Why improving location mix is worth the effort
Location mix is the breakdown of scans by where each code is placed. It shows which rooms, shelves, streets, or pages earn their keep and which placements are decoration.A quiet location can still be valuable if its scanners convert at a much higher rate, so read location mix beside conversion rate.
Diagnose before you change anything
Improvement starts with diagnosis, not with redesign. Before changing a code, split location mix by store, floor, shelf, poster position, and city and look for the weakest segment. The weakest segment is where a fix buys the most, because it holds the largest pool of lost value. Also check the steps around location mix: a problem upstream, such as poor placement, can masquerade as a problem with the code itself, and a problem downstream, such as a slow landing page, can waste scans that were earned fairly. Fix the constraint, not the symptom.Write down your diagnosis in one paragraph before you touch anything. State what you observed, which segment is weakest, and what you believe is causing it. This paragraph is your hypothesis, and it keeps the work honest: if the fix does not move the number, the hypothesis was wrong, and you learn something instead of merely changing things.
Levers that move location mix
- Move underperforming codes to spots with more dwell time and foot traffic. - Localise the call to action so it matches what people do in that spot. - Double down on the best location before paying for more locations.Work through the levers in order of expected impact per unit of effort. A lever that costs nothing and affects every scanner beats a lever that costs a print run and affects one placement. For each lever, state the change, the cost, and the segment it should move, then implement only that change. Bundling several changes together feels productive, but it destroys your ability to learn which one worked.
Test the change properly
Location share = scans from one location divided by total scans, multiplied by 100.Illustrative example numbers, not real-world data: 180 of 400 scans came from the front entrance, giving 180 / 400 x 100 = 45% for that location. The remaining scans split across three other spots, which makes the entrance the clear winner in this example.
Run the change as a comparison wherever you can: the old version against the new version, on comparable placements, over the same kind of period. Keep everything else stable, and decide in advance how long the test runs and what counts as a win. A test that ends the moment one variant pulls ahead is not a test, it is a reaction. If traffic is too small for a formal test, change one thing, record the before and after numbers, and treat the result as suggestive rather than proven.