Design

It’s been over a year since we first mentioned the burgeoning popularity of QR codes here in the US. While the popularity of the mosaic-looking tags hasn’t taken off like Pinterest, they are slowly and steadily working their way into everyday marketing and point-of-sale usage.

However, despite the somewhat lengthy passage of time, we obviously haven’t crested the learning curve just yet. I still see far too many examples of “sub-optimal”* usage of QR codes. But, as the saying goes “practice makes perfect” so I think it’s time to go over a few best practices when using QR codes:

Use a suitable “call to action.”

It’s still a good idea to let the viewer know what they need to do to scan the code. Even more important is to let them know why they should scan the code. Don’t make your viewer guess what it’s for. They may think it’s just another code like the UPC. And by no means should you mislead your viewer as to what the code actually does…

This is going to be so cool! I wonder what it's going to be??

One evening I’m sitting down to dinner with my family and I see this QR code on a box of crackers. “What? It talks? Awesome!” I think to myself. Envisioning some exceedingly clever usage I go grab my phone so I can scan it. (This sort of behavior is frowned upon during dinner time. Poor table manners. But this was a talking QR code! How could I not investigate it??)

So I scan the code and breathlessly wait as the browser starts to load a page… (at this point my son is clamoring to know what’s going on and my wife is chastising both of us for our disruptive behavior. Hey, I’ll take the heat! A talking QR code is on the line!!

Well… picture, if you will, the scene in “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie finishes decoding the message from Little Orphan Annie. “A crummy commercial?!” That was me. Scanning the QR code didn’t result in any talking. At all. Just a landing page with a form to fill out to receive a crummy coupon. (With a coupon delivered to my house rather than, say, my hat.)

"Son of a @$%#. A crummy commercial?!

Which leads me to the next point: QR codes are a mobile experience.

Whatever the result of scanning a QR code, make sure it’s created for a mobile platform. For instance, if the scan takes the user to a web page, the page should be optimized for mobile viewing. Do not build a “conventional” web page that will be reduced to near unreadability on small mobile phone screens. Creating barriers is not a great way to attract customers. QR codes can lower barriers to information and incentives, and they can also surprise and delight.

Make the content worthwhile.

If the infamous “talking” QR code above had only done so much as to link to a short animation of a cracker singing and dancing about how awesome, crunchy, and delicious (and gluten free) it was I would have been clapping my hands with glee…and my son would have wanted to watch it over and over. As it was, I was shafted with a miniscule web page asking “Want a coupon?” as if daring me to fill out the form. No thanks.

Finally, don’t make make your viewers jump hoops.

The other day I saw a sales sheet in the newspaper for a local grocery store. They had devoted a large portion of the front page to a QR code and how it would make shopping easier and even more awesome. Okay, I’ll bite. So I scan the code expecting to be linked to the app store so I can take a look at this super-duper shopping app. Nope. Foiled at the moat. I was taken to a conventional web page (built for viewing on a computer screen), rendered super-tiny on my phone, telling me, again, about how easy shopping at that store is going to be with their new app. Wait, what? Didn’t I just get that message? Even more bizarrely, there were two QR codes RIGHT ON THE WEB PAGE for me to scan: one for the Android app store and one for the iPhone app store. How was that supposed to work?? To be fair, there were text links that I could tap on that looked like they would take me to the appropriate app store. Sufficiently annoyed at this waste of time I finished reading the paper and tossed it in the recycling bin.

Scan this code so you can scan the code so you can go to the app store...

The killer is that there was plenty of room on the newspaper insert to feature both the Android and iPhone QR codes. The ad should have simply started with a brief benefit-first marketing message, and then indicated that scanning the codes would take me to an app store to download the FREE app. The viewer could then scan the appropriate code and be whisked away to the app where all they needed to do was click the “install” button. Scan the code, get the app. One step, not multiple redundant hoops.

If this was their idea of easy, forget it. I’ll stick with pen and paper shopping lists.

Follow the above guidelines for best practices and avoid careless planning that can sabotage your QR code marketing efforts.

If you’d like to check out some freely available resources for creating your own QR codes, check out out our post from last fall “QR Code Creation Resources.”

Have you seen an exceptionally good/creative/clever use of QR codes? Or maybe a terrible one? Let us know in the comments!

* I’m being diplomatic.

QR code creation resources

http://mullerdesignstudio.com/qr-code-resources

When we work with a client, we’re not on board just to make them some pretty graphics. We’re there to help them tell their story and get their audience to care about why they’re doing business. We’ve seen lots of business owners spend huge amounts of time (and maybe money) trying to get people to notice them; to buy their product or hire them. Bigger ads, more ads, more color, social media, whatever: all these things together can’t offset the inability to articulate what makes one business different from another.

Here’s a great little article by all-around smart guy Seth Godin: “…but what really blew me away…”

His little fill-in-the-blank quiz addresses the most crucial question the Three Ultimate Questions of Branding:

1.) Who are you?

2.) What do you do?

3.) Why does it matter?

Everyone can answer #1 and #2. So few, so very very few take the time to come up with a proper answer for # 3. It takes more than a little digging to get the answer, but it’s worth it. It is the “why,” the “remarkability” of your product or service that gets people talking. And of course, when people talk to each other (saying good things!) about your business, that’s how you get referrals.

Are people talking about your business? What are they saying?