Improving Your Conversion Funnel: Scans, Initiations, Submissions & Approvals

This article covers every stage of the Brij conversion funnel — Scans/Clicks, Initiations, Submissions, and Approvals — and gives you specific, tested levers to improve each one. Whether you're troubleshooting a single metric or doing a full program audit, use this as your go-to reference.

Understanding the Funnel

Every Brij campaign moves consumers through four stages:

The most important first step is identifying which stage is your bottleneck. A campaign with 5,000 scans, 200 initiations, and 160 submissions has a different problem than one with 5,000 scans, 1,500 initiations, and 300 submissions. Review the conversion funnel in your Brij Dashboard to identify which improvements will be most impactful to your business.

Stage 1: Scans / Clicks — Getting More People In

Scans and clicks measure how many consumers actually reach your experience. Low volume here is not a Brij problem — it is a distribution problem. The experience cannot convert people who never see it.

Common root causes

• The QR code is only on one surface (e.g., back panel) and not in a high-visibility location
• The CTA is either too vague or too lengthy (think "Learn More" on the vague side, or "Scan here to learn more about our community, our mission, exclusive offers, and more")
• Distribution is limited to a single method, rather than taking an omnichannel approach (although this varies by use case)
• The QR code is too small to scan reliably, or has poor contrast with the background

Levers to pull

Placement and physical distribution

• Add inserts. For brands selling on Amazon or through DTC channels, inserts inside the box consistently outperform back-panel QR codes. They get more eyeballs and create a dedicated moment of engagement at unboxing.
• Move to the front. If the QR code is on the back or side of packaging, explore moving it to the front panel or a more prominent location. Front-of-pack placement significantly increases discovery.
• Add in-store materials. Shelf talkers, endcap signage, and register displays expand the surface area of your campaign beyond the product itself. These perform especially well for rebate campaigns where the consumer may see the offer before purchasing.
• Use stickers for existing inventory. If a packaging refresh isn't imminent, QR code stickers applied to existing products are a fast, low-cost way to expand reach — particularly useful for Amazon SKUs.
• Size and contrast. QR codes should be at least 0.75" × 0.75". Make sure there is strong contrast between the code and the background; a code that blends into the packaging is one that won't get scanned.

CTA copy

• Keep it short and benefit-led. The CTA should communicate the value in just a few words.
• Avoid surrounding the QR code with too much explanatory text — this actually decreases engagement. Let the CTA do the work.
• Specific, transactional CTAs outperform generic ones. Strong examples: "Scan to register your warranty," "Scan for 20% off," "Scan for $3 back," or "Scan to get a free can." Weak examples: "Scan here," "Learn more," "Explore."
• For rebates, dollar amounts outperform percentage discounts. "Get $3 back" beats "Get 15% off." "FREE" is the single highest-performing word in rebate CTAs.
• If it fits your brand, be cheeky or mysterious! "Don't scan this", "mystery gift", or similar can be a great way to pique consumer interest.

Digital distribution

• Use both a QR code and a short link when possible. Using only one channel cuts your reach in half. The short link goes in paid ads, email, SMS, social link-in-bio, and your website footer.
• Build a digital hub. If your social or website traffic isn't flowing into Brij, a digital hub (essentially a Brij-hosted link-in-bio) routes all of those consumers into your experiences at once. This is especially valuable when top-of-funnel volume is down but your paid media and social presence is strong.
• Drive all channels simultaneously. Isolated launches prevent momentum. Activate packaging, paid ads, email, SMS, and influencer content at the same time whenever possible.
• Diagnose traffic sources with variants. If you suspect one channel is underperforming (for example, paid ads driving traffic before a consumer has made a purchase), create a Brij variant linked specifically to that channel. This isolates the traffic source and lets you tailor the experience to that consumer's context.

Stage 2: Initiations — Converting Scanners Into First-Party Data

An initiation happens when a consumer enters their phone number or email — the moment they become a known contact. The initiation rate is the most direct measure of how compelling your offer and first impression are.

Common root causes of low initiation rate

• The incentive is unclear, missing, or not visible before the consumer is asked to submit contact info
• The ad or CTA that drove the consumer here promised something that the experience doesn't immediately deliver — a mismatch between expectation and reality
• The offer requires a consumer action they haven't taken yet (e.g., an ad drives consumers to claim a rebate, but the consumer hasn't purchased the product and doesn't understand they need to first)
• The consumer was directed here from a non-purchase channel (paid ads, organic social) and encounters an experience designed for post-purchase consumers
• The offer value is too low to motivate action ("$1 back" creates friction without meaningful motivation)

Levers to pull

Nail the offer and value proposition

• Make the incentive visible before the consumer is asked to do anything. The consumer should understand what they're getting before they decide whether to enter their information. An offer that only appears after sign-up is an offer that loses consumers before they see it.
• Audit your offer value. For rebate campaigns, a low-value offer is one of the most common drivers of low initiation rate. If you're offering "$1 back," test increasing it. Higher perceived value drives action.
• For registration programs, lead with the most compelling benefit. An extra year of warranty, exclusive content access, or a follow-up discount are all strong motivators. The offer should be visible before the consumer starts the form.

