The widespread use of QR codes during the holiday season by several companies had caught the attention of financial services firms looking at the vast potential that the technology can bring to their business.
This concerns especially financial services marketers who keeps on looking for new and more innovative way of letting consumers know of the services they offer. And in this times when smart phone use is on a steady rise, the idea of having potential customers having all the information about the company and services on an instant by just simply scanning the QR code is a promising venture.
With the code being able to be placed just about anywhere, financial services marketers can pick a specific location, a specific target through magazine readership or event attendees or even direct mailing and then input on the code the kind of information they want to convey. With this, they can modify the information drive based on gender, ethnicity, education and work- orientation.
This is way cheaper than individual telemarketing or house visits as it is the consumers themselves who will initiate the scanning and be provided with easy portal to check the information. The financial services marketers can then just modify their website regularly to provide steady stream of information.
They can also include product information and comparison, link to a website, an online survey, shows and events schedule, registration forms, location of service centers, a ready to print page, promotions and contests, among others. They can also make the code interactive by programming it to make a call to a customer service representative or a marketer upon scanning.
More applications are surfacing that enables smart phone owners to scan the QR codes and as the buzz on this technology is growing, the marketers should be able to caught up as more people realize it is easier to scan and be directed to the company page than to type in the long web address on their phones which is quite a hassle.
QR codes are 2D codes that can be scanned using a smart phone with a reader application that can be downloaded online. It can be programmed to contain specific information or command or direct the scanner to a specific website or webpage.
