How to Set Up a QR Code and Link Page for Your Candle Business Cards

A question we get a lot is how to set up a QR code and a link page for business cards, and the short answer is this: put one QR code on your card, point it at one simple link page that you control, and let that page send people to the two or three things you actually want them to do. For most candle makers that is joining your email list, shopping your candles, and following you on Instagram. Keep it to one code and one destination you own, so you are not handing out cards that point to a dead link six months from now.

We started doing this back when we were selling at little weekend markets as Garsnett Beacon, and it quietly became one of the simplest ways we turned a booth visitor into an email subscriber and a repeat customer.

Why a QR code beats a plain business card

Picture your customer at a market with a candle in one hand and a coffee in the other. If your card just has a web address printed on it, they are not going to type that URL into their phone later. It goes in a tote bag and gets found in February. A QR code removes that friction: they scan it in two seconds while you are wrapping their candle, your link page opens, and now you have a real shot at that signup or follow while they are standing in front of you. The easier you make the next step, the more people take it, which is the same thinking behind collecting emails at markets even from cash buyers.

What your link page should actually have

The biggest mistake I see is cramming a link page with ten buttons. When everything is a priority, nothing is. Decide on the one action you want most, usually an email signup, make that the top button, then add a couple of supporting links and stop. Here is the structure we use:

• Join the email list (top button). This is the one that keeps paying you back. Email is still our number one marketing channel, and a market crowd is a warm audience worth capturing. Here is why email marketing matters for a candle business.
• Shop candles. Link straight to your online store so anyone who loved a scent at your booth can reorder from their couch.
• Follow on Instagram. A simple follow keeps you in their feed between purchases.
• One current thing (optional). A seasonal collection or a first-order discount. Rotate it.

Add one photo and one line about who you are, and stop there. A clean page that loads fast always beats a busy one.

Where to host the link page: own it

You have two good options, and I lean hard toward the first.

Best option: a page on your own website. If you are on Shopify, you can build a simple buttons page right inside your store. The reason I love this is control: it is on a domain you own, there is no extra monthly fee, and the link on your printed cards keeps working for as long as your site exists. If you want your site doing more of this work, our guide to a high-converting candle website and its 10 must-haves walks through the pieces.

Second option: a free link-in-bio style page. Free tools spin up a buttons page in minutes and are fine when you are just getting going. The catch is you do not fully own that address, so if you ever move off the tool, every printed card pointing to it goes dead. Treat it as a starting point and move to your own site when you can.

Either way, point your QR code at the link page, not at a single product. Products go out of stock and get reworked. A link page is a stable home base you can update behind the scenes without reprinting anything.

How to make the QR code (for free)

You do not need to pay for this. Design tools like Canva generate a QR code for free, your Shopify or Square dashboard can create one, and plenty of free QR generators exist online. Paste in your link page URL, download the image, and drop it onto your card. A few things we learned the hard way about printing them:

1. Do not shrink it too small. On a business card, keep the code around three quarters of an inch to one inch so phones can read it.
2. Leave the quiet zone. Keep a blank margin around the code. Do not let text or a border crowd right up against it.
3. Keep good contrast. Dark code on a light background scans best. A dark-on-dark card nobody can scan is just a pretty coaster.
4. Add a short call to action under it. Something like "Scan to join our list and get 10% off your first candle" tells people why to bother. A naked QR code gets ignored.
5. Test before you order 500. Get a small proof and scan it with a couple of different phones.

Do not stop at business cards

Once you have a link page and a QR code, use them everywhere your brand shows up: thank-you cards in every online order, a small sign at the booth so people can scan and shop while you are busy, packaging inserts, even the bottom label of the candle itself. The card is just one doorway. The link page is the room everyone walks into, so build as many doorways to it as you can. What selling at craft fairs really taught us has more of what worked for us.

You do not need fancy analytics to know this is working. The simplest signal is your email list: watch signups on market weekends and you will see the bump.

A few quick questions we hear

Do I need to pay for a tool to do this?

No. A free QR generator plus a page on your existing website covers it. The only thing worth paying for is your own domain and store.

Should the QR code go to my shop or my email signup?

Send it to a link page that offers both, and make the email signup the top button. A sale is great, but an email address lets you sell to that person again and again. If you had to pick one, pick the list.

What if I am brand new and do not have a website yet?

Start with a free link-in-bio page so you have something to scan to this weekend, and make building your real site the next step. Getting the basics up is exactly what we cover in our how to start a candle business deep dive and our free 10 step guide.

That is the whole setup: one QR code, one link page you control, a clear top action, and the discipline to keep it simple. It is a small thing that quietly compounds with every market and every card you hand out. If you want to swap notes with other makers, come hang out in our free Facebook group, and we break a lot of this down on YouTube too.