What is wrong with most QR Code campaigns today?

In the last few months I have scanned hundreds of QR Codes and the experience has been underwhelming. There have been a few good ones but unfortunately, they are the exception and not the rule. Due to this poor user experience, I am concerned that we could be turning back from potentially useful technology.

QR Codes are a means to an end and not just an image to stick on stuff. Every QR Code based campaign should answer a few basic questions before lobbing their codes to the general public:

• What is it: Provide simple clues to the user about how to go about scanning the code. With time this would hopefully become a non-issue but today most folks have no idea what these square bar codes are about. You need to tell them how to get the scanner for their phone and maybe even a way for them to get to the information by using a short url or by manually keying in some characters in a browser.

• Why make the viewer scan your code: It does take some effort to scan the code. If you want a person to take the trouble, please make it worth their while. It does not take rocket science to do simple stuff like this:

• Mobile Friendly: Most would scan your code on a smartphone (iPhone, Android etc). If your QR Code takes them to a webpage, the page must be optimized for the small smartphone screen. Avoid making them squint, pinch & zoom.

• Relevant: If your QR Code appears on a promotion print advertisement, please ensure that when it is scanned - it leads them to something relevant and not a generic homepage. One very easy thing to do is to provide a copy of the promotion so that the viewer can easily carry that information and not have to clip your advertisement.

• Actionable: If possible, you should make it easy for the viewer to complete the desired action at that moment itself. Don't make them remember and even worse - expect them to remember to complete the action later at a desktop etc. If you promise them additional information about your product: have a button to download a narrow formatted pdf with your information. If you want them to call you, have a call button and so on.

These are simple things, but I did not find an easy way to accomplish the above. While doing some ongoing work on QR Codes, at Qryptal we decided to come up with an easy to use solution so that anyone can create effective QR Code campaigns. Scan the codes below to get an idea of what this can do for you:

Do try our service at https://gtd.qryptal.com/ and let us know what we can do to make your use of QR Codes even more effective and easy.