Does anyone use QR Codes? The jury is still out
Open Apple’s app store and you’re presented with 300+ (by my count) QR code readers of various descriptions. Look at ads on public transport, on posters and in magazines and they are there. But are they catching on, or do they remain a gimmick?
As with so many things, it comes down to how you read the statistics.
Writing on CNN.com, Amy Gahran is a QR sceptic and quotes the stat from Archrival that though 80% of US college students – a demographic you imagine to be most familiar with tech innovations – had seen QR codes and knew roughly what they were, only 20% were able to successfully scan one .
Amy says that 75% of students said they wouldn’t be scanning QR codes in future….which still means 1/4 are receptive to it.
Forrester says that overall QR code adoption rates are low – 5% of US adults. But that”s 5x more than in 2010 (1%), and among smartphone owners the adoption rate is 15% (via Read Write Web).
QR codes are also an area where Android users are in front – 23% of US Android users have scanned, compared to 19% of US iPhone users. That’s significant as research also shows that mobile web views come disproportionately from Apple ‘iDevices’
Meanwhile Sam Beckbessinger in memeburn lists “five reasons why QR codes are – mostly – a crock.”
Sam echoes Amy Gahran’s point about QR code confusion, citing a study carried out in one of the most tech literate cities in the World – San Francisco. Apparently, only 11% were able to correctly identify them. However, another 29% said it was “some barcode thingy”, and I’d say that’s still significant – knowing the correct name for a QR code is less important than the realisation that it exists to be scanned.
Personally I think QR Codes have potential but both Amy Gahran’s CNN piece and Sam Beckbessinger’s memeburn give good reasons why it is under performing as a marketing mechanic.
They’re in the wrong places says Sam Beckbessigner. Indeed they are. I’m amazed by the number of ads with QR codes I see on the London Underground. Putting aphone over a stranger’s head to scan an ad is the last thing most people will do, assuming they have an app installed allowing them to do so of course.
Which brings us onto the point that certainly from the QR codes I’ve seen, almost none spell out what you need to do. That starts with needing to download an app.
Then, says Sam, the content is often poor (it leads you to a website, and often not a mobile optimised one) and there is no incentive to scan.
Those points can be turned around into recommendations for anyone intending to use QR Codes in their marketing. Namely:
1 – Think about the content and give people something they won’t get simply by typing a URL into their mobile browser. Some kind of special incentive? A piece of content the can’t get elsewhere? A short video or piece of audio content?
2 – Use QR codes in situations where people have time and (if they need to) a wi-fi or 3G connection to download an app. Magazines are good. So are eye-level posters in shopping centres. Or indeed airports and train station waiting rooms (Rabbit client Gatwick Airport has previously used 1D barcodes – Stickybits)
3 – Most importantly, be crystal clear about *what* you need to do to scan that code. Spell out the need for an app and don’t assume people know what it is. By introducing them to the concept, you could capitalise on the novelty factor and significantly up engagement rates
Related articles
- QR Codes Gone Wild (greatfinds.icrossing.com)
- Why QR codes aren’t catching on (cnn.com)
- QR Codes (twowritingteachers.wordpress.com)
- Now You Can Get a QR Code Haircut (bellasugar.com)
- How do you create a QR code for your website (wiki.answers.com)
Related Posts
-
The importance of the ‘visual web’ – some stats
Posted on May 8, 2012
-
Instagram gains three million new users overnight, stands at 32 million
Posted on Apr 4, 2012
-
Instagram hits 25 million users – you heard it here first
Posted on Mar 2, 2012
-
Comscore’s 2012 Mobile Future in Focus Report – ten take outs
Posted on Mar 1, 2012
Tags
Share This
Hi Antony,
I appreciate you stopping by and overall I think we’re agreed. Misguided placements are affecting the credibility of the medium as a whole.
I’ve mentioned placing QR codes on tube (subway) trains and on roads and today I saw another placement that must have sounded great but made little sense – on the top of a cab.
Even though I already have various QR code readers on my phone, was I going to lean out the window and try and scan it? Er…no.
In contrast though, your company has ticked the boxes of hitting people in the right situations (while reading) and offering incentives.
On that note, another interesting QR code roll-out comes from the South Korean arm of Tesco supermarkets, which set up pictures of supermarket aisles codes on the S Korean subway – http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/15557/tesco-virtual-supermarket-in-a-subway-station.html
Of course, in Seoul, there is 3G access even in subway tunnels….
