Kingston Smith’s Graeme Trigg isn’t quite as confident in the future of QR codes as he was…..
QR codes. Everybody seems to want them to take off, but will they? Really?
On the positive side, they’re a fantastic way to bridge the gap between print and online marketing. For ages, now, I have been talking to digital marketing proponents telling me print is dead, while talking to printers who assure me that good quality print marketing will always be more effective. My marketing instinct – like most marketers – tells me I need a mix. So surely it’s a great idea to use QR codes to create a seamless bridge between the two? Right?
I want it to be so, but I am losing confidence; lacking faith. So I thought it would be a good idea to lay out the arguments for and against, and see where we get to.
There are several positives to using QR codes in your marketing campaigns.
Ease of use
QR codes are undeniably easy to use – provided the user has a QR code reader on his/her phone (see cons below). And I have to say that they are fairly idiot-proof to create (working on the basis that if I can do it…..).
Versatility
You can use QR codes to prompt a number of actions from the user. The most straightforward is to take them to a URL (mobile optimised). Alternatively you can have the user send a predefined text message to a number. You can prepare an email to be sent to a predefined email address, or you can download contact details onto the user’s phone (particularly useful on business cards).
Trackability
As with all things digital, trackability is a major plus factor for QR codes. Once your code is created you can easily track how effective your campaign has been. This is a major boost for print marketing, which has always had that element of untrackability. Until now.
Quirkiness
There is a certain "what are those odd little squares I keep seeing everywhere?" inquisitiveness for many people. Once they find out what they are, and have installed a suitable app, people do seem more apt to scan a QR code than to type in a URL, just on the basis that "I wonder where that goes to?". More later, on that!
Cheap
As well as being easy to create, QRs are also really cheap. There are many free QR code creator sites out there, as well as a few higher-spec paid services (I use QRstuff). But even these are by no means budget busters. QR codes are certainly a cost effective way of tracking the effectiveness of your print marketing, and to generate a direct link into digital.
However…..there is of course another side to the story.
Already obsolete?
Heard of Aurasma? That, and other similar services threaten, quite frankly, to blow QR codes out of the water. None of that business of creating an ugly square barcode here – just encourage the user to scan your logo or other brand image to bring your ad to life in video. My worry is that we shouldn’t be far away from being able to turn our own corporate logo – or even our own photo – into the equivalent of a QR code. In many ways, QR codes feel like a stepping stone to cooler things just around the corner.
QR readers not native on many phones
Not every smartphone comes with a QR reader pre-installed. Blackberries do, but iPhones don’t, and not all Android phones do either. So you have to go looking in your particular phone’s app store. What is more, my beloved iPhone actually does not deal well at all with vCard downloads. And – unfortunately – not all QR code readers were created equal. There are good ones and bad ones out there. Essentially this means that any QR code campaign is limited to (a) smartphone users; with (b) a good enough QR code reader/camera combination to read your code. For many marketers, those numbers just do not add up to a potentially successful campaign.
Mobile optimisation
Don’t forget that, by definition, users of your QR code will be mobile users. So if your target URL isn’t mobile optimised (or worse, uses flash, for example!), forget it.
Aesthetics
Well they are ugly, aren’t they? I’m all for a good function vs form debate, but this one is an open and shut case. Hence my longing for the Aurasma approach to take off.
Security
How much would it take for an unscrupulous competitor – or a pressure group – to "hijack" a billboard QR campaign? How many of us would actually notice if a QR code had been tampered with, before scanning it, perhaps by having a sticker of a new code pasted on top? We will surely see some examples of this before too long, with users being sent to competitor or pressure group websites rather than to the intended target. Or worse, to a URL that installs a virus or malware onto the phone. We all know not to click on email links we don’t recognise, so why would we just scan a QR code without being sure of its origins? For smaller scale, magazine based or more personal print campaigns there is a lower risk here, but for me, if this trend isn’t led by "big" advertising campaigns, QRs will struggle to gain sufficient momentum.
The verdict
I really want this to work. Partly because of the quirkiness, and partly because of the instinctive allure of that bridge between print and digital. I just think that, ultimately, QRs will be overtaken by other technologies, and until then will be limited by their own inherent security weaknesses.
Here’s hoping I’m wrong. What’s your view?
For more information on QR codes or any of the digital printing services that Print4UK offer, contact us.
Tags: Digital Printer, Digital Printing Services, Indigo Printer, Printing Enfield
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