Marketing QR Codes to Young People? Think again.

12 years ago

I really appreciate this article, in the area I am currently pursuing--so called "offline CPA" QR codes seem to be the rage now, but I had my doubts...this article helps confirm those...thanks!

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MarkR 12 years ago

Tommie,

You're welcome. I had my doubts too.

I think 1) if the smartphones had the app pre-loaded, and 2) you had a clue where the blind "link" was taking you, it could catch on. But I think it's a problematic/slow process for most time-sensitive/immediate gratification folks to adopt willingly.
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Andy Money

12 years ago

QR codes seem really gimmicky and redundant IMO. As a relatively young person myself I've never seen them implemented in a way that gives me any real incentive to adopt them.

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MarkR 12 years ago

Andrew, you seem to be representative of the students in this study! LOL (love your YouTube stuff BTW)!

I'd love to hear a story of how someone actually used these profitably.

Once you ferret out the people that don't know what the image is used for, or don't own a smart phone, or that don't have the app loaded, or that don't know how to use the app, or are reticent to click on a mystery image to who knows where, I'm not sure you're left with a sizable number of people to market to.
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- fluffythewondercat 12 years ago
  
  I'd love to hear a story of how someone actually used these profitably.
  
  You mean, other than the Russian hackers who plastered QR codes all over the place that, when scanned, installed malware on the user's phone and had it send $6 text messages?
  
  My guess is that we'd be seeing a lot more criminal activity with QR codes except for the fact that the general population is slow to warm up to them.
  
  fLufF
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tpw

12 years ago

This is silly. People are not thinking about the real potential of QR Codes, and therefore, they consistently overlook its true potential.

We don't want them for consumers to scan. We want them for merchants to scan...

We want them to be presented to consumers in print form, so that consumers can bring them to the shop and redeem them as custom-coupons given only to specific consumers.

Imagine if you can QR Codes that have the consumer identifier in the coupon code, so that you can track which consumers are taking action on specific coupons...

That is gold in the hands of the smart marketer.

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fluffythewondercat 12 years ago

Bill, do you do much marketing of physical products?

We merchants already have the capability to issue individual coupon codes keyed to specific customers and track them.

We don't need QR codes for that. In fact, a QR code would be an inferior product for this purpose because a customer can't read it.

fLufF
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jeskola

12 years ago

Originally Posted by tpw

This is silly. People are not thinking about the real potential of QR Codes, and therefore, they consistently overlook its true potential.

We don't want them for consumers to scan. We want them for merchants to scan...

We want them to be presented to consumers in print form, so that consumers can bring them to the shop and redeem them as custom-coupons given only to specific consumers.

Imagine if you can QR Codes that have the consumer identifier in the coupon code, so that you can track which consumers are taking action on specific coupons...

That is gold in the hands of the smart marketer.

Yep. That was their original purpose - for stock checking.

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Istvan Horvath

12 years ago

Watch this for a smart application of QR codes

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

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MarkR 12 years ago

fLufF - "the general population is slow to warm up to them" - well said, although that's an understatement! LOL I should have said "profitably and ethically.

Bill - your concept is sound, but I still believe the wonky QR code pocess is flawed.

Istvan - I can always count on you to enlighten us! You rock man.

What scares me about that video is the use of "grew 130%", "improved XX%" etc. 130% of a tiny number doesn't impress me. Give me real numbers. And being "number 1 online" when you may not have any substantial online competitors doesn't impress me. How many people do you know that would buy food sight unseen? You can make the numbers say anything you want. I hope people don't buy into those claims.

Good stuff.
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Pmac721

12 years ago

Interesting article..thanks for the share. One thing this report has verified for me is the negative impact that has been created from linking QR Codes to non-mobilized content. The number of times I have scanned a code and been taken to a non-mobile site has been disappointing.

Heck even the QR code used in the article takes you to the same page and it's not a mobile version! Enough already.....

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tpw

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Pmac721

Interesting article..thanks for the share. One thing this report has verified for me is the negative impact that has been created from linking QR Codes to non-mobilized content. The number of times I have scanned a code and been taken to a non-mobile site has been disappointing.

Heck even the QR code used in the article takes you to the same page and it's not a mobile version! Enough already.....

That is the problem with creating a technology that is so simple to use, even a moron could use it. :p

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Pmac721

12 years ago

I wonder what the response would be if people this age group cared about (respect & trust) started to use QR codes to promote themselves. Like if local bands promoted show previews or exclusive mp3 downloads or discounts on goods and services from their favorite hangouts.

Can a "cool factor" be generated based on the person delivering the QR Code? Would that be enough to overcome the cumbersome flow of the technology and spur interest?

The majority of young people today are no different than they've ever been, no one wants to be on the outside of what's popular....how do you create that with QR Codes? Can it be created?

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kevinflatt

12 years ago

Take a look at this thread - one person saved $30 on headphones while another saved "150 quid on a TV". Also read the last post about restaurant owners.

A bit of interesting stuff there.

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...e-inquiry.html

Kevin

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MoneyMagnetMagnate

12 years ago

Originally Posted by kevinflatt

Take a look at this thread - one person saved $30 on headphones while another saved "150 quid on a TV". Also read the last post about restaurant owners.

A bit of interesting stuff there.

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...e-inquiry.html

Kevin

Thanks for that link Kevin...interesting and effective rebuttal -

I'm still confused why a kid would rather text an inquiry to get the same result as snapping a QR code to get to the same thing...every kid I survey says they would rather text than talk - ???

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Mike Anderson

Banned 12 years ago

Yeah I only see QR codes as something you could sell to big companies as something that can be seen as the way of the future, so they'll throw money at you. I've never used one.

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CherryPicked

12 years ago

Wow. My nearly senior aged mother can scan a QR code, but college kids can't? What? This is bewildering to me.

Did anyone notice how small the sample size of the survey was? Sure, they did it at a bunch of colleges, but they were by no means evenly spread though out the country nor were there many people questioned at each campus.

I scanned one just today on some Christmas lights. Took me to a youtube video of a house beautifully done in that company's lights. For the record, yes, I bought them.

Graphic designers are putting them on their business cards taking the person to their portfolio. There are all sorts of really neat things you can do with them. Maybe someone should start focusing on the really neat rather than 'hey, have an ad'.

One thing I haven't seen that I would love them to do is to take me to customer reviews. That would be awesome. Right now I scan a product's barcode and head straight to Amazon.

The way I see it, in or out, up or down, just because 'everyone' says they suck doesn't mean you can't make it effective. Do something interesting. Do something creative.

Heck, they're free. Not much to waste after all.

Over all, I'm extremely disappointed that I'm supposed to be taking my trend cues from people who can't figure out a simple action on their phone or get bored after a few moments. It was likely due to the fact that taking a survey is a bit of a hassle. I imagine this would be different if it weren't just to sate someones curiosity and had an incentive or were related to something that they cared about personally.