QR codes generate strong response rates from magazine ads

Research shows that the outcomes of those campaigns are better than direct mail.

The results of a recent study have shown that QR codes that are included in the ads in print magazines are producing notably better response rates than those seen from more traditional forms of direct mail marketing.

This success is generating support for the mobile marketing technique, where some doubt had remained.

Throughout the second quarter of 2012, there were more than 2,200 mobile barcodes used in the top American print magazines. This was an increase of 61 percent over the number of QR codes that had been seen in the first quarter of the year.

The number of ads containing QR codes also increased from 5 percent last year, to 10 percent in 2012.

Clearly, a growing number of magazine advertisers are embracing marketing strategies that use mobile techniques. Nellymoser, a technology and mobile marketing firm performed the study and found that magazine QR codes are providing marketers with far superior results than more traditional types of direct mail advertising.

Similarly, data from the Direct Marketing Association has shown that overall, the response rate for direct mail is 4.4 percent. Catalogs have a 4.3 percent response rate and direct letter mail is 4.3 percent. The Companion App from Nellymoser demonstrated in their study that the average response rate from QR codes was between 4.5 and 5.9 percent.

On its website, Nellymoser explained that “The response rate ranged from 0.7% to 26.8%. The average, weighted by circulation and removing the high and lowest scores, was 6.4%.” This application stayed open for an average of 10 minutes per visit. Within that span of time, the average user viewed almost 19 different mobile pages for an average length of 30 seconds, each. These statistics imply that the users are actively interacting with the magazine when the app is open, and that it is not simply remaining idle.

Each of the visitors that were monitored returned to the sites for an additional 1.4 times beyond the original visit. Nellymoser found that the QR codes were the most commonly used form of mobile action barcode, holding a share of over 80 percent.