You Put a QR Code on the Van. Where Should It Send People?

The question, in his own words

On r/sweatystartup, a service business owner laid out the decision plainly: "I'm considering putting it next to the phone number and email on the van. Doesn't cost much to do so the only question is if I like how it looks and/or it taking up real estate better used in another way. How has it worked out for you guys who have it up there? Are leads coming in from that?"

That is a placement question. Where should the sticker sit, and is the space worth it. Nobody who answered treated it that way.

The reply that had already learned this the hard way

The most useful answer in the thread was a first-person before-and-after, unprompted: "I slapped one on the back door of my transit last spring and it's brought in maybe 3-4 jobs since. The real value is when you're parked at a supply house or gas station and someone doesn't want to type out a number or email, scanning is just faster. Make sure the landing page actually explains what you do in under 5 seconds. First version I used just dumped them on a generic contact form and got zero traction, switched it to a quick bullet list of services with a call button and that's when the calls started."

That is one variable changed, with a before and an after attached to it. The sticker did not change. The van did not move. The only thing that changed between zero leads and 3 to 4 jobs was what the code pointed at: a generic contact form first, then a short list of services with a call button.

Not the homepage either

A second reply made the same point from the opposite direction, before anyone had tried it and failed: "I'd put one on there, but keep it pretty small. The bigger thing is making sure the QR actually goes somewhere useful, ideally a simple page with your services, phone number, and a booking/contact form, not just your homepage."

A homepage is written for someone who has time to explore. A scan happens standing in a driveway, at a supply house, or at a gas pump, not sitting at a desk. The page a code lands on has to answer "what do you do and how do I reach you" before the person decides scanning was worth it, and a full homepage is rarely built to do that in the first few seconds.

The part that makes it your page, not a stranger's

A third reply raised a risk that has nothing to do with what the page says, and everything to do with who controls it: "make sure that your QR code goes directly to you. A lot of the online QR generators will go to one website first for 'click tracking/marketing tracking' and then to your site. The problem with that is they can charge you to keep the QR code functional."

A code printed on a vehicle is not cheap to reprint. If it was generated through a third-party tool that redirects through their own domain before it reaches your site, that middle step is something you do not control, and some of those tools charge to keep the redirect alive. A code that points directly at a page you own does not have that problem. This is worth checking once, before the sticker goes on, rather than after.

The five-second test

Put together, the thread converges on one shape: the landing page has to pass what one reply called explaining what you do in under 5 seconds. In practice that means services, a phone number, and one clear action, on a page you control directly, not routed through a third party and not the general homepage. That is a short list, and it is also the entire difference between the 3 to 4 jobs one operator got and the zero traction the same operator got from the version he tried first.