How to track which trade show collateral brings in leads.
Last updated
7 min readIn short
Give every piece of collateral its own short link, name it by event, piece and variant (`ice27-badge`, `ice27-rollup-a`) and size its QR code for the viewing distance. Then compare scans, leads and meetings per placement: few scans point to visibility, many scans with few leads point to the offer or the form.
Put a code on every piece that people keep or read.
Attention at a show is spread over many surfaces. Each surface that carries a code is a placement you can measure. Start from this table and keep the pieces that fit your stand.
| Piece | Where the code goes | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Namecard | Back of the card, 2 cm or more | Small print: use a short address |
| Lanyard badge | Chest height, facing out | The badge can flip over on the lanyard |
| Roll-up banner | 100 to 140 cm from the floor | About 25 cm wide to read at 2.5 m |
| Wall or hanging banner | At eye level, not above 2 m | About 50 cm wide to read at 5 m |
| Brochure or flyer | Back cover or beside the offer | A code with no offer beside it is just a square |
| Booth screen or slide | The last slide and the speaker's intro slide | Plain light panel, full brightness |
| E-mail signature | A link, not a code, in the weeks before the show | One link per rep or team |
| Giveaway | On the pack, not on the item | Curved surfaces scan badly |
| Packaging or sample box | Inside the lid | It keeps working after the show |
Sizes depend on how far away people stand. QR code size for print has the arithmetic and a test list.
Give each placement its own link.
If the badge, the banner and the flyer all carry the same code, you learn how many people scanned and nothing about why. Give each placement its own short link and the report splits itself.
Go one step further and give each print run its own link. If you reprint the roll-up with a new headline, give the new one a new key, ice27-rollup-b, and keep ice27-rollup-a working for the banners that are still standing. You can then compare the two designs under the same conditions. Never reuse a key for different artwork, because the history becomes unreadable.
Name placements so you can read them next year.
| Part | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Event | Short, lower case, year as two digits | ice27 |
| Piece | One word from a fixed list | badge, rollup, flyer, card, screen, sig |
| Variant | a, b for each print run or design | a |
| Whole key | Lower case letters, digits and hyphens, 2 to 40 characters | ice27-rollup-a |
Write the list of piece names in one place and use it for every show. Free text such as new-banner-final2 makes next year's comparison impossible. Keep keys short on small print: the key is part of the encoded address, and every character adds modules, as the size guide shows.
Point each link at a card.
In 1Namecard a placement is a short link. Create one per piece under Short links. Set the Key (ice27-badge), the Target address (a path such as /mia-fischer, or a full https address), Tags such as ice27 and print, and a Note for the team saying where this code is printed.
When the target is a path on your own site, 1Namecard adds ?s=<key> to it. The placement then follows the visitor through the card view, the saved contact, the lead and the meeting request. For an outside address, build the tracking parameters with the UTM builder, as set out in UTM parameters for offline campaigns.
Read the funnel by placement.
The funnel has five steps: scans (shown as card views), saves, leads, meeting requests and won deals. Compare placements on the step where they differ.
| What you see | Likely cause | First thing to try |
|---|---|---|
| Few scans | The code is too small, too high or not noticed | Move it to eye level, enlarge it and add a reason to scan |
| Many scans, few saves and leads | A weak offer, a slow page or a form that asks too much | Change the line beside the code, then test the page on mobile data |
| Many leads, few meetings | The next step is not clear | Offer a real time slot and brief the stand team |
| Many meetings, few deals | Not a placement problem | Look at follow-up speed and the sales process |
| Identical numbers everywhere | One code on every piece, or your own team scanning | Check the links. Staff visits are left out of counts by default |
Read ratios, not totals. A placement with 340 scans and 21 leads is not better than one with 150 scans and 24 leads. Compare like with like too: a badge is scanned by someone you are talking to, a banner by someone walking past.
A worked example.
The numbers below are made up, for a fictional show called Northgate Freight Expo 2027, key prefix ngx27. Six placements ran for three days.
| Placement | Scans | Saves | Leads | Meetings | Scan to lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ngx27-card | 180 | 66 | 38 | 11 | 21.1% |
ngx27-badge | 210 | 48 | 36 | 12 | 17.1% |
ngx27-flyer-a | 150 | 30 | 24 | 7 | 16.0% |
ngx27-sig | 120 | 22 | 17 | 5 | 14.2% |
ngx27-rollup-a | 340 | 40 | 21 | 4 | 6.2% |
ngx27-screen | 95 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 5.3% |
| Total | 1,095 | 218 | 141 | 40 | 12.9% |
The roll-up had the most scans and the second lowest conversion. The decisions that follow:
Roll-up. People scan from the aisle out of curiosity and leave. Next show, print
ngx27-rollup-bwith an offer beside the code, for example a 15 minute slot at the stand, and keep A for comparison.Screen. 5 leads from 95 scans. At 2 m the code needs about 20 cm. Check its size before you blame the idea.
Flyer. 16.0% from 150 scans, and the flyer has an offer beside the code. Reuse its wording on the banner.
Namecard. The best conversion and 11 meetings from 180 scans. Order more and give them out more widely.
Treat small counts with care: 5 leads from 95 scans could be 3 or 8 on another day. A visitor may also touch two placements before filling in the form, so use placements to compare each other, not as exact credit. Measuring trade show ROI by rep and placement shows how to turn this into cost per lead.
Test before printing, retire after the show.
Before you print, scan every proof on two phones. Then open the link and use Test as on its page to see where an iPhone, an Android phone or a desktop visitor would land. It records no click, so your tests do not pollute the numbers.
After the show, codes keep working. A banner in a warehouse or a flyer in a bag will still be scanned months later. Set Last day it works and a Fallback address on each link. After that day the link behaves as disabled and visitors go to the fallback, which can be a page that says where to meet you next, not a dead end. Do not recycle keys: the history stays readable for 13 months.
A collateral checklist.
- Step 1.
List every piece that will carry a code and give each a key from your naming pattern.
- Step 2.
Use one key per print run, so redesigns can be compared.
- Step 3.
Point each link at a card on your own site, so
?s=is added for you. - Step 4.
Write in the Note where each code is printed.
- Step 5.
Size each code for its viewing distance and print a proof.
- Step 6.
Scan every proof on two phones and check each link with Test as.
- Step 7.
Brief the stand team on which pieces carry codes.
- Step 8.
Check the funnel by placement at midday on day one and move what is not working.
- Step 9.
After the show, set Last day it works and a Fallback address, and export the numbers.
Quick answers.
Should every piece of collateral have its own QR code?
Yes, if you want to compare them. The artwork can look the same, but each code should encode its own link, so that scans, leads and meetings are counted per placement.
How do I track which marketing materials generate leads?
Give each piece its own short link, carry the placement name through to the lead, and compare scans, leads and meetings per placement after the show. Read ratios, not totals.
Can I use one QR code for the whole stand?
You can, but you will only see a total. You will not learn whether the badge, the banner or the leaflet did the work, or which design is better.
What happens to a printed code after the event?
It keeps working until the link expires or is disabled. Set a last day and a fallback address on each link, so that old banners and leaflets send visitors somewhere useful.