QR Codes as a touchless engagement tool during COVID-19
In early 2020, the time was ripe for QR Codes: they were simple, efficient, no-contact gateways that allowed brands to talk to their customers across the physical and digital worlds.
Consumers were getting more familiar with the technology through the pandemic. Added to this was the fact that nearly all smartphone cameras come with native QR Code scanning capability. The process was simple too. Load up the camera app, point at the QR Code, and get directed to the encoded content — all within a few seconds.
As a marketing agency always on the hunt for new ways to interact with audiences, Rose Marketing Solutions caught this rising trend early on. The massive uptick in adoption during the pandemic, coupled with the ease of using the technology meant that QR Codes were here to stay.
Seeing the need for dynamic QR Codes as opposed to static ones, Rashad Pitts, director of digital advertising at Rose Marketing Solutions, wanted to include a paid QR Code solution as part of their marketing offerings. Uniqode’s QR Code solution stood out as an appealing platform: white-labeling options, advanced customization, data analytics, retargeting, and integration capabilities fit the needs of a marketing agency like a glove.
Using Uniqode for varying marketing agency needs
It was important to Rashad that his choice of a paid QR Code solution aligned with Rose Marketing Solutions’ larger business goals of expanding its product range and widening profit margins. This meant offering a white-labeled QR Code platform that could drive marketing ROIs for their clients. For Rashad, who was involved in the sales side of things, it also meant presenting pitch decks that convinced customers to make the switch to paid QR Codes.
“COVID-19 shifted things a lot — we were looking for new opportunities. And seeing that QR Codes had become a substitute for paper restaurant menus, we were trying to think outside the box. We pitched QR Codes as a viable marketing tool that made sense for our clients” says Rashad.
Rose Marketing Solutions has been able to leverage Uniqode for a gamut of use-cases. They have purposed QR Codes for WiFi at laundromats, showing COVID health protocol at pre-schools, flyers at wineries, product information for athletic eCommerce websites, and getting lead information at events.
Deploying Uniqode’s dynamic QR Codes at pre-schools
Talking specifically about working with a large franchise of pre-schools, Rashad mentions how QR Codes seemed like the ideal no-contact solution during COVID. Strict social distancing measures meant that parents could not enter school premises, and that physical flyers could not be used for tours. With Uniqode, Rashad could place QR Codes at the entrance of the facility for explaining the process of contactless pickup to parents. Or place a QR Code inside the facility to explain health and safety protocols during tours.
For the pre-school franchise, QR Codes have been a responsible way of interacting with their audience. In addition, the convenience of using the same dynamic QR Codes and simply updating the content for different campaigns has been a highlight.
The ability to change the encoded content with the client’s need is what attracted Rashad’s team to a paid QR Code solution like Uniqode:
“We understood the downsides of using free, static QR Codes. Amongst others, the ease of using dynamic QR Codes was a huge selling point for us. We could place Uniqode QR Codes at different locations and change the encoded content on the backend. Having the flexibility to change with the needs of our clients made things really convenient.”
Leveraging Uniqode’s dynamic forms feature to build leads
Rashad’s team was also well aware that QR Codes were an effective Phygital™ marketing tool for lead generation. As any marketer would agree, campaign success relies heavily on building high-intent lead lists. QR Codes are excellent indicators of intent in the physical world — when end-users scan QR Codes, it’s highly likely that they’re interested in a brand’s product or service. In addition, it seemed as though on-feet surveys and other outdated methods for bringing customers from the physical to the digital world didn’t work for modern users anymore.
Rose Marketing Solutions was able to capitalize on this fact. Working with a chain of laundromats to install WiFi QR Codes, Rashad’s team could leverage Uniqode dynamic forms feature to gather user information. Users scan the QR Code, provide their information, and get the required details for WiFi access.
Funneling in end-users was convenient with a dynamic form template, where different questions could be asked based on the answers given. He could also pair form submissions with other email or SMS marketing campaigns.
While the collection of data and lead generation has been a USP for Rashad, he has also been able to retarget users on Facebook and Google. With Uniqode’s Facebook Pixel and Google Ads integrations, his team could directly build online cohorts based on QR Code scans and retarget users. The process was convenient as well — all that was required was a brand’s Pixel or GoogleAds ID.
“I have been really impressed with the dynamic forms feature on the Uniqode dashboard. It’s easy and convenient. Being a marketing agency, we can accumulate data from the QR Code scans and leverage it elsewhere for retargeting.”
Seeing tangible results from QR Code campaigns
With Uniqode QR Codes, Rose Marketing Solutions has been able to reach 3,000 unique customers from the 5,000 scans that they have received.
Rashad’s team uses Uniqode QR Codes as a marketing tool for three of their clients. The laundromat WiFi QR Code use-case stood out to him the most:
“We were able to generate over 1,000 + leads within a few months. Although these came from dynamic QR Codes at different locations, it was eye-opening to see the results come in so fast. The turnaround time for getting leads was really quick.”
With time, the number of leads generated via QR Codes has risen significantly. Given the ease of using the technology, Rose Marketing Solutions' laundromat client deployed QR Codes on their machines and at other locations. As of now, analytics from the Uniqode dashboard indicate that 2,000 + leads have been generated from a total of 2,800 scans, which is a conversion rate of nearly 75%.
“Given that the leads came in so quickly, we maxed out the client’s Mailchimp account, which we use to reach out to the leads that we build. It just goes to show that coupled with the right incentives, QR Codes can prove to be an effective engagement channel. We didn’t see the large volume that we got from QR Codes prior to using them” Rashad says.
Given the tangible returns they’re seeing with QR Codes, Rose Marketing Solutions plans on continuing with Uniqode as their preferred QR Code partner. Also, with QR Codes only set to become more widespread as a technology, Rashad seeks to expand and experiment with QR Code usage for different purposes.
