Nobody is scanning your QR code. Here is why.

If your QR code is getting no scans, the code is almost never the problem. It is usually in the wrong place, too small, pointing at something nobody wants, or missing the one line of text that tells people why they should bother.

It does not say what it is for

This is the most common one by a distance.

A code with no words next to it asks a stranger to do something slightly awkward in public for an unknown reward. Almost nobody takes that deal.

Tell them what they get. "Scan for our menu." "Scan to see today's prices." "Scan to message us." One short line, and it has to be specific. "Scan here" is not specific.

It is somewhere nobody stops

A code only works where a person is already still.

Walls people walk past, the middle of a busy aisle, the back of a room: these get nothing. The till gets scans because the customer is standing there with nothing to do. The window gets scans because people stop to look in. Your bags get scans at home on the sofa.

If your code is somewhere nobody pauses, moving it is the whole fix.

It is too small

Codes get printed smaller than they should because they look fine on screen.

Two things matter. The first is physical size: under about two centimetres across, a code carrying a longer web address starts to fail. The second is distance: a code can be read from roughly ten times its own width, so anything meant to be scanned from across a pavement has to be much bigger than you think.

The cruel part is that this fails silently. Your phone, held close, in good light, will read a code that a customer's phone will not.

It is squeezed, covered or crumpled

A code needs clear space around it. Crowding it with text or a border right up against the edge stops phones locking on.

The same goes for a sticker that has been put on a curved bottle, folded around a bag seam, or laminated so it reflects the ceiling light straight back at the camera.

It goes somewhere disappointing

Some codes do get scanned, once, and then word gets round that it was not worth it.

If the code opens a PDF that takes ten seconds to load, or a page with nothing on it, or something that asks people to install an app, you have spent your one chance. Whatever is behind it should open instantly and answer the question they had when they scanned.

How to tell which one it is

Check whether you are getting any scans at all.

If your page shows scans separately from other visits, you can see the answer rather than guess at it. No scans at all usually means placement or the missing line of text. A few scans that stop quickly usually means what they found was not worth it.

Give any change a week before you judge it. Shops are not busy every day.