Get Rid of Paper Coupons

Many businesses use coupons to attract new customers or to reward existing ones. But paper coupons are a lot of work for both customers as well as businesses.

image source

It is easy to replace these messy paper coupons with Qryptal Mobile Coupons.

Not only these coupons reduce paper work, they are simply better for all.

User Benefits:

• No clipping and keeping paper coupons
• No worry about carrying coupons

Coupon Issuer Benefits:

• Keep track of who is getting coupons and when they are redeemed
• Block multiple redemptions
• Keep tight inventory control
• Reduce backend paper tracking 

To understand how this works - scan this QR Code to issue a demo coupon:



The system is easy to setup and supports extensive customization.

For further information and demo:

Scratch and Win QR Code Campaigns

Scratch and Win campaigns are one of the most effective uses of QR Codes and NFCs in marketing. They work because they are easy to setup and provide an incentive to end-users.

Just Scan QR/NFC -> Scratch and see if you won something!

To understand how this works - just scan this QR Code a few times to check out the different prizes:



As an organizer, you will get real time information on who is participating and what they are winning. You will be surprised how rapidly your database builds up and how quickly you can start identifying your regulars.

The system can track across multiple outlets and locations. You can also set up different odds for different prizes and can also limit users to get only one try for the entire campaign or say a fresh chance every day!

Such campaigns can be utilized anywhere:

• Events and Exhibitions
• A regular campaign at your establishment
• New product launches 
• Marketing Campaigns
• Anyplace where you wish to engage your customers!

Tutorial on how to issue coupons with QR Codes

Issuing coupons to customers is a popular feature of many marketing campaigns.

Qryptal offers an easy to setup and yet sophisticated coupon issue system which enables you to control the timing, quantity, redemption period and also track redemptions.

It is cloud based - so a coupon could be redeemed at any outlet and the information would be centrally tracked and maintained.

This tutorial will guide you in setting up your own coupon issuing system on Qryptal. 

On completing this tutorial, you will have:

- a QR Code for your coupon issuing campaign

- customers can scan the QR Code, fill in the details and get the e-coupon

- they will also get a customized email with the coupon 

- when they present the coupon at any of your outlets, your staff can redeem the coupon - after which it cannot be used again

Qryptal Coupons Intro Tutorial from Qryptal

Smartphone users prefer scanning QR Codes or typing URL links?

Many of our customers ponder over this question before rolling out a mobile campaign.

It is a relevant question because, for most out door or print campaigns - the end user will be interacting with your campaign with their always available smartphone.

What does the data from campaigns conducted on Qryptal say?

Given a choice, an over whelming majority preferred to scan the QR Code versus typing the URL in their phone browser.

This is probably because:

• For people who know about QR Codes, it is much easier to scan the code with their usual QR Code Reader App and avoid the frustration of typing either long readable URLs or cryptic short URLs (common to make typing mistakes on the small screen)
• At least for campaigns conducted on Qryptal, the awareness about QR Codes in the target segment is very high (latest data from 2013 indicates an even higher preference for QR Codes)

Even with this data, our recommendation to customers is to keep the URL: caters to a wider audience and gives a human readable clue on where they are heading (at times it has helped the people printing and putting up the material to verify that the correct QR Code is being used).

This data clearly indicates that you will be making it easier for your customers by giving them an option to scan the QR Code instead of just providing a link to type.

But do keep in mind that the QR Code is just an enabler provided you get the much more important foundation right: make it mobile friendly and have a relevant call to action. Many of our customers have come to us after discovering this the hard way - using a desktop page for an out door or print campaign is a dead end today.

Managing Mobile Contest Lucky Draws and Sweepstakes

Customers have been using Qryptal for running contests for quite sometime. Here is a photo taken inside a supermarket for a very popular contest from 2012:

We have applied what we have learned from these contests and recently made it even easier to create and manage such contests.

For consumers, entering the contest was always easy with Qryptal (including providing proof of purchase).

The recent improvements are about making life easier for the contest organizer running draws once the contest closes. So easy that you could be running contest draws in minutes. All this with reporting and audit trails to help you comply with your company and/or local regulations (you will need to check those on your own though).

Let's consider an example to understand all this better.

Example Background:
You are running a weekly contest. Consumers scan the contest QR Codes, fill a mobile form to enter the contest. Say every Wednesday you would run the draw to pick 2 winners for entries received during the previous week.

Contest rollout steps:

1. Create a mobile form that consumers fill to enter the contest. Typically consumers would reach this mobile form by scanning a QR Code. Other rollout options could be SMS/Text, NFC tags or direct URL links.
2. Create some collateral (posters, flyers etc) with the QR Code to explain the contest.
3. Put up this collateral at various points of sale: supermarket refrigerators, posters, advertisements etc (you can have tracking codes to track entries by partner/location etc)

Now contest entries would start rolling in and soon it would be Wednesday when you need to run the draw.

