Retail add-ons:: Barcode and QR code add-on – Emarsys

This feature is a custom development add-on, if you are interested, please contact your Client Success Manager.

Overview

Barcodes and QR codes are dynamic images, rendered by an Emarsys service. This rendering process happens live and it is based on a URL parameter that contains the code. This image URL can be personalized as well to provide unique barcodes for customers.

Barcodes are machine-readable representations of characters consisting of lines and spaces of varying width and height. The following image shows an example of both a barcode (left) and a QR code (right):

With the Barcode Configurator that is available in the Emarsys platform as an add-on, you can directly create and configure your barcodes and QR codes, and use them in your marketing campaigns (for example as part of an email campaign).

Barcodes and QR codes are mainly used to get voucher codes in a scannable format. POS (Point of Sale) systems can easily scan these codes.

How the barcode and QR code add-on works in Emarsys?

Create your barcodes in the Barcode Configurator

First you need to create the barcode or QR code in the integrated Barcode Configurator, you want to use in your campaigns.

Click New Barcode.

Select the barcode type (for the list of all supported barcode types, see What barcode types does Emarsys support?).

In the editor, the barcode add-on automatically sets default values for each barcode, which almost all scanners should be able to read. However, in special cases you may want to change these settings:
- Name the barcode (1).
- Scale the barcode (2).
- Set the font size for the ID (3).
- Set the height of the barcode bars in pixels (4).
- Set the color for both the bars and the ID (5).
- Set the background color (6).
- Set the width for the thin bars (7).
- Set the width for the thick bars (8).
- Set a border for the barcode (9).
- Enter a preview code, according to which the preview pane will display the barcode in real time (10).
- Check how exactly the rendered barcode will look like (11).

You can only see the live view, once the barcode has been saved.

When everything is set, click Save.

The barcode generator does not validate the code. If the code is incorrect it will not be rendered and the email will only include its placeholder.

Use your barcode in a campaign

Once created in the Barcode Configurator, you can use your barcodes and QR codes in your email campaigns as follows:

Create a new email campaign.
In the email content, insert a block with an image.
Insert the URL into the image path.

As a best practice, we recommend setting the image ALT attribute to the barcode value (in case the service ever happens to be unavailable, or the user does not allow images to be displayed in the email etc.).

Advanced settings

Open the Advanced settings section for further fine-tuning options of your code.

For using an EAN code and uploading codes with 13 digits, you have to complete the following:
- Select Provided checksum and
- uncheck the Add checksum option,
otherwise the EAN code will not be rendered.

The barcode is rendered in the live preview right away:

And the rendered QR code in the live preview looks like the following:

Placeholders are rendered as well and are not replaced until launch! As the rendering happens live, the placeholder is replaced at launch and in the mailing received by the customer the correct barcode is displayed.

Personalize your barcode

You can use personalization to provide unique barcodes and QR codes for customers. To do that, you need to add the personalization token to the image URL in the Image Properties window:

Barcodes and QR codes can be personalized with any of the standard contact, voucher, Relational Data personalization, etc.

When using personalization, as a best practice, add the "required" filter in ESL, so that the campaign stops sending out in case the barcodes are not inserted (voucher pool runs out, etc.). For more information, see Filters.