Teams with bit.ly already on menus, posters or packaging
Running Bitly and reRoute together until the print run turns over
We cannot take over bit.ly. A QR that already encodes bit.ly/… still resolves through Bitly. Importing a CSV creates new rrte.link addresses; it cannot rewrite the ink on a menu, poster or pack.
Dual-run means both stay live at once. Keep Bitly destinations pointed at the right pages so existing prints still work. Print new rrte.link on the next physical run — the next batch of menus, posters or packaging.
If you still control the Bitly account, you may repoint a bit.ly destination at the new rrte.link address only as a temporary bridge. Drain top-N by scan volume: replace the codes that actually get scanned first. Reprint when that physical run turns over. There is no way to magically rewrite ink.
- 1
Create the new rrte.link addresses
Import the Bitly CSV or recreate the destinations as dynamic links. That import step is the leave-Bitly guide: destinations, titles, tags and free back-halves come across as new rrte.link addresses. It cannot rewrite a printed bit.ly square.
- 2
Keep Bitly destinations live
Do not pause or delete the Bitly links that are already printed. Those bit.ly addresses still resolve through Bitly. The dual-run only works while the old destinations stay up.
- 3
Print new rrte.link on the next physical run
Every new menu, poster, label or pack should encode the rrte.link address, not another bit.ly. That is the square import can actually own. Leave the old print in the wild until that run is replaced.
- 4
Repoint Bitly only as a temporary bridge
If you still control the Bitly account, and that plan still lets you edit destinations, you can point a bit.ly link at the new rrte.link address so existing prints keep working during the switch. That is a temporary bridge, not a takeover. If you no longer control the account, there is no bridge — wait for the physical run to turn over.
- 5
Drain top-N by scan volume
Replace the codes that actually get scanned first. A window sticker or table tent that is scanned all day is worth a new print run before a box in the stockroom. Use Bitly's click counts, or the scans you already know about, to pick that top-N. You do not have to reprint everything on day one.
- 6
Reprint when the physical run turns over
Menus, posters and packaging get replaced on their own cycle. Encode rrte.link on each replacement. Do not wait for a way to rewrite ink — there is not one. Once a given print no longer shows bit.ly, that code has drained.
What this will not do
- We cannot take over bit.ly. A QR that already encodes bit.ly/… still resolves through Bitly.
- Repoint a bit.ly destination at rrte.link only as a temporary bridge, and only if you still control the Bitly account. Reprint when the physical run turns over — menus, posters, packaging — not by magically rewriting ink.
- Import creates new rrte.link addresses. Scan history, passwords, expiry dates and branded domains from Bitly do not come across.
- The free plan includes 3 dynamic links. A larger file imports up to the remaining quota and reports the rest as skipped. Paid plans are unlimited. Destination edits on included links stay unlimited.
- Location rules route by country only. There is no city- or region-level routing — city is captured in analytics, not used for routing.
Tools used in this guide
Questions
Other guides
- How to put a QR code on a menu you can update without reprintingOne code on the table tent that opens lunch at eleven and dinner at five, without a second print run.
- How to A/B test a printed QR campaign and measure real conversionsSplit traffic from a single print run between two destinations, and match the sale back to the scan that caused it.
- How to send iPhone and Android users to different app stores from one QR codeOne square on the poster that opens the right store for whoever scanned it, decided at the moment of the scan.
- How to get packaging ready for GS1 Sunrise 2027 with a Digital Link QR codeRegister a GTIN, point it at the destinations retailers and shoppers each need, and test it before artwork goes to print.
- What is a GS1 Digital Link? The web address inside the new product QR codesThe definitional companion to the packaging guide: what the standard actually is, how a scan resolves, and what a resolver does.
- How to password-protect, expire, or scan-limit a QR codeFor codes on things that stop being valid: a door ticket, a limited run, a document that should not outlive its meeting.
- How to choose between a static and a dynamic QR codeThe difference is not quality or scanning speed — it is whether the destination lives in the ink or behind it. That decides everything else.
- How to make a digital business card you can update after printingOne code on the card that opens your details as they are today, not as they were at the print shop.
- How to put a QR code on a yard sign that outlives the listingThe sign is the durable object, not the listing. Give each sign a code you repoint as properties come and go.
- How to run QR codes across an event — badges, booths and sessionsCodes for the whole run of an event: the save-the-date, the badge back, the booth banner, and the swap to recordings after everyone goes home.
- Leaving Bitly: what moves, and what stays deadThe destinations come with you. The printed bit.ly square does not. Import creates new addresses; it cannot take over the old ones.
- How big to print a QR codeSize follows scan distance, with a 2 cm floor for close range. Quiet zone and contrast matter as much as the millimetres.