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QR Codes are best known to consumers as pixelated black and white squares on billboards, magazine ads, commercials, posters, product packaging, and diverse marketing materials.
Given the rise in smartphones, QR Codes have helped bring offline content to online platforms and make tasks easier for the majority of the population to interact with brands, take quick actions, make payments, etc.
It was during the pandemic that QR Codes stood out as an effective contactless solution. But cue 2023, and it’s evolved to be much more than that.
It’s a versatile tool that is used by marketers, brands, and agencies worldwide for diverse use cases.
If you’re wondering if QR Codes are still effective or if they will survive the years to come, you’re at the right place.
Read on to find out!
Table of contents
Are QR Codes really effective?
QR Codes have stood the test of time and had even emerged as a primary contactless solution during the pandemic. However, for a tool that is deemed versatile enough for all industries, let’s do a deeper dive into the features of QR Codes that may make it effective or relevant for your use case.
💡Fun Fact:
Over 90% of business leaders anticipate increased QR adoption across sectors.
Explore more fascinating insights in our State of QR Code Report!
1. Ease of usage
There was a time when smartphone users had to download an app to scan a QR Code. Due to the recent Android and iOS updates, users with Android 9 and above and iOS 13 and above can now easily scan QR Codes with their native camera.
This ease of usage directly translates to a surge in the number of QR Code scans globally. In 2022, around 89 million smartphone users in the United States engaged with QR Codes, marking a 26% increase from 2020.
Related: Learn how to scan a QR Code on any device
2. Enhanced customer interaction
Sharing content offline is also a possibility via links. However, typing manual links or ensuring that your customers don’t get deterred by the wrong URL is a hassle on its own.
This is exactly what QR Codes set out to avoid. They help businesses boost customer interaction by ensuring that their audience is redirected to the right content. Be it a website, a Black Friday sale list, or your Youtube channel, QR Codes ensure seamless redirection and engagement opportunities.
🔥Interesting ways QR Code are used
Brands are always on the lookout to engage their customers better. One such brand that nailed it was Harney’s Sushi. They created QR Codes on their sushi platters, which, when scanned, led to details such as the origin of the ingredients, the global stock, etc. This helped customers connect with the brand, be informed, and provide a personalized experience.
3. Make offline materials interactive
Offline marketing materials such as posters, flyers, and billboards are inherently passive. They lack the pop-up feature or the visual elements that nudge a viewer towards action. However, QR Codes were the game-changer in this case.
The addition of QR Codes on billboards and banners or offline materials makes it interactive, bringing that nudge that existed with online materials to the offline world. The prompt to scan brought about by QR Codes bridges the gap between the brand’s content and audience interaction.
🤔Did you know?
IKEA, the Swedish company, partnered with Meta and Warp in Reality, an AR company, to integrate QR Codes across its stores. These QR Codes allowed scanners to play an immersive game to teach children the effects of pollution and litter in the marine ecosystem.
The QR Code led to an interactive AR game and allowed learners to study and take photos of marine life, such as sea turtles, octopuses, and orcas.
4. Real-time insights
While being a tool that boosts customer interaction, QR Codes go a step ahead and let brands measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. This helps brands gauge metrics such as time of engagement, number of scans, device used, location, etc.
This QR Code tracking data can help businesses or individuals gauge the performance of their campaigns, provide personalized content, and increase the ROI on offline or marketing material.
5. Cost-effective
QR Codes have sustained their growth not just due to their versatility but also owing to their cost-effectiveness. In several cases, QR Codes have saved businesses revenue when they switched from traditional methods to digitizing their offerings using QR Codes.
Here are some stats from our sources that explain this best.
For instance, for restaurants, it can cost up to $500 to print 500 multi-page disposable menus. On the other hand, switching to a QR Code menu costs $160-180 a year, with minimal investment to print and deposit the QR Codes on restaurant tables.
Similarly, if you’re a large company that prints an estimated 25,000 product manuals a year for your products, it would cost you around $5,000. However, investing in a $60/year PDF QR Code can save you these costs and make user interaction seamless.
While these are just a few examples of how QR Codes can help save on costs, based on your use case, they may just turn out to be a cost-effective alternative to traditional methods.
Are QR Codes still popular in 2023?
From surfacing on rare occurrences in the past to being a familiar sight on a daily basis, QR Codes have come a long way. Globally, there’s an upsurge in QR Code adoption, and the statistics support the same.
In the past year alone, the number of QR Codes created has shown a staggering 238.06% increase from 2021. This is also coupled with the fact that QR Codes are easy to create, customize, and access.
In fact, 2023 is seeing a 52.34% jump in QR Code usage since 2022. This is owing to how diverse industries have started using QR Codes to deliver information seamlessly and boost consumer interaction.
The possibilities of using QR Codes effectively in your marketing campaigns are endless. However, the success of your campaign depends on your target market and how innovatively you integrate these codes into your campaign. Ultimately, QR Codes can be your most effective tool when used in the right manner to add value to your campaign.
QR Codes are still effective- and you can use Uniqode to create one
With Uniqode, you not only make QR Codes to share, but you also get a host of features that benefit your use case.
From tracking to editing, all your QR Code interactions are also secured with Uniqode’s safety shield. We’re SOC2 and GDPR compliant, which translates to safer, secure QR Code campaigns.
If you’re keen on learning how QR Codes can make your next campaign effective, you can easily start by creating one here 👇
Frequently asked questions
1. Is QR Code marketing effective?
Yes, QR Code marketing can be effective as it helps engage and boost customer interaction. QR Codes can be customized as per branding and can be embedded in various marketing materials, from product packaging to billboards. Compared to traditional advertising, QR Codes make your marketing materials interactive.
2. Why use QR Codes?
QR Codes are a cost-effective and versatile tool that can be used across different industries. With QR Codes you can;
- Embed multimedia content
- Share on marketing materials
- Customize as per your brand
- Modify and edit the content
- Track its performance
And so on. These features have made QR Codes a tool that withstood the emergence of other competitive tools.
Ektha is a QR code expert with years of research and analysis into the evolution of QR codes. Having written over 70 in-depth articles on QR technology, she has developed a comprehensive understanding of how QR codes are transforming industries. Her insights, including The State of QR Report, have been featured in leading publications. With a passion for simplifying complex topics and providing actionable strategies, Ektha helps businesses leverage QR codes to enhance their ‘phygital’ connections.
