Email QR code generator
An email code opens a new message addressed to you, with the subject and body already filled in if you want them. The person scanning still presses send, so nothing leaves their phone without them choosing to.
The useful part is the subject line. A pre-filled subject is what turns a pile of unsorted enquiries into something you can route.
What should it do
Start a new email with the address and subject filled in.
Content
Design
What the code contains
A mailto: address, optionally followed by subject and body parameters. Both are percent-encoded, so spaces become %20 and an ampersand in your subject line does not truncate everything after it. The generator handles that encoding, which is the part people hand-writing these get wrong.
Keep the body short. Every character is encoded into the symbol, and a three-paragraph template produces a dense code for text the sender will probably delete before writing their own.
Subject lines that earn their place
Use the subject to carry what you would otherwise have to ask for. "Quote request — 14 Mill Lane" on an estate agent board, "Warranty claim — model X400" on a product label, "Booking — Table for 4" on a restaurant flyer.
The sender can edit it, so it is a starting point rather than a form. But most people leave a sensible subject alone, which means your inbox arrives pre-sorted at no cost to them.
The failure mode worth knowing about
A mailto: link opens whatever the phone considers the default mail app. On a phone where no mail account has ever been set up, that is either a prompt to configure one or nothing visible happening at all — and the person concludes your code is broken.
This is more common than it sounds among people who only use webmail in a browser. If your audience skews that way, a WhatsApp code or a link to a contact form will convert better, even though email feels like the more professional choice.
Print it with the address visible
Show the email address in text next to the code. It costs a line and it means somebody whose phone will not cooperate can still type it, and somebody at a desktop can still use it.
It also tells people what the code does before they scan it, which measurably improves how many do. A bare code is a request to trust an unlabelled link.
Common questions
- Does scanning an email QR code send the email automatically?
- No. It opens a new message with the address, subject and body filled in, and the sender presses send themselves. Nothing leaves their phone without them choosing to, and they can edit anything first.
- Can I pre-fill the subject and message?
- Yes, both. They are percent-encoded into the code, so punctuation and spaces survive intact. Keep the body short, because every character makes the symbol denser and most people rewrite it anyway.
- Why does nothing happen when some people scan it?
- A mailto: link opens the phone default mail app, and on a phone with no mail account configured that does nothing visible. It is common among people who only use webmail in a browser, so print the address as text as well.
- Will putting my email in a QR code get me spam?
- Not from the code itself — a harvester would have to photograph and decode a physical print, which is not how address scraping works. The risk is the same as printing the address, which you should do anyway for accessibility.
- Can I send to more than one address?
- This generator takes one address, which is the reliable choice. Support for cc and multiple recipients varies by mail app, and a code that works on one phone and silently drops a recipient on another is worse than a single address.
Other generators
- Plain text QR code generatorPut plain text in a QR code — instructions, a serial number, a note. It displays on screen without opening anything. Free and unlimited.
- Phone number QR code generatorCreate a QR code that dials your number. Scanning shows the number and asks first — nothing is called without a tap. Free and print-ready.
- vCard QR code generatorCreate a QR code that saves your name, phone, email and company straight to a phone contact list. Free, no account, print-ready.