I sent the same link to three Slack channels last Tuesday and realized I had zero way of knowing which one drove the 47 signups I saw that morning. My initial thought was to use a URL parameter to track the source, but that would've made the link ridiculously long — and I still had to add it to my conference slides as a QR code. I was about to print 200 physical copies of the slide, so I needed a solution fast.
Fumbling with URL Parameters
I was trying to use a combination of curl and python to generate unique links with URL parameters, but it was getting out of hand. I had something like curl -s -o output.txt https://example.com/?source=slack, and then I'd parse the output in Python to generate the QR code. However, this approach was not only cumbersome but also prone to errors — and I still had to deal with the issue of tracking scans. I was looking at the device breakdown feature in LinkCut and noticed that it could potentially help me identify which devices were scanning the QR code, but I wasn't sure if it was the right tool for the job.
The QR Code Experiment
I decided to try using LinkCut to generate a QR code for my conference talk slides. I created a short link with a custom slug (/my-talk) and downloaded the auto-generated QR code. I then added the QR code to my slides and printed the physical copies. During the conference, I was able to track the scans using LinkCut's click analytics feature — and I was surprised to see that most of the scans were coming from iOS devices. Honestly, I was expecting a more even distribution across devices, but this insight actually helped me tailor my follow-up content to the audience. The thing is, I still don't fully understand why iOS devices dominated the scans, but it's something I'll look into further.
Unexpected Results
The results were fascinating — and a bit weird. I saw a spike in scans during the conference, but also a significant number of scans from countries I hadn't expected. I was looking at the country breakdown feature in LinkCut, and I noticed that some of the scans were coming from countries where I didn't think I had any audience. This was weird, because I had assumed that my content was mostly relevant to a specific geographic region. Look, I'm not sure what to make of this, but it's definitely something I'll consider when planning my next conference talk.
When This Approach Falls Apart
There are some significant caveats to using QR codes on conference slides — and some limitations to using LinkCut. For one, if you're dealing with a very large audience, the free plan might not be sufficient, and you might need to look into other options. Additionally, if you need more advanced tracking features, you might need to consider using a different tool. I'm not sure this approach is the best for every situation, but it worked for me in this case. The thing is, I'm still experimenting with different approaches, and I'm not convinced that this is the only way to do it.
I'm still thinking about the implications of using QR codes on conference slides, and I'm not sure I've fully explored all the possibilities. Has anyone else hit this exact wall, and if so, how did you overcome it?
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