted outdoors, or tied to a menu or a promotion.
• Smart is for one code that has to do more than one job: different times, different customers, different phones.

Before you print any QR code

• Scan it yourself, on more than one phone if you can.
• Mind the size. A code about a tenth as wide as the scanning distance scans reliably: an inch across from 10 inches away, a foot across from 10 feet.
• Keep contrast high. Dark code on a light background. Avoid light-colored codes on dark backgrounds unless you've tested them. Smarter QR Code's style editor warns you when a style may not scan well.
• Leave a quiet zone, a blank margin around the code.
• Say what it does. "Scan for the menu" gets more scans than a bare code.

Try it

Smarter QR Code gives you 3 dynamic codes right away and one more every day after that, free, with no credit card. You can change their links whenever you like, and build and test rules on them for free too. The $60/year plan turns those rules on for real scans, so every code in your account becomes a smart code.

Make a free code or read the FAQ.