Unlocking the Benefits of QR Codes for Your Business: A Tech Guide

QR codes or Quick Response codes are one of the most versatile types of two-dimensional codes. They have a lot of use cases in businesses both digital and physical. Today, we are going to look at QR codes and how they can provide beneficial uses that either improve customer experience or boost your business.

QR Code Use Cases and Benefits

QR codes were originally created to track parts in production in a factory, but since then their uses have evolved a lot. Let’s take a look at some modern uses of QR codes.

1. Boosts Conversions by Providing Convenience

QR codes have a powerful use case marketing. Typically marketing requires that you advertise your product or service to create exposure. Then once enough exposure has been generated you shift tactics and try to get people to buy or sign up for your products and services.

The process of enticing a customer and getting them to actually commit to a purchase is known as “converting”. The whole point of a marketing campaign is to convert prospects into customers.

Normally, advertisements have some text like “Try now for free” or “Sign up now to get an exclusive discount” to entice people to convert. This kind of text is known as a “call to action” or CTA. This is where the discussion pivots to QR codes. You can use QR codes as a CTA.

Instead of simply providing some text like our earlier examples, you can say Scan QR code to sign up and get an exclusive offer”. Since practically all mobile phones have QR code scanners, you are making it easier to sign up by providing a QR code. This approach works for both digital and physical marketing because the code will work the same way.

2. Extremely Versatile

QR codes are convenient to use, but they are also really versatile. Just look at their origin. They were originally created to track parts in the manufacturing process.

Now, they can be used as hyperlinks, trackers, CTAs, and even advertisements. Different businesses can use them in different ways. For example, a company related to designing things can use stylish QR codes as a way to advertise their services. The QR codes serve the dual purpose of acting as a CTA and as an Ad.

Similarly, courier companies can and do use QR codes for tracking shipments and packages. The packages go through checkpoints at each stage of the pipeline i.e., packed, in storage, in transit, at the destination warehouse, etc.

They can forward this information to their clients as well. This is how many companies like Amazon help customers track their packages.

3. Very Easy To Track Stats Using QR codes

A core part of any business is keeping track of all ventures. This includes marketing, sales, and research and development. This is required because you want to know if your investments are bringing in the desired outcomes or not.

For marketing, that translates to tracking how many people:

• Interacted with your ads
• Converted due to ads
• Spent money after clicking on your ads
• Shared your content with others
• Which type of devices were used to interact with your ads
• Which areas generated the most engagement

All of these stats are somewhat easy to track in digital marketing. However, things become difficult when it comes to traditional marketing. You can’t really track who saw your posters and billboards and acted on the CTAs.

However, if you incorporate QR codes into them, you can capture a lot of information. For example, the type of device used to scan the QR code, the date and time, and of course the region.

This enables businesses to get a better handle on tracking statistics and analyzing them to improve their results in the future.

4. Saves Waste

Traditional Marketing is very prone to creating paper and plastic waste. Once an advertisement is printed out, it cannot be reused for a different campaign. The posters and billboards are discarded once the campaign is over.

However, with dynamic QR codes, a lot of this waste can be avoided. Dynamic QR codes are special because the content behind them can be digitally altered. So, a QR code could direct you to a certain blog for one month and it could redirect you to a different website in the next.

So, you can technically reuse the codes forever. This means you can prevent waste of physical resources by opting for minimalist designs that incorporate dynamic QR codes. Then reuse them thoughtfully to prevent waste and save on costs as well.

5. A Good Medium For Providing Information

QR codes are not just tools “ad alternatives” or CTAs. They can do a lot more. One of the most common uses of QR codes is to direct people to a website or a particular webpage.

This can be used for content marketing. Content marketing is a type of digital marketing where instead of using explicit ads and promotions, you utilize informative content to nudge customers towards your brand.

Basically, you provide solutions to their problems, solutions that your brand can provide with their products or services. This way, you entice customers to come to you. QR codes can serve as a convenient gateway to this content.

Remember, convenience can really change a customer’s mind about making a purchase.

6. Applications in Augmented Reality

QR codes can be used for inventive ways of advertising. Augmented reality is a field that has found much cohesion with QR codes. Augmented reality is the use of technology to project virtual objects into the real world.

The objects are not actually there, but only visible through a lens or a screen. The objects interact with the real world as if they are physically there. So, if you are looking at your table through your phone’s camera and a virtual 3D ball bounces on it, that is an example of AR.

QR codes can hold enough data to project a small AR simulation. You can use it for developing creative ad designs that incorporate a virtual mascot. Customers simply scan the code and get treated to a delightful AR display.

This kind of ad can work wonders for engagement.