How to make an email QR code
- Enter the address the message should go to.
- Add a subject, and a message body if you want the wording ready.
- Download and place it wherever people need to reach you.
What the code actually contains
The code holds a mailto: link, the same kind an email link on a web page uses. When
scanned it opens the phone's mail app with your address already filled in, and the subject and body
prefilled if you supplied them. The person still presses send, so nothing is dispatched without
them.
A code for contact@example.com with a subject looks like this inside:
mailto:contact@example.com?subject=Enquiry%20from%20your%20poster
The subject is percent-encoded, which is why spaces appear as %20. This tool handles
that for you.
Use the subject line as a tracking field
This is the trick most people miss. Because you choose the subject, you can tell where an enquiry came from without any analytics at all. Put a different subject on each poster, leaflet or location — "Enquiry from window display", "Enquiry from trade stand" — and your inbox sorts itself.
Keep the subject short. It is encoded into the pattern, and a long subject with a long body can push a simple code from a sparse 25 × 25 grid to a dense 45 × 45 one, which then needs printing considerably larger.
What happens on the scanning phone
iPhone and Android both open the default mail app from a scanned mailto: code. If
someone has no mail app configured — more common than you would think on shared or work devices —
nothing happens, which looks like a broken code.
For that reason, print the email address as text beside the code. It costs a line and removes the failure case entirely.
Where these get used
- Trade stands and events. Enquiries without anyone copying an address wrongly.
- Printed adverts. Especially with a subject that identifies the placement.
- Product support. On the label, with the model number already in the subject.
- Business cards. Though a contact card code usually serves better, since it saves the whole record.
Common questions
Does scanning the code send an email automatically?
No. It opens a draft with your address, subject and body filled in. The person reads it and presses send themselves.
Can I prefill the message body?
Yes. Keep it brief — the body is encoded in the pattern, so a long message makes the code much denser and harder to scan.
What if the person has no email app set up?
Nothing happens when they scan, which looks like a broken code. Always print the address as text beside the code as a fallback.
Can I use the subject line to see which poster worked?
Yes, and it is the most useful thing about these codes. Give each placement a different subject and your inbox tells you where enquiries came from.
Can I add CC or BCC recipients?
The mailto format supports it, but support across mobile mail apps is inconsistent, so this tool keeps to the address, subject and body.