How to run a discount offer at your booth with a QR code

Short answer

Put a QR code on the booth offering a show discount. Scanning opens a short form asking for an email, and submitting it lands the visitor on a page confirming the discount is applied, with an optional newsletter opt-in. You leave the show with a list of people who wanted something, not a pile of scanned badges.

Why a discount rather than a plain sign-up

At a show, nobody gives you an email for nothing. A discount is the exchange, and it changes who ends up on your list: people who intended to buy, not people who wanted the tote bag.

It also gives you a reason to write to them afterwards that is not "we met at a show" — the offer has a deadline, which is the easiest follow-up email anyone will ever send.

The flow

Keep the first form to one field. Every extra box costs you submissions, and a stranger at a booth has a queue behind them. Name and company can come later, in an email they answer sitting down.

Keeping the opt-in separate

The discount and the newsletter are two different agreements. Someone giving you an email to claim an offer has not agreed to a mailing list. Putting the newsletter behind its own button on the confirmation page keeps the consent explicit and the list clean.

Step-by-step

1. Ask the assistant to build the flow, including what the confirmation should say.
2. Put your real offer wording on the confirmation page — the discount amount, the code if there is one, and when it expires.
3. Print the code large enough to scan from a metre away, and put it at standing eye height rather than flat on the table.
4. During the show, watch the scan count live to see which hours and which booth positions work.
5. Afterwards, export the emails and send the follow-up before the offer expires.

Limits and caveats

• The workflow collects the email and confirms the offer. It does not generate or validate discount codes — put a fixed code on the confirmation page, or issue codes from your own store.
• Scans are not redemptions. To connect the two, use a code unique to the show and count its uses in your checkout.
• Anyone can type any email. Expect some noise, and do not treat the raw count as qualified leads.
• Show wifi is unreliable. A visitor with no signal cannot submit the form, so keep it short enough to complete in the seconds they do have.
• Ask for consent for the mailing list explicitly. A discount opt-in is not a marketing opt-in in most jurisdictions.

Frequently asked questions

Should I ask for more than an email?

Not at the booth. Every additional field reduces submissions, and you can enrich the record later. If you must qualify on the spot, one dropdown is the limit.

Can I use the same code at several shows?

You can, but you will not be able to tell them apart. Make one code per show and name it after the event.

What if someone scans but does not submit?

You still see the scan. The gap between scans and submissions is the most useful number the flow produces — it tells you whether the offer or the form is the problem.

Can I show a different offer to returning visitors?

Yes. A scan condition can send first-time scanners to the discount and returning ones somewhere else, such as a page about a different product.

How soon should I follow up?

Before the discount expires, and while they remember the conversation. The week of the show beats the week after.