The QR code has seen a recent surge in popularity. More businesses are using these matrix-codes to inform and improve the customer experience. One of the main reasons for this is because smartphone technology has made QR codes easier to scan and present targeted messaging to the right people at the right time.
These codes are touchless, so businesses can accommodate their customers and patrons with a safer environment. Because of COVID-19, a lot of restaurants no longer use large, printed menus. Instead, they hand out disposable piece of paper with a QR code that leads to their menu online.
What Is a QR Code?
Abbreviated for Quick Response code, the QR code was invented in the mid-’90s and primarily used by Japanese automakers. It’s like a bar code, but stores more data in a small space—up to 4,000 characters. When scanned, QR codes typically open a specific page on a website or opens an application.
The problems with QR codes in the past mainly resided in smartphone technology. You had to have an app to read one, then directed to a website that wasn’t optimized for mobile phones. Today, most smartphone cameras can automatically scan a QR code, and websites are mobile-friendly. The QR codes do so much more than it could in the past. Plus, you can generate one in seconds.
QR Codes Will Improve the Customer Experience
Businesses of all sizes use QR codes for a wide range of applications because more people are using them to inform their purchasing decisions or engage more with the brands that matter to them. Here are some great examples of QR codes in action:
1. Phone Numbers / Email / Addresses
Want to gather your customers’ personal information? QR codes are perfect for capturing essential data for marketing and sales. This also works the other way around, too. Customers can get all of the contact information about your business, also its location and hours.
2. New Customers
Attaching QR codes to all of your marketing materials can simplify the process of discovery about your brand. It’s an advanced communications tool that’s easy to use. One quick scan and potential customers can learn about the products and services you provide.
3. Welcome Texts
A QR code can trigger a welcome message sent via text. This is the ideal opportunity to sign customers up for text messaging and email alerts.
4. Social Media
One of the most common uses for QR codes is to open a web page automatically. They can quickly scan and follow you on your social media platforms. It’s an easy way to increase engagement with your brand.
5. Loyalty Programs
A loyal customer will spend more money in your store and recommend it to others. QR codes make the job of signing up for a loyalty program quick and painless. Customers can do it while they’re shopping or at checkout.
Get Started with QR Codes
6. Special Events
Whether it’s in-store or virtual, you can sign up more people by giving them a QR code. They can get all of the information for special activities or enter them into a contest.
7. Payments
When you make paying bills easier, fewer people will forget to pay. A QR code can direct people to online payment options that make it easier for people to purchase something or donate to a local cause.
8. Tracking Data
Each code can have specific information embedded in it that gathers the data you need to understand your customers better. It can also let you know if you’re reaching the right people or not.
9. Apps
A QR code can automatically open an application or send the user to the app store to download an application. This is a great way to increase online and app-based reviews, such as Trip Advisor or Open Table.
10. Authentication
When scanned, customers can seamlessly log in to a secure website or join a WiFi network.
Displaying QR Codes
With QR codes, you can get creative and have them in a wide range of locations. Today, we see more of them through digital applications than in print. But, when they appear on printed marketing materials, they become paper-based hyperlinks. Some of the most common places to find them are:
- Business Cards
- Receipts
- Packaging
- Online Ads
- Website
- Social Media
- Billboards and TV commercials.
Scanning the Future
QR codes were invented ahead of their time, which is why they have been relatively quiet until recently. The popularity of smartphones and improvements in the user experience has made QR codes more relevant and marketing necessity.