There is no doubt that QR codes have become a powerful tool in business-to-consumer marketing and social media. Since their arrival in the U.S., the codes have coasted to popularity thanks to their relative ease of use and access. Their simplicity is beguiling, however, as one mistake could mean the difference between a working code and a useless one.
According to Bert Moore, director of communications for AIMGlobal, a global trade association for automatic identification, says that misuse of QR codes is on the rise and if marketers do not learn how to reign in their errors, the codes could lose their appeal to consumers.
Quality is paramount when it comes to mobile marketing. QR codes of poor design have limited to no functionality. If the codes do not operate correctly they will not take consumers anywhere when scanned, leaving them to find something else to focus on.
Moore suggests that tampering with the code itself is partly to blame. More companies are attempting to embed their logos into the QR pattern by changing the colors of certain pixels. Most codes are generated through an automated process with several levels of error correction. When tampering with the end result, the codes tend to fail, as companies damage integral data.
A great many codes are inoperable or limited in some way because their quality is compromised, says Moore. If marketers, or anyone using the codes, do not take the time to ensure the readability of their codes, they could be putting their campaign at risk of failure.
