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You’ve read listicles about the importance of getting your customer’s name right in your email marketing campaigns (and you’ll never make that mistake again).
But what are the potential hazards and pitfalls of Phygital marketing?
Whether your brand connects with customers in a retail environment, while they’re riding the bus, or sitting on their couch watching TV, every interaction is an opportunity for you to build or lose their trust.
To help you navigate the sometimes precarious bridge over the digital divide, here are a few best practices to guide your Phygital marketing strategy.
3 ways to ensure the best Phygital experience for your customers
1. Prioritize customer security, both online and in retail environments
Don’t: Assume your audience knows the risks associated with scanning any old QR Code they see on a flyer.
Do: Educate your consumers about QR security risks in their digital environment and give them the tools they need to recognize a phishing scheme in progress.
You should also make a point of partnering with secure marketing platforms that deliver the real-time experiences your customers want without compromising your standards for consumer data privacy and protection.
All Phygital experiences are not created equally, so it’s important to demonstrate to customers which security standards you’re meeting by including the official logos for any certifications you may have, whether that’s meeting SOC II or CCPA standards, or another level of compliance.
From safeQR to secure web browsers, your mobile experience must meet the highest security standards in your industry, or you risk exposing your customers’ data (and losing brand equity).
2. Personalize the customer experience at every opportunity
Don’t: Deliver a generic experience, online or in stores. If your customer has an account with your company that’s associated with their telephone number or email address, you should have the information you need to craft a personalized Phygital experience that ensures they feel like their interactions with your brand are part of a continuing conversation.
Do: De-silo your data and select marketing software partners that are willing to work with you to deliver the data you need to connect your customer profiles and data on the backend.
If you wouldn’t select a partner that won’t adhere to the same high-security standards you hold for your customers’ data, why would you work with one that won’t deliver the information your customers share with them in a way that is easy to parse and sort?
With clean data in hand, you’ll be well-equipped to deliver personalized customer experiences. For example, if a returning customer scans the QR Code in front of a sneaker display in one of your retail stores, you should have the ability to show them what that model will look like and where it’s available in their size without the customer having to input additional information.
3. Design flexible Phygital experiences that let customers choose their level of interaction
Don’t: Assume all customers want and need the same information presented in the same ways.
Do: Deliver options that empower your customers to engage with your brand as much or as little as they’d like within the Phygital realm.
For example, it’s almost always best to deliver a multilingual option on your website and utilize dynamic QR Codes. Unlike earlier versions of this technology, dynamic QR Codes are flexible in what site they lead to.
Imagine a customer walks up to the door of one of your retail stores: they’re prompted to scan a QR Code on the door before entering. For customers who prefer contactless interactions, this is the ideal way to direct them to the location inside their store where their BOPUS order is ready and waiting. Or, you can use this opportunity to offer them the chance to navigate the store digitally to limit their time hunting the shelves for what they’re looking for.
The key is giving them the options they need to have the best Phygital experience possible.
This can also help your brand navigate a diverse customer base. Say a customer scans the QR Code on the menu of a coffee shop in an airport. They’re given the option to head to the Spanish-language website or the English-language option. Right away, that person has been given a choice that will help them engage with your brand in the way that is most comfortable for them.
Deliver content in your customers’ preferred languages using multilingual QR Codes
And this is just the baseline. You can also design QR Codes and geofenced experiences to use what information you already know about a client to present them with a website in the language of their choice. This helps you demonstrate that you know who they are and what they’re looking for.
The second approach may not present them with a choice at the moment, but instead, it leverages a datapoint they’ve provided in a past interaction to demonstrate that your brand cares about providing an accessible, exceptional experience.
Leverage Phygital experiences to boost brand engagement
If you don’t demonstrate that your digital marketing toolkit is as sophisticated as the in-person experiences you deliver, your customers will turn to brands that deliver consistently personalized and customizable experiences across channels.
When done right, Phygital experiences can unlock opportunities for deeper engagement between your customers and your brand.
If you’re not sure where to begin, sign up for a free trial today and try out the Uniqode QR platform for yourself!
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.
