\n
![\"Amex](\"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/QR-Code-Amex.jpg\")
<\/a>Amex prompted merchants to scan this code before they posted it, but forgot to include a reason for shoppers to scan it once the merchants had posted it.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n Most of the QR codes I see in print have no context. As a potential customer, I can’t tell what I might find out if I did go to the trouble of scanning. This may not tick people off, but it won’t get them to scan your code, either.<\/p>\n Rule 3: State the benefit for the customer.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you you made a special landing page, or linked to a product page, say that right next to the code itself. Tell the customer or visitor what they’ll get there.<\/p>\n Important Implication: Think through the benefit to the customer, or don’t include a code at all.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n See where it says, \u201cQR Code\u201d? That\u2019s where you should put the short URL. (The Facebook logo is a red herring: This code goes to a non-mobile-friendly home page instead, violating Rule 1.)<\/p><\/div>\n Only 5% of smartphone users have scanned a QR code. (Source: Comscore, Aug 2011<\/a>.)\u00a0 Update 2023: In 2021, 75.8 million smartphone users in the United States scanned a QR code on their mobile devices, according to Statista<\/a>. That still leaves out a lot of US smartphone users.<\/p>\n If you’d like a wider audience, consider that over 87% of smart phone users have accessed the internet while mobile. (Source: Pew Internet, 2012<\/a>.) Do you want to provide information only for the 5% and ignore the 87%?<\/p>\n Rule 4: Include a plain-text URL with the code.\u00a0<\/b> Update for April 2013:<\/strong> Yes, the percentage of smartphone users who have scanned a QR code is up, maybe as high as 15%. Still seems like it’s smart to include that short URL for the vast majority of your potential customers.<\/p>\n If customers or visitors are sitting at their computer, why would they pick up their phone to scan a code and go to another site, especially if it’s just a link to your homepage? This ticks off people because you could have just included a link for them to click!<\/p>\n Rule 5: Use a descriptive link, instead of using a QR code on websites.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Exception to Rule 5: When should <\/i>you use a QR code on a website? <\/strong><\/p>\n When the code contains specific info that is only useful on a mobile device, such as the link to download a mobile app.<\/p>\n There are more exceptions, coming up …<\/p>\n Why use a QR code to send customers to your homepage to hunt around for your phone number, when you could include that and all of your contact information in the QR code itself to go right into their contact list?<\/p>\n Why use a QR code to send visitors to your events calendar page, when you could include the event date, location, etc., right in the code to go into their calendar app?<\/p>\n Why use a QR code to link to a page with an embedded video, when your code can send users straight to the YouTube video?<\/p>\n Rule 6: Use the right QR code format to convey more complex information.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Check out the list of data types you can include in a QR code at the QR Stuff Code Generator<\/a>\u00a0or the ZXing QR Code Generator<\/a>. Here are more examples of what you can accomplish:<\/p>\n –Send customers to a specific location in Google Maps.<\/p>\n –Use a QR code to link customers directly to create a Facebook Like for your Page.<\/p>\n –Use a QR code to automatically log your Android-phone-carrying customers on to your wifi.<\/p>\n Another exception to Rule 5: Use a QR code on your website to get relevant info directly into customer phones. Important Implication: Make the data available in another way, for the 95% of smartphone users who don’t scan QR codes.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Man, that shiny plastic bag is hard to scan! But bonus points for leaving a good margin and telling the customer what they\u2019ll get by scanning. These codes did scan, though not easily.<\/p><\/div>\n Background colors or textures confuse the scanner.\u00a0Shiny surfaces give off too much glare.<\/p>\n A wholesale company has started putting QR codes on every sample they send out to their retail-store-owner customers. Sadly, the codes all lead to the wholesale company’s home page because it would be too hard to train the guy who mails out samples to tell the difference between a bunch of different codes that all look alike to him.<\/p>\n Following the Rules solves this problem.\u00a0<\/b> Now that each sticker includes the name of the product, the guy who handles the stickers can tell them apart. Yes, it’s more work. But customers would have some reason to scan the codes, and they might even decide to start carrying the product.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Update 2023:<\/strong> Be cautious with static QR code generators like Canva’s QR code generator<\/a>. They permanently point to a single link and cannot be updated. If the link changes or the page moves to a different URL, you have to start over and create a new code. Canva’s generator also doesn’t (as of Jan 2023) include tools for cool tricks like the ones above. But if you just need a simple code to an unchanging link and you already use Canva, then sure, use it.<\/p>\n New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour<\/a>. Like what you see? Get our updates<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now that QR codes are appearing in my local small town paper, on bags at the trade show last week, and everywhere else, it’s time to look at what works and what does not work. Because your QR codes are either boosting your engagement with potential customers and visitors, or really ticking them off. Mistake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,4,3,7,24,2],"tags":[32],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/QR-Code-Amex.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14747,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions\/14747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mistake 3: Not telling viewers the benefit of scanning your code.<\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/a>Mistake 4:\u00a0Ignoring your non-QR-savvy customers and visitors.<\/h3>\n
\nIt’s that simple: include the short URL, easy to type on a tiny mobile keyboard, right next to the printed code. Almost all QR code generators provide you with a short link automatically. By including it, you change your possible market from the 5% to the 87%.<\/p>\n
\nMistake 5: Using QR codes on websites.<\/h3>\n
\n
\nMistake 6: Using QR codes only for links.<\/h3>\n
\n<\/strong>This exception only applies if you use the QR code to intelligently populate info such as a calendar event or contact info into your customers’ phones directly from your website.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/a>Mistake 7: Making your codes hard to scan.<\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/b>
\nRule 7: Put matte-finished white space around codes.\u00a0<\/b>
\nCheck a proof of any expensive-to-produce items before you do the full production run. Use matte-finish stickers (even Avery labels you print yourself) to put QR codes onto shiny or difficult surfaces. Leave a margin around the outside of the code, like on the bag shown here.<\/p>\n
\nReal world problem:<\/h3>\n
\nThe QR codes could lead direct to a YouTube video demonstration of the product, or to a mobile-friendly page with more info about the product and the benefits of carrying it.<\/p>\n\n