QR codes you can change after printing

A normal QR code has its destination baked in. Print it on 500 flyers and the day that page moves, or the number changes, you are reprinting 500 flyers.

A QR code link puts one small step in between. The QR code holds a short Exabloom link, and Exabloom forwards everyone who opens it to your real destination. Change the destination in Exabloom and every printed copy follows, with nothing to reprint.

Every link has two halves, and only one of them ever changes:

Once the posters are up, the Redirect Links page becomes a small scoreboard. Every time a person opens a short link it counts as a scan, and for a tracked WhatsApp link each scan adds a short reference to the first message. When the customer sends that message, Exabloom matches the reference and records the contact as coming from that link.

• Scans counts every time someone opened one of your short links. Link previews in chat apps aren’t counted, and neither are automated checks.
• Contacts counts conversations started from a scan, across all your workspaces. It needs source tracking on a WhatsApp link, so a website link shows a dash rather than a 0: it can never start a conversation we can see. Hover the dash to see why.
• Scan to chat is the share of scans on tracked WhatsApp links that became a conversation. Website links are left out, so a busy menu code can’t drag the rate down.
• An amber note under a destination means a tracked link isn’t bringing people in, and tells you the fix. Not tracking: the number isn’t connected to any of your workspaces, so edit the link and pick one of yours. Number disconnected: that workspace’s WhatsApp is offline, so reconnect it. No matches: people are scanning but no message has come back with its reference yet, so run a test from the QR code window.
• Each scan’s reference works once and stays valid for seven days. A customer who deletes the Ref line, or sends the message after a week, still starts a chat, but it isn’t traced back to the code.

This is the reason to use a redirect link in the first place. The promotion ends, the page moves, the branch gets a new WhatsApp number: edit the link and every printed code follows.

The change takes effect for the very next scan. Exabloom looks up the destination fresh every time someone opens the link, so there is no waiting and nothing to republish. Editing an older link and saving without touching the number or message leaves its stored address exactly as it was.

When a campaign ends you have two choices, and they are very different. If there is any chance you will use the printed codes again, pause the link rather than deleting it.

The last button, the red bin, deletes the link for good. You have to type DELETE to confirm, because there is no way back: the short link stops working, its scan history is deleted, and it can’t be recreated.

This is what someone sees if they scan a code after each choice:

• You can’t choose the short link. It is always redirect.exabloom.com/ plus six random characters, and it can’t be renamed or branded later. For print that doesn’t matter, because nobody types a QR code.
• Pause, don’t delete. Pausing is reversible and keeps your printed codes alive for later. Deleting breaks every copy forever and erases its scan history.
• Tracking only works on your own numbers. A reference can only be matched when the message lands on a WhatsApp number connected to one of your workspaces. Website links and other numbers are still counted as scans, never as contacts.
• Test messages count. The test in step 5 is a real chat with a real contact. Use a spare phone number, or expect to tidy up afterwards.
• Links belong to your brand. They are managed in the Admin Dashboard and shared by every workspace under the brand.
• Put the short link in a custom value if you reuse it. Store it once in Settings → Custom Values and use it in your messages, so there is one place to update it.