Running the weekly draw:

1. Go to the Manage Draws tab within the Qryptal interface (if the tab is not visible then you will need to enable Contests for that project: see this).
             
   
2. Fill the create draw dialog:
   
      
   
   
   
3. Now when you create the draw, the system will pick the draw entries based on the criteria above. It will also give you a summary.
4. After that just do the following to run the draw:
   
   

That's it! Every week it would take you a few minutes to run the draw.

You can try the above by creating a free trial account here. For any help - just click on the Support tab.

Related posts:

Proof of purchase integration for Contests

Smartphone users prefer scanning a QR Code vs typing links

The Mobile tsunami is here, and your mobile strategy is?

More and more users are using their smartphones to reach your business and unfortunately very few businesses are gearing up for this.

Consider these recent articles:

"Mobile-based browsing has tripled in the last two years, and is making significant inroads on traditional Internet access from personal computers, according to statistics from a Web metrics company."
- source: Infoworld Mar 25, 2013

"Mobile-Optimized Experience Results in a 153% Lift for Deluxe"
- source: Ioninteractive Mar 1, 2013

"According to Google, 85 percent of online shoppers start searching on one device — most often a mobile phone — and make a purchase on another."
- source: New York Times Dec 21, 2012

The mobile tsunami is now finally here. If you are a business, ignore it at your own peril!

It is not a surprise. A very large segment of population now has smartphones and they are using these phones for more than just making calls and texts.

What do you have when you are commuting on a train? bus? waiting at the dentist? any kind of waiting? In-between meetings.....

Smartphones are now virtually our body appendage and the above stories are just confirming the obvious.

You need to make your business accessible over mobile - now!

Users are much more task focussed on mobiles. So just 'sizing' your existing website for mobiles (though a good step in 2012) is probably not going to be very effective now.

We recommend creating single focus mobile pages and avoiding the typical desktop clutter. Create specific call to action mobile forms so that your customers can interact with you when they want rather than when they get back to office/home  or increasingly never.

Users can reach your mobile pages via organic search, other links, SEO, QR Codes and NFC Tags.

Qryptal and other services are there to help you make this transition but the important message is to start implementing your mobile strategy now because your customers are already there!

A page like this can be created very quickly on Qryptal:

Further reading:

How Mobile Forms work (slide show)

How to create mobile pages when you have hundreds of products

Which Mobile Bar Code Ad Is Best?

via stephanietruemoss.sharedby.co

Good article - recommended reading for those using QR Codes in their advertising.

"When Moen's QR Code is scanned, I'm brought to a mobile website, which features a video about the product featured in the ad, as well as tabs to click on to learn more about the product, what others have to say and to view other kitchen products. .....

When Delta's SnapTag is scanned, I'm brought to a mobile landing page, which shows three product images of the product depicted in the ad, and buttons to "pin" the product to Pinterest. Other than that, nothing else is offered to the reader of the ad. "

QR codes sewn directly into clothing by Dita Von Teese

via qrcodepress.com

"When the QR codes are scanned, using any scanning app, the consumer is immediately linked to the Twitter page for Von Teese, where they can see the latest from the designer, who writes and updates her own feed."

A good use case for designers.

Turbana takes consumers to banana farms through QR codes - The Packer

via thepacker.com

“It’s phenomenal that we are now able to show consumers how they influence the lives of the people of Colombia,” Marion Tabard, Turbana’s marketing director, said in the release.
“By scanning the QR codes, consumers learn about the growers and how their purchases benefit the banana growing region in a wholehearted way,” she said. “It’s also a great way for our retailers to engage with their customers by providing complete product transparency.”

Good use case and something which can be done rather easily with Qryptal.

QR Codes for Contests

This post outlines how you can use Qryptal QR Codes for running a contest. Major brands have successfully used Qryptal's platform to create and manage their contests. We think this is also a good demonstration of what QR Codes are good for: Quick Response with a mobile.

Use-case background: 

You are an ice cream retailer and want to run a promotion.  Customers will scan your QR code, and enter the contest by filling in their information on your mobile landing page.  The data they enter is stored in a database.  When the contest ends, you press a few buttons to randomly draw the winners.

Contest Mechanics Setup:

1. Create QR codes and mobile contest landing pages flow on Qryptal.
2. Create point of sale collateral which explains the contest.
3. Put up this collateral at various points of sale: supermarket refrigerators, posters, advertisements etc (you can have tracking codes to track entries by partner/location etc)

End user experience:

Businesses using the Qryptal platform for their contests have experienced very high participation rates.  How to explain the higher numbers of contest entries?  We think it's due to the speed and ease of use when a participant can simply scan a code and enter information on their mobile phones.

