QR code UTM tracking for evergreen university brochures

A prospective student scans a brochure for a data science degree. The useful result is the exact program page, ideally at the requirements or request-information section. Sending that student to the university homepage creates a search task at the moment they are trying to learn more.

The same scan can also tell the communications team that the visit came from a printed program brochure. That is the job of UTM tracking. Three saved fields identify the item, access method, and recruitment activity without putting a long tagged address into the artwork.

This matters most for evergreen brochures. The degree description and printed offer may remain accurate for two or three recruitment periods, while the team still needs to separate fall outreach from spring outreach. A dynamic QR code lets the printed piece stay in use while its destination settings change.

Choose a destination before naming the tags

Start with the page that answers the student’s next question. For a program brochure, that could be the curriculum, admission requirements, a visit form, or a request-information form. Use the university homepage only when the brochure itself is about the whole institution.

Suppose the destination is:

https://www.example.edu/programs/data-science?degree=bs#requirements

The query string selects the bachelor’s degree, and the fragment opens the requirements section. Both need to survive tagging.

Use a small naming convention that the admissions and web teams can repeat:

Graklink field	Example value	What it answers
Source	program_brochure	Which item sent the visitor?
Medium	qr_code	How did the visitor open it?
Marketing label	fall_recruitment_2026	Which activity was running then?

The destination receives:

https://www.example.edu/programs/data-science?degree=bs&utm_source=program_brochure&utm_medium=qr_code&utm_campaign=fall_recruitment_2026#requirements

Lowercase values avoid splitting one label into separate rows because capitalization differs. Google Analytics treats parameter values as case-sensitive. Keep a shared naming sheet if several colleges or agencies create materials.

Add the tags in Graklink

Open the QR code in Graklink and go to its Destination panel. Enter the specific program URL, then complete Source, Medium, and Marketing label. Save the destination settings.

If the URL you paste already contains UTM parameters, Graklink moves their values into the matching fields. This keeps one value for each parameter instead of producing duplicate utm_source or utm_campaign entries. Other query parameters and the fragment remain on the destination.

Apply tags to the destination, not the short redirect printed in the QR code. The QR code continues to point to its Graklink redirect. On each future scan, the redirect sends the visitor to the current destination with the saved tags attached.

That separation is useful when a program page moves. Change the destination in Graklink and the same printed QR code opens the new page. A Graklink dynamic QR code includes destination editing, unlimited scans, and basic scan counts. A billing cancellation does not stop a purchased QR code from redirecting.

Change the period, not the brochure

Keep an accurate evergreen brochure in circulation and record the recruitment timeframe in its Marketing label.

Before spring outreach starts, change fall_recruitment_2026 to spring_outreach_2027. New scans receive the spring label. GA4 visits already recorded keep the fall value collected at the time. The QR code’s basic scan count continues across both periods.

This convention describes when the activity occurred. It does not try to guess which print batch a student holds. If the office needs placement-level comparison, give materially different brochures or placements their own QR codes rather than expecting one shared QR code to identify the physical copy.

Campaigns created in Graklink handle the Marketing label differently. While a QR code belongs to one of those campaigns, the campaign supplies a stable internal utm_campaign identifier, and the field cannot be manually overridden. Source and Medium remain separate. Use campaign assignments when the team wants one coordinated identity across an initiative; manage period changes through those campaign assignments instead of typing over the label.

For a broader channel plan, see how to organize a multi-channel QR campaign.

Test the complete path on a phone

Test the actual QR code before approving the print run. Do not stop after checking the destination field on a desktop.

1. Scan the proof with a phone using cellular data or another test connection.
2. Confirm that the exact program page opens and that the intended section appears.
3. Check the browser address for one source, one medium, and one campaign value. Confirm that the original degree=bs query and #requirements fragment remain.
4. After GA4 processes the visit, open Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. Review Session source/medium for program_brochure / qr_code, then check Session campaign for fall_recruitment_2026.

Repeat the test after any destination or tag change. Ohio University gives the same practical instruction in its university UTM guidance: test the tagged URL for both the correct page and analytics logging.

Read each signal for what it records

Graklink’s basic count records scans of the QR code. GA4 can record tagged sessions on a properly instrumented destination. Neither number proves that a student requested information, booked a visit, or applied.

Those later actions need a destination-side event, supported analytics connection, or admissions-system record.

Save the naming record with the brochure proof so the colleague handling next term’s outreach can follow the same convention. Verify the tags before approving the print run.