Adding a Barcode or QR Code to a Creative

Alterian Email Manager supports the creation of barcodes and QR codes which can be added to creatives.

The following formats are supported:

QR Code

Code Type	Code QR
Characters supported	[0-9A-Z -$%./+*:] for AlphaNumeric, all of ISC 8859-1 for binary (byte) encoding
Size or scale (supported)	1 to 5
CodeType (for Syntax)	CodeQr
Notes	Defaults to medium 15% error correction

Barcode

Code Type	Code 128	Code EAN 13	Code EAN 8
Characters supported	ASCII Codes 0-127	Numeric [0-9]	Numeric [0-9]
Size or scale (supported)	1 and 2	1 and 2	1 and 2
CodeType (for Syntax)	Code128	CodeEan13	CodeEan8
Notes		12-digit numeric value. The 13th check-digit will be added automatically.	7 digit numeric value. The 8th check-digit will be added automatically.

Note:

With CodeEan13 and CodeEan8 if additional characters are passed in the variable then only the first 7 or 12 digits will be used to render the barcode.

If non-numeric data is passed into a CodeEan13 and CodeEan8 CodeType, the barcode will not render. The same will happen if the string passed is too short. No error message will be returned.

The barcode code snippet should be added to an Email Manager creative within the source view. The code itself can be added to the email part of the creative or be placed upon a landing page.

The barcode is treated as an image and the standard Email Manager image manipulation functionality will work with it.

Don’t forget that the images within an email including the barcode are likely to be cached by the email client after opening and are therefore likely to still work offline. Useful if a barcode recipient moves instore or out of range.

Add Barcode or QR Code to Email

Add the following code using Email Manager specific syntax to place an image into your email code:

Where:

{variable}

This is the actual content to be rendered as a barcode

Must be driven by a variable.
You can map a static value in send a message manually if a generic offer is required.
You can map the variable to a list field or lookup table to create recipient specific values.
String field types are acceptable, numeric is not required.

In the example below the variable “Voucher_Code” will be used for each recipient:

<img src="{Voucher_Code}.Barcode([CodeType][Scale])" />

[CodeType]

This is the required code type, options are:

CodeQr
Code128
CodeEan13
CodeEan8

In the example below we have selected a QR code to be created for all recipients. Please note that the code type itself is case sensitive.

<img src="{Voucher_Code}.Barcode([CodeQr][Scale])" />

[Scale]

This is the required size for the code. The following settings are recommended:

Barcodes: 1 to 2

QR codes: 1 to 5

It is possible to add higher numbers but these are unlikely to be practical within an email.

In the example below we have selected our QR code to be created at a scale of 3.

<img src="{Voucher_Code}.Barcode([CodeQr][3])" />

Preview the Barcodes

As with all conditional content, due to the use of variables, barcodes cannot be previewed in the WYSIWYG editor. The barcode will show as an unrendered image marker in the preview pane.

Once the required variables have been added, barcodes can be previewed within the Email Manager “send a message” Preview Messages interface.

This will also give you the opportunity to ensure the variable is resolving to the correct value for each recipient. Remember some of the codes require set lengths to work correctly so these should be spot checked through your list.

Reporting on Barcode using Quick Totals

When an email that contains a barcode is opened it will report as a barcode open event called Barcode Rendered. This will be in parallel with the standard open event in most HTML emails

This event will trigger each time a Barcode is opened. In Quick Totals, like all System variables you can examine this event as a unique event per recipient or examine each open which will give you an indication on frequency of barcode use.

Querying on the Barcode Rendered Event use in List Manager

This Barcode Rendered system event is available within List Manager to be queried as standard for system events.

The Barcode Rendered event will also be passed back automatically into Campaign Manager as part of any standard event feed like Single Event View.

See the Alterian Barcodes How to Guide for more information.


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