The QR code is nothing new, but its current potential and uses in marketing are far from the industrial context in which it was first adopted. And not a few companies choose to rely on this technology every day. By the end of 2022, approximately 5.3 billion coupons will be redeemable for QR codes, and 1 billion devices will support the functionality needed to scan these codes. But what exactly is a QR code, and how can you use it to grow your business in 2023?
What Is A QR Code
A QR code, from English QR Code (Quick Response Code), is a two-dimensional barcode comprising several modules arranged within a square shape. Operation is extremely simple and straightforward. Each QR code is linked to an online address, which can refer to a web page, a social profile, and a destination file such as a document or image to download. The user can use an app to scan the QR code (many modern smartphones have this functionality inside the camera) and immediately be directed to the address chosen by the code’s creator.
How Do You Create A QR Code?
Creating this magical code is easier. Indeed, many QR code generators online allow you to generate your own code and direct it to the web page of your choice. All you have to do is choose a QR code generator, enter the destination URL, customize your QR code’s frame, shape, and color, and save the file. Once you have created your code, you can use it as you see fit to promote your business online and offline.
How To Use A QR Code For Your Business
A QR code can help you promote and grow your business in many ways. One doesn’t exclude the others. It’s all about understanding which approach is more suitable for your business. The best ways to use QR codes are:
Discount Coupons And Special Offers
What better way to use a QR code than to direct users who scan it to a landing page created specifically to present discount coupons or special offers reserved for them?
Contactless Payments
A QR code can also be used as a payment method, with some impressive benefits. Many banks allow their users to generate QR codes through their apps, which can be used to receive money from their contacts. And there are also enabled POS readers that can scan QR codes and receive payment via the customer’s smartphone.
Business Cards
Even if they have their charm, in an increasingly digital 2023 paper, business cards could soon disappear or remain confined to small niches. Alternatively, QR codes are a great way to leave your contact information with potential partners and customers. Link your code to a landing page or online resume, and anyone who scans it can access all your information instantly.
After-Sales Assistance
Your customer has purchased your ecommerce and has received his package, but once it opened, he has doubts or questions about how it works. At that point, he will have to search for your site, locate the section dedicated to customer support and contact the person in charge, hoping to receive a quick response. Instead, anticipate your customers’ needs by inserting a handy QR code inside your parcels that directs them to a video tutorial or information materials on their purchased products. You’ll keep your customer support manageable, and your customers will find their questions answered much more easily.
Reviews
It’s not just customer assistance that can be conveniently “inserted” inside your parcels thanks to a QR code. If you have an online (but also offline) business, you know how important your customers’ reviews and feedback are. And you know how challenging it is to capture their attention after the purchase to ask for a few minutes to leave a review. It becomes much less challenging, however, if you insert a QR code inside your packages that direct your customers directly to a page dedicated to reviews, whether internal or external to your website.
Multichannel Experiences
Multichannel selling is an extremely functional marketing strategy that allows you to connect, among other things, the offline world of your business with the online one, and QR codes can integrate perfectly into this type of experience. Imagine, for example, a customer who enters your physical store and sees a product that interests them, but unfortunately, the color or size they want has run out. At that point, he can opt for another product (difficult) or abandon your store (much more likely).
But what if he finds a QR code next to that product? At that point, he can scan it in a few seconds with his smartphone and immediately find himself on your ecommerce, where the size or color he was looking for is still available. Sure, he can always choose to leave your store, but there’s a good chance he’ll decide to complete his purchase directly on your online store. Furthermore, a QR code displayed in your shop window will allow passersby to access your online shop even during closing hours!
Phygital Advertising
Why puzzle over what to write on your new billboard when you can make it instantly eye-catching with phygital and pique the curiosity of passersby with a giant QR code? Anyone passing your billboard must only frame it with their smartphone to view the page you want to direct traffic to immediately. More effective than a classic advertisement, right? And it has an incredible added value: it allows you to calculate the ROI on that billboard, the information you may not otherwise have access to.
Storytelling
There will probably be many products in your physical store, each with its story, invoice, and characteristics. And it is often impossible to be able to tell every single detail to every interested customer. A QR code, though, can do just that. Imagine adding a QR code to every product in your store.
Customers who want to find out more about that product will only have to frame it with their smartphones to access a special page that will tell them, through text, photos, and videos, every step that brought that product into their hands. Storytelling is effective, success is guaranteed, and the conversion rate…well, seeing is believing!
Extra: A QR Code For E-Billing
The Revenue Agency has created a service that allows VAT number holders to generate a QR code to show to their suppliers via mobile devices or on paper to speed up the preparation and sending of electronic invoices via the Interchange. You can directly save or print your QR code by accessing the “Invoices and Fees” portal.
Also Read: What It Is And How To Choose A BMS For A Smart Building
