QR codes for your recipes
Recipe Kit makes QR codes for your recipes. Print one on a product label, a jar, a shelf card or a recipe card you hand out at the register, and a customer who scans it with their phone camera lands on your recipe.
There are two kinds:
- A blog QR code sends people to your whole recipe blog. One code works on every product and never needs reprinting as you add recipes.
- A recipe QR code sends people to one specific recipe. Use it where the recipe belongs with one product, like a sauce and the dish it goes in.
If you are not sure where to start, print your blog QR code on your product labels. People like getting recipe ideas from the brands they buy from, and a code on the label is an easy way to get them onto your website.
QR codes are part of the Growth plan. If the QR code button shows a lock icon, your current plan doesn't include them. You can compare plans on the Recipe Kit listing in the Shopify App Store.
Get a QR code for your recipe blog
- Open Recipe Kit and go to Tools.
- Under Recipe tools, select QR codes.
- Select Get blog QR code.
The card shows where the code sends customers and how many times it has been scanned.
The code points at your default recipe blog, which you set in Settings. If you haven't set one, it uses the blog that holds most of your recipes. To point it somewhere else, select Change blog in the window. That takes you to the blog setting in Settings.
If none of your recipes are connected to a blog post yet, the window warns you and the code sends people to your store's homepage until you publish one.
Get a QR code for one recipe
- Open the recipe in Recipe Kit.
- Select QR code at the top of the page.
The line at the top tells you the page the code opens. The recipe must be connected to a blog post. If it isn't, you'll see a warning, and the code will send customers to your homepage instead. Connect the recipe to a blog post before you print it.
Change the caption and color
Caption is the text printed under the code. It starts as the recipe title, or "Our recipes" for the blog code. Change it to anything up to 80 characters, like "Scan for 5 ways to cook this" or your brand name. Clear the field to print the code with no caption.
Color changes the color of the code and caption. Brand colors work, but keep it dark. Phones struggle to read a pale code, and the background is always white.
The preview updates as you type, and the caption is part of every file you download.
Download or print
- Download PNG gives you an image 1024 pixels wide. Use it in Canva, Word or any label template.
- Download SVG gives you a vector file that stays sharp at any size. Send this one to your printer or label designer.
- Print sheet (12-up) opens a page with 12 copies of the code on US Letter paper, with dashed cut lines, and opens your browser's print window. Print it on sticker paper, or choose Save as PDF to keep a copy.
Before a big print run, print one copy at the size you plan to use and scan it with your phone.
Printed codes keep working
The code doesn't contain your blog post's address. It points at a Recipe Kit link, and Recipe Kit looks up the current address every time someone scans. So you can:
- rename a blog post or change its URL, and the code follows it
- switch your default blog, and the blog code follows that too
Codes you've already printed also keep working if you change plans later. Making new codes and seeing scan counts needs the Growth plan, but a code already on a label keeps sending customers to your recipes.
See how many people scan
Each QR code window shows Total scans and scans in the Last 30 days. The blog code and each recipe code are counted separately.
Scans also arrive with tracking tags, so Shopify Analytics or Google Analytics can show them as their own traffic source:
| Tag | Value |
|---|---|
| utm_source | recipekit_qr |
| utm_medium | qr |
| utm_campaign | blog_qr or recipe_qr |
Tips for labels and packaging
- Size. Don't print the code smaller than about 2 cm (0.8 in) across. Bigger is easier to scan from a shelf.
- Leave the white border. The white margin around the code is part of it. Don't crop it off or place the code on a busy background.
- Tell people what they get. A bare code gives nobody a reason to scan. Put a line like "Scan for recipes" in the caption or next to the code.
- One code for all your products. The blog QR code works on every label, so you only need to set up your packaging design once.
Troubleshooting
The QR code button has a lock icon. Your plan doesn't include QR codes. They are on the Growth plan.
The code opens my homepage. For a recipe code, connect the recipe to a blog post. For the blog code, publish at least one recipe to a blog post or set a default blog in Settings. The code updates on its own, so you don't need to download it again.
My phone won't read the code. Check the color isn't too light, the code isn't printed too small, and nothing overlaps the white border.