Scans by variant
Compare Smart Link variants to see which placement, channel, or location performs best.
This article explains how to use Scans by Variant to compare placements, channels, and locations under one Smart Link.
Why this widget matters
Variants are one of the main reasons teams use Smart Links.
They let you keep one main Smart Link and one destination strategy, while still measuring each placement separately through its own variant URL:
https://your-domain.example/l/spring-launch?v=food-courtScans by Variant turns those URLs into a simple performance comparison.
On the per-link analytics page, this widget appears with the other Smart Link metrics after you set a date range and click Run.
What you can learn from it
Use Scans by Variant to answer questions such as:
- Which poster location generated the most scans?
- Which newsletter placement performed better?
- Which store, venue, or mall delivered the strongest traffic?
- Which creative version should be reused next time?
Common use cases
| Use case | Example variants |
|---|---|
| Venue comparison | north-entrance, food-court, cinema-bridge |
| Channel comparison | newsletter, instagram-bio, window-poster |
| Regional rollout | paris-centre, lyon-centre, marseille-centre |
How to interpret the results
When one variant clearly leads the chart, that usually means one of three things:
- the placement had better visibility
- the audience at that placement was a better fit
- the creative or timing behind that placement was stronger
When one variant underperforms, it does not always mean the destination is weak. It may mean the physical location, channel context, or promotion timing needs attention.
A practical example
Imagine one Smart Link promotes the same published campaign across three printed assets:
- entrance poster
- food-court stand
- checkout counter card
If Scans by Variant shows the food-court version generating far more activity than the other two, you now have a clear signal for where the campaign is getting discovered most often.
If a variant is missing or empty
If one expected variant does not appear with meaningful activity:
- confirm the distributed QR code or URL really used that variant's
?v=value - make sure the variant was active when it was shared
- check the selected analytics date range
- run a fresh test scan through the exact variant URL