You’ve probably seen QR codes – the square scanning codes showing up more and more, in ads and elsewhere. You can scan them with your smart phone and click through directly to a web page.
Even the Post Office has gotten in on the act. They are currently running a Special, 3% off postage on mailings that include QR codes. I’m not making that up. The Post Office!
So maybe it it is time to pay attention. We’ve found two important ways to use them:
1. You can use them in any and all advertising (including window signage), with a click through to your website. This works best if it clicks through to a discount offer. But regardless, a recent study has found that you need to put a caption on the code. Tell people what it is – “scan for a discount” “scan to visit our website”.
2. With reviews more important than ever, you can put a QR code for your Google Place page on handouts or mailings to your customers, to encourage and make it easier for them to do reviews and ratings. You can even put it on a page on your website.
This is something that is not going away, it is only going to keep getting more popular.