As common as quick response codes may be, most of them are used in highly mysterious ways!
When it comes to QR codes, it looks as though they’re here to stay (at least, to the degree that one can make that declaration about any form of mobile technology, these days), but despite that fact, the debate as to whether or not they are worthwhile continues to rage on.
The reason is that while quick response codes can be used highly effectively, they rarely are!
The affordability of QR codes makes it possible for them to fit into even the tightest mobile marketing budget. However, unless they are applied properly, it is unlikely that they will generate the type of response that is needed. Unfortunately, this seems to be the case when it comes to the majority of brands, businesses, and marketers who are incorporating quick response barcodes into their campaigns, at the moment, and this is a serious turn-off for consumers.
A massive 75 percent of QR codes are applied to marketing materials with no discernible purpose.
Mobile marketers haven’t yet seemed to discover that quick response codes are not a campaign unto themselves. Assuming that they know what these barcodes are and how to use them, smartphone users aren’t going to simply scan a code simply to see what happens. The reason is that the novelty of these QRcodes has essentially worn off.
This means that consumers need to be given a reason to scan barcodes in the first place. If they’re not provided with a reason to do so, they simply won’t take the time.
In order to use quick response codes correctly, marketers need to provide smartphone users with an incentive. A mysterious black and white pixilated square doesn’t do that on its own. It must be accompanied by something that is not exclusively machine readable. Instead, ads featuring these barcodes must ask the consumer to scan, and must tell him or her why it is worthwhile to do so.
QR codes need to be posted alongside a description of what will happen when it is scanned. Will the consumer receive more information about a product? Will he or she be given an exclusive offer? Will scanning give them a discount on a purchase? If so, let them know about it. Otherwise, it will remain as nothing more than a perfectly functional, entirely unused machine readable matrix. Mystery may help to keep love alive in humans, but it certainly doesn’t do much for the love of mobile tech.
