Posts Tagged "QR Codes"

Several different articles came across my screen today, all relating to mobile couponing but from unique perspectives.  What’s interesting is that mobile couponing has yet to really “take off,” yet retailers may already be looking past couponing to higher value mobile applications.

This article today on eMarketer.com cites research into mobile coupon redemption (chart pictured in this post) suggesting real “hockey stick” growth after 2011.  The article also mentions consumers tend to be less interested in couponing than in using their mobile devices for product research “on the go” – such as “scanning images or bar codes with their mobile phone to get more information or coupons for a product.”

That quote is interesting in light of another article, this one about Google again making a move into QR, or Quick Response codes.  QR codes are two dimensional bar codes that when scanned with the camera function of a Smartphone present a variety of information about the code – the company or store it represents, links to a website or any number of details helpful to a consumer, including special offers or coupons.  Google’s strategy is to place 100,000 QR code stickers in businesses across the U.S., all of which do not require specialized software – a limiting factor in prior trials of QR codes which often required proprietary reader software.

Google’s efforts are well aligned with trends suggesting consumers are more interested in product research than coupons – even if QR codes can serve both purposes.  Widespread QR adoption may be just what retailers are seeking, based on this article today from Retailwire.com.  Although coupons are a logical mobile application, this viewpoint reveals the “necessary evil” aspect to couponing:

“The downside of mobile coupons is the back-end cost of redemption, which makes a successful promotion increasingly expensive.  Coupons are also the most basic of triggers for shopper engagement, with little long-term loyalty benefit.”

The article poses the question, “what’s next?” and goes on to suggest retailers build mobile strategies geared around an enhanced shopping experience, in and outside the store.  It’s apparent that retailers will benefit most from strategies geared around creating positive mobile customer experiences for their customers.

Widespread QR codes are just one element that will help connect consumers with retailers in value added ways – including couponing – but the greatest value will stem from targeting customers at the point of device to drive sales, cultivate loyalty or increase brand affinity – otherwise called Active Customer Engagement.

If you were not careful in reading an article titled “Welch’s, Uncle Ben’s, Johnsonville activate print ads with mobile bar codes” on MobileMarketer.com today, you might think a breakthrough consumer engagement solution with widespread applicability was being unleashed upon marketers.  That was my initial response, given recent experience with an actual bar code iPhone application and its inability to function at the point of sale.

The article describes a technology called SnapTag which is a unique coded circle intended for placement around a company’s logo, then printed in magazine advertisements and presumably posters as well.  This coded circle corresponds to a pre-defined mobile interaction which is instantiated when a consumer takes a photograph of the logo with their device then sends it via MMS or email to a number or address posted alongside the logo.  Read the story quickly and you envision a ubiquitous bar code-like technology which does not require special software on the mobile device, as is the case with Quick Response 2D bar codes.

Step back a moment though, look more closely and in fact what SnapTags actually do is make a mobile interaction more complicated than it needs to be.  The encoded circle serves the same function as an SMS keyword.  In the case of SnapTag, a photo must be sent via MMS to some phone number or mobile email address.  In the case of a traditional text message communication, a consumer instead texts a keyword to some shortcode number.  In both cases, the action causes a response to be sent back to the consumer, potentially driving a visit to the mobile web or triggering an email.

Where I can see SnapTags being useful is in connecting a brand to mobile by virtue of combining the two in a single image a consumer must capture with their camera in order to engage in the interaction.  However, given the greater ubiquity of SMS text and the added steps involved for the consumer with SnapTags, I think the same is possible simply by placing a keyword and shortcode alongside a logo.  Real bar codes encapsulate data which is interpreted on a device and potentially contains information, pointers to mobile web or text communications — all independent of the transmission of data over the network.