QR Codes on Receipts

Thermal paper is the real constraint

Receipt printers do not use ink. They heat paper that darkens, and the print quality drifts as the head wears and the paper roll changes supplier.

• Print at 25 mm or larger. Receipt printers have coarse effective resolution and small codes turn to mush.
• Keep the payload very short. A long URL on a thermal head produces a dense code that will not survive the print.
• Test on the actual printer, with the actual paper, not on a laser proof.
• Expect fading. Thermal receipts darken in heat and fade in light, so a receipt in a car on a summer day can be blank by evening. Design the code to be scanned within minutes, not next week.
• Position it above the tear line and away from the edges, where feed-roller marks and curl distort the pattern.

For anything that must survive, print the code on the pre-printed roll rather than through the thermal head, or hand over a small card alongside.

Review or survey, and the timing question

The instinct is to ask for a public review. That is often the wrong first ask.

• A survey code intercepts a bad experience privately, while it can still be fixed. It converts complaints into repairs rather than into ratings.
• A review code is the right ask when the transaction went well, and it belongs where staff can add one sentence of context.

Many operators run both: a private feedback code on every receipt, and a review card handed over only when the interaction went well. There are placement and compliance rules worth knowing first, covered in the review code guide.

The other receipt codes that pay

• Loyalty enrolment. The receipt is the only moment you have the purchase and the person together. A digital punch card enrols in one scan and no app.
• Return and warranty. The scan opens the return flow with the order already attached, which removes the most annoying support interaction in retail.
• Reorder. Especially for consumables, where the receipt is the natural reorder trigger.
• Tip. A payment code on the bill in card-only venues, which is now the main way tipping survives.
• Digital receipt. A code that opens the itemised version, which customers keep and paper receipts never achieve.

One code per location and per till

Use a distinct dynamic code per site, and per till where volume justifies it. That is how a multi-site operator sees which branch is generating complaints and which shift, rather than an average that hides both. The multi-location metrics playbook shows what that reporting looks like in practice.

Tell them why in one line

"Scan to rate your visit" or "Scan for 10% off next time" is the difference between a two percent and a fifteen percent scan rate. The strongest receipt code is the one that offers something for the next visit, because it converts an ending into a beginning.