Close the expectation gap

• Check that your ad or CTA and your experience are telling the same story. If your ad says "get a can on us" and the experience reveals that the consumer needs to first buy a can at a store, you will see low initiation rates from that traffic source — consumers can feel misled. This applies equally when the experience content doesn't match what the consumer expected from the CTA (e.g., a consumer who scanned expecting ingredient information and instead finds a discount offer). Make sure messaging is consistent between the channel that drove them here and what they land on.
• Ensure buyers can act on your CTA immediately. Consider adding a store locator or a "buy online" button to the experience so consumers can take the next step without leaving. If you can direct them to an online PDP where they can purchase and then come back to submit a receipt, you close the gap between intent and action.

Simplify and optimize the experience

• Use images. A visually rich experience with product photography, brand colors, and clear layout converts better than a plain text form. Include images in all modules and at the registration step.
• Keep the experience mobile-first. Most consumers access Brij on a mobile device. Prioritize a layout, CTA size, and font legibility that works on a small screen.
• Use variants to tailor by channel. A consumer who scanned a QR code on-pack has already purchased. A consumer who clicked an ad on Instagram has not. These are different consumers with different contexts — a single experience design serves neither well. Variants let you customize the experience by traffic source.

Stage 3: Submissions — Getting Initiators Across the Finish Line

A submission is completed when the consumer finishes all required steps after initiating — typically uploading a receipt and/or completing a form or survey. The submission rate measures how many of your initiators actually finish. This is where friction in the experience itself causes drop-off.

Common root causes of low submission rate

• The form or survey has too many questions, especially optional or low-value ones that create fatigue
• The receipt upload step is confusing or the instructions are unclear
• The "Complete Profile" step (optional name/phone fields) is being confused with a required step, causing drop-off
• Reminder texts or emails are not enabled — consumers start the flow, get distracted, and never come back
• The consumer doesn't understand what documentation is required or what qualifies (i.e. a receipt or product review)

Levers to pull

Reduce form friction

• Cut questions that aren't essential — including purchase details if they aren't required. Every additional question after initiation is a potential drop-off point. One brand saw their submission rate jump from 39% to 83% in eight days simply by removing one question. Start with the minimum viable form. If the campaign is not a rebate requiring proof of purchase, remove the receipt upload step entirely — it's one of the highest-friction points in the flow.
• Use conditional logic. Show fields only when they're relevant. If the product is not serialized, don't show a serial number field. Conditional forms reduce apparent length and improve data quality at the same time.
• Disable "Complete Profile" if it's adding confusion. The Complete Profile step (where consumers optionally add their name or phone number) fires a separate event and is always optional. If consumers are dropping off at this step thinking it's required, you can disable it. See: How to Disable Complete Profile From Registration.

Enable and customize reminder messages

• Turn on reminder messages. This is the single highest-leverage action for brands with a healthy initiation rate but a low submission rate. Consumers frequently start the flow on-the-go, get distracted, and never return — a single well-timed reminder significantly recovers that lost conversion. You can enable and customize these directly in Brij.
• Customize the reminder copy. The default reminder message works, but a message that reinforces the specific value of completing the submission ("You're $3 away from your cash back — submit your receipt now") outperforms a generic nudge.
• For SMS rebates, enable a time-boxed urgency message. A final reminder that says "This offer expires in 24 hours" drives strong conversion from consumers who have been sitting in the initiation-but-not-submitted state. See: Klaviyo Reminder Flows for setting these up downstream.

Clarify the receipt step

• Make instructions explicit. Specify clearly what receipts are accepted (in-store, online, photo), which retailers qualify, and what the consumer should do if they're having trouble uploading. Ambiguity here creates abandonment.
• State eligible products clearly in the experience. Misaligned SKU expectations — where a consumer tries to submit a receipt for a product that doesn't qualify — are a major source of both drop-off and post-submission denials. The experience should make eligibility unmistakable before the consumer uploads anything.
• Test the upload flow yourself. Walk through the full experience on a mobile device before launch. Receipt format issues (dark photos, partially visible receipts, digital receipts from different retailers) are common friction points. Testing a variety of receipt types before launch surfaces issues before they affect customers.

Stage 4: Approvals — Getting Submissions Over the Line

An approval happens when a submitted registration is validated against your campaign rules and confirmed as legitimate. A high denial rate is almost always a signal of one of two things: unclear offer terms that lead consumers to submit ineligible responses, or a technical issue with receipt validation.