Contest Organizer View:

Contest organizers like this because it is all electronic, automated and easy to be compliant with your corporate contest auditor guidelines. Qryptal can customize your contest mechanics as needed.

Demonstration:

Below is a demo contest code for you to try. 

After trying the code above, refresh the page to see the updated spreadsheet below (for privacy reasons, email and phone are hidden):

Related post:

Managing Mobile Contest Draws and Sweepstakes

VW Promotes Commercial Vans With Giant QR Code Made From Orange Crates - PSFK

via psfk.com

Volkswagen uses a QR code made with actual boxes of oranges in Mexico City. It's a huge structure and when scanned it shows a video how all the crates fit into the Volkswagen Crafter van. An ingenious idea that showcases the space available in their commercial vans.
And it worked well! Thanks to this promotion, brand awareness increased by 224% and sales increased, 70% increase in sales, and 69% who scanned ask for more details about the van

The Economist: QR codes are finally taking off

via economist.com

Good article in The Economist:

"Over the past year, QR codes have quietly slipped into the marketing mainstream. Three-quarters of American online retailers surveyed by Forrester, a research firm, use them. In April nearly 20% of smartphone users in America scanned one, up from 14% in May last year.........
Scanlife, a provider of QR code services, saw the number of unique users scanning codes through its system triple in the year to March. .... It also took time for people to realise why advertisements contained mutant crosswords. And perhaps most important, marketers have only now worked out how best to use QR codes. Simply sending customers to the company website is not enough, says Melissa Parrish, an analyst at Forrester."

Worth reading the entire article here:
http://www.economist.com/node/21556993

Toys R Us continues to increase summer sales via bigger QR code push

via mobilecommercedaily.com

QR codes on products to provide relevant information. Toys R Us is doing that and as it's spokeswoman pointed "Customers are increasingly using their smartphones while shopping to find details on the products they are looking to purchase". QR Codes makes it easy for customers to get to information that helps in their purchase decision.

At Qryptal, QR Codes for product information is one of the first usecases that we were marketing for. With the current QR Creator and Mobile Page designer, this can now be up and running in a matter of minutes.

Interesting and innovative forms of QR code marketing - QR Code Press | QR Code Press

via qrcodepress.com

Some usecases of QR codes. Video is a compelling usecase as rightly pointed out in this article. It adds a new dimension to print material

Contest QR Codes: Scanning QR codes on bins could win recyclers prizes - BBC News

via bbc.co.uk

The aim here is to draw attention to the recycling message and facilities. Anyone scanning this code will be entered into a daily prize draw for a chance to win a voucher.

QR Codes coupled with a form designed for mobile screens and a good call to action make it easy for anyone to enter a contest right away.

It's nice tool in the mobile marketing toolbox. At Qryptal we've been working on making it easy to for end users to signup as well as for organizers to run such prize draws.

Guinness QR Cup Reveals Scannable Code When Full | Adweek

via adweek.com

An innovative use of QR codes by BBDO New York. The QR code is imprinted into a pint glass and is visible when filled with Guinesss which is black in color.

QR Code Landing Page Strategies

via business2community.com

4 Examples are shared here. In all cases a great mobile experience helps tremendously towards a successful campaign. At Qryptal we've had a our fair share of strategies that worked for our customers. Some examples include: promoting a Theatre production, buying flowers on Valentine's day and Restaurants

QR code on shop windows

Boss Watches unveils QR code window promotion

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via retail-jeweller.com

This is a nice usecase of having QR Codes on shop windows for product promotions. A promotion is a proven call to action that ensures great conversion rates for QR code campaigns

Turbocharge your Direct Mail pieces with QR Codes

There have been three constants in the universe: death, taxes, and direct mail.

But now that email marketing and social media are on the rise, some organizations are considering giving up their direct mail efforts.

Here’s a suggestion: ad a QR code to your direct mail piece, and see what happens.

Unlike your one-dimensional direct mailer, a QR code can tell you how many people have interacted with it; can invite recipients to submit their email addresses; and can offer discounts that you can modify each week without changing the mailer.

Some organizations have already begun to deploy QR codes on their mailers. We recently received a fundraising piece from the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts featuring a QR code, leading to a very nice mobile-optimized web page:



We also found an advertising insert in a blue Valpak envelope featuring a QR code that offered a $25 coupon:


Unfortunately, this code led to a desktop version of a web sign-up page, making it hard to fill out and accept the offer.

You can create your own, mobile-optimized sign-up forms on Qryptal’s newly updated QR code generator.

Northwest Mailing Service adopts QR codes

via qrcodepress.com

QR Codes are an ideal complement to direct mailers as it provides an added dimension of information to paper flyers, brochures and to any promotional material. QR codes used here could provide a landing page leading to added information such as images, brochure pdfs, and videos which can influence in the buying decision.
As QR Codes will be scanned on mobile devices, the landing pages should be designed to be read on mobile devices