QR Code and Mobile Marketing: a Match Made in Heaven

Introduction: QR Code and Mobile Marketing

With the endless range of limitations, the traditional methods of marketing are faced with, such as time limitations on radio and television and space limitations on billboards, these limitations might not allow businesses exhaustively convey every piece of information needed by consumers or members of the public about their products, as a result of this, businesses have devised a creative way of providing consumers with detailed information about their products through the use of Quick Response (QR) codes.

Keep reading to see what a QR code is, its various types, how it works on mobile devices, and how immensely helpful it is in the mobile marketing process.

What is a Quick Response (QR) code 

QR codes are scannable labels placed on products to provide further information to consumers about a product, it is a newer and more advanced two-dimensional barcode that stores information as a series of pixels in a grid, the grid is normally square-shaped, and the information stored can then be read by imaging devices like mobile phone cameras. There are various styles of QR codes such as Aztec code, QR code, Maxi code, PDF417, and Semacodes. 

QR codes were created in 1994 by the Japanese company Danso Wave, a subsidiary of  Toyota to help track their vehicles and vehicle parts during the manufacturing process. Instead of creating a particular bar code for each car or car part, they took the initiative to create more functional and complex QR codes.

Also Read: How to generate dynamic QR code using PHP

Unlike a barcode which is a composition of parallel black lines of various widths on a white square or rectangular background that can only be read by a point of sale scanner and only stores basic data in an alphanumeric format such as the expiry date, date of manufacturing, name of the manufacturer, price and quantity of the product.

A QR code stores a larger amount of data, in numeric, alphanumeric, kanji, and kana formats and it is faster to read by the camera of modern-day mobile devices as the cameras of most smartphones now have inbuilt  QR code readers, and the older version of mobile devices which do not have QR code readers, they can be read with the aid of a QR code scanning software.

Although created to track car and car parts during the manufacturing process, the codes are now specially adapted to perform even more complex  functions like:

1. Encode and link to a company’s URL

QR codes are now used to encode a company’s URL so once scanned it links directly to a company’s website where further details about the product on which it is placed are provided saving the customers the stress of searching or manually typing the company’s URL into their browser.

2. Provide the contact details of a product

QR codes are used to provide vcards to the mobile devices of their customers, they are also used to provide the full contact details of the company, especially in instances where the company has multiple addresses or contact details that cannot conveniently be captured on their product packages. 

3. Link to download an app

Some companies encode direct links to help customers download their apps from Apple’s app store or Google Play for Android devices in their QR codes to save their users the time of manually searching out these apps.

4. Brand protection, Anti forgery measures

QR codes are also provided by companies to help customers detect counterfeit versions of their products once scanned, and so aid in brand protection.

5. Transferring payments.

There are now special QR codes written to help customers make payments for goods purchased once scanned.

6. Compose emails or texts

Some of these codes allow for a stress-free composition of emails and text messages in instances where customers seek to inquire about the products or intend to leave feedback.

7. Connect to a wireless network

These codes can also help people link to a wireless network once scanned

How QR codes promote  mobile marketing

An estimated six billion people currently use mobile phones around the world, in the year 2021 an estimated 75.8 million shoppers in the US scanned QR codes on their mobile devices. These statistics show that QR codes are a goldmine in advancing the mobile marketing efforts of companies in this day and age.

Businesses can now take advantage of the improved capacity and ease of use of these QR codes on mobile devices to further market their products to an increased number of leads at no extra cost by leveraging on the functions of the code that can soar conversion rates and even increase brand loyalty. The common functions that companies can adapt in their QR codes to easily further their mobile marketing goals are:

1. Writing codes to link customers directly to their websites

With its ability to encode website URLs, customers can easily access the company’s website without manually typing, with this, potential customers get better information on the company’s range of products, as well as special discounts offered by businesses for future purchases, Or ongoing promotions offered by them on the same or similar products on which the codes are placed, better increase the chances of making conversions.

2. Write codes to help customers download their mobiles apps 

Providing links to download the apps of businesses in QR codes help put the apps in customers’ faces once scanned. Once leads opt to download these apps, companies now have the privilege of providing more notifications to the customers on the latest offers on their products which helps for a better conversion rate.

3. Assure the customers of the authenticity of their products

With these codes, companies can now differentiate their products from counterfeits or show a customer how to identify the original version of their products, this helps to protect the image of the brand and even increase brand loyalty.

4. Collect instant customer feedback on their products 

By encoding the email and text composition feature in their QR codes, businesses can then get instant feedback on their products from their customers, which improves customer satisfaction and greatly helps customer loyalty.

5. Gather valuable metrics

It is important to note that QR codes provide the code’s source with metrics like when the code was scanned, the number of times it was scanned, and the location from which it was scanned, this helps with the targeting efforts of a business, with these information businesses can decipher where their campaigns are lagging to re-strategize on those areas and as well as further their campaigns on areas where their campaigns are doing well.

Conclusion

With the many outstanding benefits of QR codes to mobile marketing, there might be some not-so-favorable downsides with the use of these codes, they are sometimes used by hackers and scammers to lead consumers to phishing sites or obtain unauthorized data from users, compromise emails or link to a non consented app download. To avoid these dangers, it is advised that people only scan QR codes from trusted sources and in the event of scanning a new or random QR code,  they are advised to use a highly efficient QR code scanning software with basic security features like detecting dangerous links, detecting a phishing scam or even warning the users of a forced app download.

Grace Jogoh

I am a google certified digital marketer and a frequent writer on digital marketing topics.