How to Measure Print Marketing: Scan Analytics for Catalogs, Brochures and Posters
Ways to measure how much interest your printed catalog, brochure or poster gets: scan counts, watch rate, region and device breakdown, campaign QR codes and contact conversions.
In digital advertising every click, impression and conversion is measured. With print, usually only one number is known: how many copies were printed. How many people opened the catalog, which page they looked at, or whether the brochure affected sales is left to guesswork. In this article we look at ways to measure the impact of print with concrete data.
Traditional methods and their limits
- Coupons and discount codes: only measure purchases; people who showed interest but haven't bought yet stay invisible.
- Dedicated phone numbers or web addresses: tedious to set up, and readers have to type the address by hand.
- Surveys and “How did you hear about us?”: rely on memory and a small sample.
- Classic QR codes: give a scan count, but scan rates tend to be low (we explain why in Why are QR code scan rates low?).
What can you measure with image-linked video?
Once videos are linked to the images on a printed page, every reader interaction becomes measurable. The main data shown in the ImageWake dashboard:
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Scan count | Overall interest in the material; comparison between periods. |
| Scans per item | Which product or page draws the most interest. |
| Unique visitors | How many different people you reached. |
| Watch rate | How much of each video is watched on average, and the share who watch to the end. |
| Country, city and device | Where the material is used; the effect of dealer and trade-fair distribution. |
| Day and hour heatmap | When readers come back to the material. |
| Source and campaign | Whether the visit came from the QR code, a link, or which campaign. |
| Contact buttons | How often the WhatsApp or call buttons were tapped after the video. |
This data is collected without cookies and without storing personal data; readers are not asked for consent or sign-up.
Separate channels with campaign QR codes
If the same catalog is distributed through different channels, create a separate campaign QR code for each: the trade-fair booth, dealer distribution, direct mail and a magazine ad, for example. Each visit is attributed to the QR code the reader came from. “Did the 2,000 catalogs handed out at the fair or the 2,000 sent to dealers get more interest?” stops being a guess.
How to read the data
- Scans per printed copy: divide total scans by the print run. It's the simplest way to compare materials and periods.
- Most and least scanned items: a frequently scanned product is drawing interest; a page that is never scanned is either not interesting or hard to recognize. In the latter case, run its image through the image test.
- Low watch rate: if visitors open the video and leave quickly, it may be too long or slow to start.
- Regional breakdown: the cities where scans concentrate help set the sales team's priorities.
- Contact conversion: the share of viewers who get in touch after the video shows how close the material brings them to a sale.
Share the report
Statistics for the period you select can be printed as a report (and saved as PDF). It makes it easier to justify the print share of the marketing budget to management or a client with data.
Detailed visitor statistics are included in the Professional and Enterprise plans, and per-item statistics in Enterprise; scan counts and campaign QR codes are available on all plans. Catalog examples are on the product catalogs page.