Why are these black and white square thingies so unpopular?!
Ha! Now this is cool…
An article from Forbes gives us a brief run down:
- No standardization from QR apps; wide range of QR apps with different experiences
- No default/ built in scanner app on any smartphones
- Sub par viewing experience .. ads!
- Lack of seamless QR integration (code leads users to full site, not mobile site, thus harder to navigate)
However, the article does give us marketers some tips and insights on how to use QR codes. There has to be some incentives to use them such as discounts, coupons, cool content to drive users to scan the code.
I think with QR codes, the crucial element is to be creative and not to be afraid to take risks. However, the Forbes article is right, there has to be incentives to move users to use these codes and marketers have to get it right. The whole process can has to be seamless and greater integration between the code and delivering the content is essential for it to be effective. One of the fall backs illustrated by the mytoy.de code was that after scanning the code, it led to the full site, which users had to pinch and zoom to view the website.
Here are some really cool ways that other markets have used QR codes to meet certain marketing objectives!
Emart – a retail shop that used shadow QR codes to increase lunchtime sales.. see how they did it.
As a result of the QR code campaign, they sold 12k coupons and membership to their e-commerce site increased by 58% and sales increased as well. Very effective and creative campaign!
MyToy.de- Using legos to make QR codes to drive online sales… another creative example!
Result? 49% of visitors to the online website came via the QR codes and lego sales increased.
Who needs a resume, when QR can do the talking for you? What a great way to get NOTICED!
Another retailer using QR to their advantage … converting waiting time to shopping time.
There are great examples of how QR codes being used overseas.. I believe within Australia, QR codes has great potential in the marketplace for not only delivering great value to customers, but also to increase branding. However, the challenges still lay ahead for those little black and white squares.. if those obstacles mentioned in the Forbes article can be overcome then, there are endless possibilities!
What do you think of QR codes? Have you used them before? … or why HAVEN’T you used them?
emkfblog 
Thanks for the read Lisa!
As of April 2012 there are 8.8 million Australian Smart phone users, so that’s less than half of Australians population, obviously that number is increasing everyday and with that increasing every day I also can imagine QR codes being used more often
However the problem with QR codes, in opinion anyway, is that it makes the users of the QR software to capture the QR code look weird. Its like watching an Asian tourist take pictures of absolutely everything (its okay I’m Asian, so it is apparently not racist).
However there is a new piece of technology that is being developed, I do not remember the name but if I remember correctly it is very similar to the application “bump”
where users of the technology don’t have to do much other than get close to the device. Pretty cool stuff!
Thanks for the comment Chris !! Much appreciated. I think a few of my friends have bump. Will definitely look into that, thanks!
I agree with your opinion on QR codes. Perhaps the Australia market for mobile phone users haven’t matured enough to go beyond using their phone for social media and playing games (generalization, i know). I think there is something in our psyche that says, ‘I refuse to do what marketers tell me to, simply because I can’, despite incentives to do so…. if that makes sense =/
I think I have only tried to use a QR code once. After that experience, I didn’t try again. A lot of QR codes actually require you to download their specific software and sometimes, you actually don’t use it again after the first time.
Not only that, but I have found that the scanning software doesn’t always work. This may possibly be due to the size of the QR code. The one time I tried to scan the QR code, it was too small for the camera on the phone to focus in so it didn’t work! Perhaps, if marketers thought about how sizing would work on the phone, they might get better responses. The QR codes don’t always fit the square on the camera of the phone!
Thanks Cindy! I agree, the only time I have used a QR code was actually for a marketing subejct- there was an incentive to claim a movie voucher. Unfortauntely I was too lazy to download the software… in hindsight, that probably was not the best move!