Analytics + QR Code = print traffic analysis

Synergy is often an accidental result. I had three conversations with different clients today. At the end of the day as I'm reviewing what was said, my mind connected the dots, and the result, synergy of technologies:

QR Codes.
By now everyone is familiar with QR codes, or 2D-barcodes (example on the right). They are the squared group of dots that you scan with your smartphone to open a link or download an app. Nowadays we see them more utilized in ads, flyers, even billboards;  to the point that the subject matter no longer has to be hi-tech. They are a useful tool in your "call to arms" to get your audience to go-to or download or buy

Web Analytics.

Websites rely on networks and data-flow between them. If configured correctly, your website traffic can be quantified and analyzed. We can produce insightful reports that tell us who visited our site, where did they come from, what's the popular geographic region... and other parameters.
Google Analytics URL Builder is a useful tool that helps us build on the analysis tools. It allows us to identify a particular click. We're able to label that click and consequently, measure it. I call it a "labeled link".

Marriage of Technologies

So if we have a flyer with a QR Code with a goal to introduce an idea and point the user to a website for more information or to take action. What if that QR Code's link was a "labeled link" that we can quantify? now we have a printed material that is physically in our users hands that we can accurately measure its response as if it is digital media. Synergy of technologies.