This old technology can generate new business

You may not recognize them by name, but if you’ve read any magazines recently, you have no doubt seen these curious square symbols whose patchwork of black and white pixels (modules) vaguely resembles a crossword puzzle. QR (Quick Response) Codes, as they are known, are everywhere in print advertising, and if you own a smartphone there’s a good chance you’ve scanned one of these codes with a QR Code reader app.
In the simplest terms, a QR Code’s arrangement of black squares represents data that may be a website url, text or other information. The QR Code is interpreted when a user scans it with a reader, typically a smartphone loaded with one of the many free QR Code reader apps. The reader app then reveals the information represented by the code to the user.
The density of a QR Code is defined by the number of squares contained in the rows and columns of the code and ranges from low density 21 x 21 codes to the highest density 177 x 177 codes.
So why should business owners care about QR Codes? To find the answer, I spoke with Michael Balas, founder and CEO of VitreoQR, a Cleveland-based company that focuses on mission-critical QR Code deployments.
How it all began
To understand the true realm of possibilities behind QR Codes, one must first understand their origins.
Balas explains that QR Codes were first invented in 1994 by a subsidiary of Toyota known as DENSO, which holds the patent on QR Codes (DENSO is now an independent business and Balas’ company is the North American distributor of their QR Code generating software and scanning hardware).
Toyota wanted a way to provide a rich set of data about each of its car parts during the manufacturing process without the need for human intervention. In response to this, DENSO developed the QR Code and affixed it to each Toyota part. Reader devices mounted along the manufacturing line would scan the codes on each part and process the data within the code.
Somewhere along the way QR Codes made their way into the public, particularly in Japan where a typical mom now scans them four times per day, two of those times in the grocery store. Balas said that, “The fact that QR Codes are playing a dramatic role in marketing today is purely an accidental byproduct of their invention.”
What QR Codes can do
for your advertising One of the most common uses of QR Codes is in print advertising. From a marketing perspective, a magazine ad conveys a finite amount of information. But if you couple the ad with a QR Code, you can provide smartphone users with far more detail and a much richer experience. QR Codes are often used in this way to drive users to a company’s website.
They can also be used on business cards to provide more detail about the card-holder. Some businesses use them to provide customers coupon offers that are not available through other channels.
Restaurants are even experimenting with edible QR Codes.
Some argue that these are solutions in search of a problem, but just because it isn’t completely practical doesn’t mean that the technology can’t be an effective way to create a unique experience for your customers.
See the forest
for the trees
Despite DENSO’s creative use of QR Codes at Toyota in the ’90s, Balas points out that most marketers today are narrowly focused on the rather mundane use of QR Codes in print ads. Consequently, businesses are missing out on much more creative ways to use them.
Imagine that you own a small, retail business that on any given day has hundreds of potential customers walking by. In order to learn about your product selection or what’s on sale today, they have to physically step inside your store. Many of them won’t ever do that.
Now imagine that you have a QR Code displayed in your store window, perhaps large enough that it can even be scanned from across the street. Now passersby with smartphones (currently almost 50% of cellphone users) simply scan your code with their reader app and they instantly know what products you offer and what is on sale today. You’ve just increased the probability of customers actually entering your store and therefore increased your chances of making a sale.
Balas suggests another example of creative QR Code use: What if busy restaurants offered patrons an alternative to the paper waiting list or those clumsy flashing pagers by allowing them to scan a QR Code that would trigger a text to their mobile device when their table is ready?
According to Balas, “In a brick and mortar environment, I would submit that not deploying a QR Code is a mistake.”
If you want to develop a QR Code strategy for your business, keep in mind these tips to help make it successful: &#8226 Content must be easily readable on a hand-held device. Balas advises that if you use QR Codes to drive the customer to a website, “The very first thing you need to do is to create Web content that is appropriately displayed on a handheld device. If you use a QR Code to drive a handheld device to a regular website, that’s a tragic error because a regular website on a handheld device is microscopic and therefore functionally useless.”
&#8226 Don’t be dense. I asked Balas how much data could be packed into a QR Code today. He points out that this question reveals a common misconception that bigger is better when it comes to QR Codes. In fact, brevity is the key to success. The more information you try to pack into the QR Code, the more dense the code must be. The higher the density, the less likely reader apps will be able to interpret the code. The lower the density of your QR Code, the greater the probability that it will be readable by the maximum number of devices, and that is your ultimate goal.
&#8226 Embrace the curiosity factor. QR Codes in unusual places will get scanned. There’s a curiosity factor about them. People want to know what they’ll get when they scan one. I witnessed this at a technology conference this past spring where large QR Code decals were displayed on the floor leading up to the exhibition hall. I watched as nearly every person with a smartphone scanned the codes which revealed details about giveaways and other aspects of the conference not available in the show’s paper directory.
Don’t miss the boat
Balas said that “if one can assert that only a limited number of people are aware of QR Codes, that is absolutely going to change. QR Codes will be as ubiquitous in the United States as they are in other parts of the world.”
A simple QR Code deployment is well-within the capabilities of a tech-savvy business owner. If that’s not you, talk with your company’s IT experts. A well-executed QR Code strategy might just drive a few extra customers through your door, and in this economy who wouldn’t welcome that? &#8226


Ed White is a senior solutions architect for Bank of America. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and not those of Bank of America.

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