Hey Dirk, good article and correct on many points, but it’s lacking the hard data to support your arguments.
One comment I will make very quickly regarding the survey of only a couple of hundred people ‘in one of the most tech literate cities in the World – San Francisco’. This survey was a farce, it was done in the middle of the day when only tourists were around and secondly the ‘QR Code’ he had on his sign was way to big and had too much data in it to be easily scannable. I only highlight this survey out of the other examples because it’s so frustrating that the writer conducting the survey didn’t even know how to use the tech properly!
Regarding ‘hard data’ of actual results for campaigns. At link.me we focus on placing our link.me tags on product packaging and connecting brands to their customers after the sale with rewarding content. Currently we’re focused heavily on the book publishing industry and have seen our tags placed on all sorts of titles, from teen fiction (La Candy, Vampire Diaries) to serious best sellers (Freakonomincs, Body Confidence) and in all instances we’ve seen fantastic results. In many of our teen focused titles we’re seeing ‘checkin’ rates as high as 20% with the average being 12% of total sales, even our worst performing campaigns have response rates at 4%, that’s of total books sold, i.e. 100,000 copies sold = 12,000 unique visitors. Compare that to response rates to click-thrus on banner ads or Facebook links and you can see this technology works when used correctly.
Admittedly to support Andrew Grill’s comments around SMS, a link.me tag is not just a QR code, it is also an SMS Keyword, a short URL and in the future Near Field Communication, but we’re still seeing on average a higher response rate via QR Codes that these other channels, on average twice as many scans as SMS.
Fact: QR Codes work.
Yes there is still a massive learning curve and yes there are many agencies and marketers doing it wrong, but when used correctly and in the right channel with the right context QR Codes and other mobile technologies like SMS deliver fantastic results.
Antony McGregor Dey
@antonymd
The main problem with qr codes is marketers not utilising them correctly. Proper implementation of them will see them continue to grow as people become aware of the correct way to use them.I keep seeing these articles bagging them yet their use continues to grow significantly which explains a lot in my eyes
Check out http://Megascanz.com to see how they should be utilised and get free tracking software that will also tell you who the users are as well.
@malcolmcoles – the estate agent sign idea is excellent, and an example of how QR codes coud work “Like this house? Scan this code to see a walk through video on your phone. get your free QR reader from X” (which in itself offers up potential to partner up with one of the many 3rd party apps)
@malcolmcoles and @andrewgill – absolutely, putting codes on the underground is just idiotic as it goes against several common sense factors. It’s against human nature to have someone scan an ad over someone else’s seat in a tube carriage (especially in London), it ignores the fact that most people just want to come and go, and its pointless given the lack of Internet on the majority of the network.
I’d love to see the adoption rates agencies are getting from this. And yes, the education (how do you scan?) point is important. It might look cool to have a random QR code on the corner of your ad, but unless you are targeting it at the digerati who frequent events like SXSW or Le Web, its wasted if there is no context.
I do think QR codes have potential. Unfortunately right now they are just slapped on randomly, without much thought being given to them. The memeburn article I mention above gives even more ridiculous examples of QR code placement, like on the side of roads.
I wish estate agents would put them on boards outside houses.
Putting them on underground posters is the dumbest thing ever. Way to get people to think they don’t work …
I am also still a QR code skeptic – see http://lc.tl/qr to read why.
You will also see in the comments for my QR skeptic post all of the people who claim I am wrong and the results are strong etc.
I think the jury is still out – and you can see the jury sitting on their tube seats every day NOT scanning the multitude of QR codes that seem to be on almost every underground poster now.
When I go to photograph (not scan) a QR code for a future blog post, people look at me like I am an alien – what is he doing???
I AM seeing advertisers put QR codes everywhere HOWEVER as per your post above, there is little education as to why I should bother to scan the code.
SMS just works – nothing to download, and years ago carriers in Australia offered “how to text” tutorials to get people going. Guess what – now even my parents text.
Unless consumers can easily scan the codes (ie via the native camera with no additional downloads) and there is a real benefit in doing so, we will continue to see many more QR codes, with no-one scanning them and limited and isolated results.
Like SMS, QR codes need to just work to gain adoption.
Andrew Grill
@andrewgrill