QR codes enable your brand to connect your printed messages and your digital message with one, seamless scan.  A KISSMetrics study showed that half of Smartphone users are using their phones in brick-and-mortar stores — with 40 percent of those people using their phones to compare your competitors prices.  This is where having QR codes placed on your brand’s actual product can prove to be extremely valuable.

Whether your on-product QR code offers a discount to persuade your potential customer to make a purchase or offers the value of purchasing your product over a competitors, QR codes give your brand the ability to not only engage your potential customer, but keep them interested in purchasing your product over a competitors.

In addition to a QR codes ability to offer additional information for a consumer to make their purchasing decision in-store, QR codes also offer a way to get your customer in the door.  Placing QR codes on flyers, ads or signage around town with directions to your establishment can get a customer in the door who may not have come without seeing the print ad and scanning the QR code.  Location-based marketing is the key to making this form of QR code marketing valuable and worth-while for both marketers and consumers.  Without location-based marketing, when a user scanned your code, it wouldn’t be able to offer them accurate directions or get them to the nearest store or restaurant.

Finally, always use a mobile-friendly landing page; because the average smartphone user will only wait five to seven seconds for a page to load on their mobile screen.  Furthermore, desktop landing pages on a small smartphone screen tend to be difficult to navigate and view, in turn, it can make the user lose interest quickly and leave your brand’s mobile content.

QR codes offer an easy way for your printed messages to further engage your audience and, ultimately, lead to a sale.

Timothy Freeman
President
Print & Graphic Communications Association