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Have you seen a QR code lately? I’ve seen them all over. I scan them all to see how they’re being used. I’m fascinated and curious. I do wonder if non-marketing people know what they are. Think they are new? Think again. QR codes have been used for over a decade in Japan. Toyota developed them as a new way to ID their cars. What is a QR Code? QR stands for Quick Response. It’s a barcode that links to multiple kinds of online data. To access these QR codes, you need a smartphone with a QR code reader application. Once you’ve downloaded the reader, you scan the code using your phone camera. The code directs you to a website URL. Businesses use these to provide coupons, offer information, have contests, etc. The key to the QR process, of course, is the phone. Do all of your customers have smartphones? Probably not, but they will in the future. I haven’t seen too many codes that are used properly. To be powerful, they must provide valuable information. Here’s the problem ... Often, they direct you to a company homepage or literature not necessarily related to the product you want to buy. You would never put a link on an advertisement that takes you to a website homepage instead of a dedicated page for that product, right? Sadly, I see this in our industry ALL the time. It’s the kiss of death. If a company doesn’t take the time to make a dedicated page for each item, are they really trying to give customers the information they seek? It’ll only get worse as Gen Y and Millennials become our customers. They want info, specific info, and they want it NOW. They’ll go somewhere else if they don’t get what they need. You MUST have a dedicated webpage or video for each product that contains a QR code. Otherwise, you are wasting their time. That means you need lots of content and lots of web pages. You need one page for each item. Surprised? How many times have you gone online to research a product and found a sad, one-sentence description? One sentence? Come on peeps, you know the products; let’s hear you wax poetically about each and every one. Please be specific QR codes on plant tags should lead to specific information, but usually a petunia tag code goes to a page for “Annuals,” not a specific page for petunias. Customers often don’t know petunias are annuals. You only have one chance – there’s no mulligan. If you don’t make it useful to them the first time, they’ll never try again. To make a QR code useful, you must take the time to write about each product. At Plants Nouveau, we will use these on our plant fact sheets and labels. It will direct the user to an entire page of content on our website about each product. QR Codes can be printed on almost anything. I even saw one as a tattoo on a guy’s arm. Where do you think that link goes? A Facebook page? Or even scarier, his Match.com page? It should go to a link with information about him – otherwise – what’s the use, right? Can QR codes help you get more customers? Probably not, but if done right, they‘ll educate the customers you have and help to keep them long-term. Future shoppers won’t ask questions; they’ll expect direct access to answers. Angela Treadwell-Palmer owns Plants Nouveau, a company on the cutting edge of plant introductions. Learn more about the company and sign up for Treadwell-Palmer’s edgy “Weeding Gnome” e-newsletter at www.plantsnouveau.com. |
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