QR Code...What?

By: Jason Boerner, Interactive Developer at Innerspire

Most people reading a marketing blog will already know what a QR Code is but here’s a quick run down for those of you who don’t.  They look like the picture over there to the left.

What do they do? Well they bring people to specific information on the internet when someone is using a mobile device that can use them.

Why are they of any significance? Well they’re very popular in japan so you know where that leads.  Haha… Seriously though, there’s marketing and customer service implications all over the place for your business.  Think of this, you’re a manufacturer of a product, say…a refrigerator.  On the inside door you have a sticker with some information on it.  You could easily put a QR code on there that would take someone who scans it on their smart phone or other device instantly to the user manual PDF online – or to a web page where you offer a link to the manual, a link to replacement parts or anything.   To a growing majority of the population using a cell phone you have now just provided them invaluable instant customer service rather than having them walk to the computer, do a search online for their refrigerator and model number find the link somewhere on your site (hopefully your site and not someone else’s) and then click it, print it or memorize it and then go back over to their equipment.  The QR code can send the exact page for their exact machine that you want them to go to thus cutting out the entire painstaking process for them.

How pervasive are these codes? Well, they’re growing.  At this time they are the dominant code type while others are using the Microsoft Tag™ technology which is a prettier version than the QR code, though less popular but still available on all mobile platforms.  According to Nielsen 51% of US cell phone users are carrying a smart phone of which all are capable of reading these tags with a quick free app installed.  As these tags become more prevalent so too will the people who have the app installed.  They will not be for everyone, but they’re just another way you can reach out to your customers.  You can use them to bring people to contest pages, product upgrade pages, sign up pages, registration pages, anything you can think of to either promote your brand, or service your customer and it’s quick and cheap ready to print and put everywhere.

Well we hope this helped – we encourage people to think of new ways to help themselves and their business and if you need a hand give us a call at 603-232-7386, or send us an email here.