Scans by variant
Compare OmniLab Smart Link variants to see which placement, channel, or location performs best.
See which poster, channel, or location is actually winning, so you know where to invest next time. This page explains how to use Scans by Variant to compare placements under one OmniLab Smart Link.
Why this matters
Variants are one of the main reasons teams use OmniLab Smart Links.
They let you keep one main OmniLab Smart Link and one destination, while still measuring each placement separately through its own variant link — for example /l/spring-launch?v=food-court.
Scans by Variant turns those placements into a side-by-side performance comparison.
On the analytics page, this chart appears with the other metrics after you set a date range and select 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 points to one of these:
- 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. The physical location, channel context, or promotion timing may need attention instead.
A practical example
Imagine one OmniLab Smart Link promotes the same published campaign across three printed assets:
- entrance poster
- food-court stand
- checkout counter card
When Scans by Variant shows the food-court version generating far more activity than the other two, you have a clear signal for where the campaign is getting discovered most often.
If a variant is missing or empty
When an expected variant shows little or no activity:
- Confirm the QR code or link you shared really used that variant's
?v=value. - Make sure the variant was active when you shared it.
- Check the analytics date range you selected.
- Run a fresh test scan through the exact variant link.