Common root causes of low approval rate

• The offer eligibility (qualifying products, retailers, purchase date) is not clearly stated, leading consumers to submit receipts that don't qualify
• The campaign has a broad, high-traffic audience with a meaningful percentage of non-purchasers submitting fraudulent or irrelevant receipts
• Receipt validation rules are overly strict, rejecting legitimate receipts (e.g., photo receipts with slight blur, digital receipts, or multi-item receipts where the qualifying product is visible but not isolated)
• The receipt was photographed in poor lighting or shows a quantity or product not covered by campaign terms
• Auto-approval rules are not configured, leaving approvals stuck in manual review

Levers to pull

Make eligibility unmistakably clear

• State the exact terms — including specific products, quantities, retailers, and date ranges — visibly in the experience. If only a 4-pack is eligible, say so. If only 10mg sodas qualify, say so. Terms buried in fine print do not prevent ineligible submissions — they just shift the frustration to the denial stage. When terms are precise, consumers self-select more accurately and your denial rate drops.
• Match your experience messaging to your ads and POS materials. If the consumer saw "Buy 2, Save $5" on a shelf talker but the experience says "Buy 1 qualifying product," the mismatch generates invalid submissions from consumers who thought they were eligible.

Configure auto-approval rules

• Set up auto-approval for validated receipts. Brij's receipt validation AI can automatically approve submissions that meet your criteria, eliminating the manual review bottleneck and ensuring fast payouts. Fast payouts build consumer trust and improve word-of-mouth for your campaign.
• Review your validation settings. If your approval rate is unexpectedly low and you suspect the validation is rejecting legitimate receipts, review the criteria with your CS team. There may be edge cases (certain retailers, digital receipts, or receipt formats) that need to be added to your validation rules.

Review denial patterns

• Audit denied submissions for patterns. If the same type of ineligible receipt keeps appearing (wrong product, wrong quantity, wrong retailer), it usually means your experience terms need to be more explicit, not that your consumers are being deceptive.
• Communicate denials clearly to consumers. A denial message that explains exactly why the submission wasn't approved — and what the consumer can do about it — reduces support tickets and customer frustration. Where appropriate, consider partial approval (e.g., rebating the eligible portion of a purchase that included both eligible and ineligible items).

Diagnosing Your Funnel: Where to Start

Before optimizing anything, open your Brij Dashboard and note the percentage drop between each stage. The stage with the biggest drop is your primary bottleneck — that's where to focus first.

A few additional diagnostic questions worth asking:

• Is your traffic coming from a source where the consumer hasn't purchased yet? Paid ads and organic social often reach consumers before they've bought. If that's your primary traffic source, you may need a variant experience designed for pre-purchase consumers, not post-purchase ones.
• Did something change recently? A drop in any funnel metric after a period of stability usually points to a specific change: a new form question, a shift in traffic source, a CTA update, or a change in distribution.
• Is this a single experience or across multiple? If one experience is dragging down your overall rates, identify it by looking at funnel metrics per experience in Analytics. A single underperforming campaign can obscure healthy performance across the rest of your portfolio.
• Have you tried A/B testing? Brij has this feature built in to help you isolate variables.

Quick-Reference Checklist

Scans / Clicks

• QR code is at least 0.75" × 0.75" with strong contrast
• QR code is on a high-visibility surface (front panel, insert, shelf talker)
• CTA is short, benefit-led, and specific
• Short link is active in paid ads, email, SMS, social bio, and website
• All channels activated simultaneously at launch

Initiations

• Incentive or value prop is visible before the consumer is asked for contact info
• Offer value is meaningful (dollar amounts over percentages; "FREE" is most powerful)
• Experience content matches the CTA and ad messaging that drove the scan
• Initiation step requires only contact info — no extra fields before the phone/email entry
• Experience is mobile-optimized with strong imagery

Submissions

• Reminder messages are enabled
• Form/survey has only essential questions — remove anything optional or low-value
• Receipt instructions are explicit: eligible products, retailers, date range, and quantity
• Full submission flow tested end-to-end on a mobile device before launch
• "Complete Profile" disabled if it's creating confusion or unnecessary drop-off

Approvals

• Offer terms (eligible products, retailers, quantities) are clearly stated in the experience
• Auto-approval rules are configured for validated receipts
• Denial messages explain the reason clearly and what the consumer can do next
• Denial patterns reviewed regularly for signals that terms need clarification

Related Articles

• Brij Best Practices
• Launching a Product/Warranty Registration Flow
• Launching a Brij Rebate Campaign
• Klaviyo Reminder Flows
• How to Add a Variant Experience
• How to Disable Complete Profile From Registration
• General Analytics Dashboard Metrics
• How to Create an A/B Testing Shortlink

Questions? Contact your Brij Customer Success Manager or visit support.brij.it.