So, what are your QR codes doing tonight?

In the past year, in large part due to its simplicity, low cost of implementation, and shiny-new-thing factor, QR codes have appeared everywhere. In marketing, we can use QR codes to our advantage in that critical blink of an eye we call conversion.

It seems everyone has been slapping QR codes on packaging, signage and collateral – even taking over entire buildings. But have they been effective? It depends.

Demystifying the QR code
QR codes actually date back to 1994, when they were developed by a Toyota subsidiary. They’re nothing more than one of the next generation bar code formats, with the ability to store more information. Their purpose is to simplify a request or transaction.

There is nothing mystical about them; anyone can create them, for free, using various online code generators. When scanned, they can do any of the following:

• Launch a URL
• Send an SMS message
• Dial a phone number
• Send an email
• Pull up contact info or a calendar entry
• Display a simple block of text

There are also a number of competing formats, such as Microsoft Tag.

Go ahead, give it a try!Make it worth the work
But even as smart phone adoption climbs rapidly, QR code scanning is not yet “easy.” Users have to find, download, and install an app, and then fire it up when they see that code.

As Search Engine Watch points out, it takes some work to scan a barcode, so users have higher expectations of the resulting experience.

In other words, if you can convince the user to put in the extra effort to scan your code, it had better pay off. That means you need to do the following:

• Make your codes highly scannable
• Place them in a location where they can be easily scanned
• Ensure connectivity is strong so the experience can continue beyond the scan

So will they scan?  If so, will you know? Tracking is not necessarily expensive or complex; there are a number of tools available to track and manage QR code campaigns. Tracking enables testing which enables optimization. And that seems like a no-brainer.

Placement is the key
I’ve kept my eyes on marketers using QR codes for some time now, and I’ve seen so many ineffective uses that it makes me wonder if anyone is testing, much less measuring and learning from the results.

For example, I’ve tried to scan a QR code on the back of a bus while waiting at a stop light. Even if I had gotten a good scan, I doubt I would have been able to absorb any information before the light turned green.

More page views? Cheers!
On the other hand, there are some very good uses. A local watering hole has an extensive list of craft beers but doesn’t want to put “beer books” all over the bar, for both aesthetic reasons and the cost of printing updates.

Instead, the pub put the beer list online in a mobile-friendly format, and used a QR code and call-to-action on table signs. The code linked to a trackable URL, so they could separate that traffic from other pageviews. This approach worked for three reasons:

• The pub used highly scannable codes
• The codes are placed in a location where customers can easily scan them
• The customer very likely has connectivity, at a time when they are likely to act upon the resulting experience

The result? Pageviews shot up, with more than 70 percent coming in from the QR code, and sales of new and more esoteric beers increased significantly.

The moral of the story
Stop and think before adding QR codes to the mix.

Will your audience:
- Be able to scan easily and successfully?
- Be able to act upon the results?
- Be interested enough to do so?

Will you:
- Be able to provide a compelling call-to-action that the user can act on right then and there?
- Put your codes where your audience will want to and be able to use them?
- Be able to measure results to determine whether QR codes are working for you, or just muddling your visual identity?

And by all means, TEST FIRST in the environment and with the audience that you’re targeting. QR codes can really help conversion when used effectively, but when they’re not… they’re just clutter.