Why You Should Have A QR Code
By the end of 2013 more than 50% of all net traffic will originate from smart phones! The way this will happen is primarily through QR codes, as they immediately take the user to a mobile website.
The QR code is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode that was first designed for use in the automotive industry. Believe it or not, this technology is now revolutionizing mobile marketing. Now you’re probably thinking that QR codes, are complicated, high-tech tools that only the most sophisticated businesses can make use of.
If you’re thinking I’ll leave this for the big guys, then you are missing out on a huge opportunity.
Use the QR code to drive traffic to your own little space on the web: Your Website.
The Purpose Of A QR Code Is Simple:
Effectively, they’re a shortcut for doing what users could have done the hard way – load up a browser and type in your website URL.
A fundamental mistake often made,
—> is that the website they are directed to, is NOT a mobile website, designed specifically to meet the limitations of mobile screen sizes and navigational control.
Most people who are affluent with scanning QR Codes will expect to see a mobile site. A dedicated mobile website, designed specifically to meet the limitations of mobile screen sizes and navigational control which will relieve the visitor of endless scrolling and constant eye strain.
If the end users final destination is a site that has not been optimized for mobile phones and prospects must scroll sideways, up, down, to read the content the chances are this visitor may not come back to visit your site again and you have just lost a potential future client.
Get it right and you’ve got an effective mobile marketing tool,
Get it wrong and you’ve frustrated and lost potential customers.
With the technology of mobile devices constantly expanding, especially within mobile internet, QR-Codes are the perfect solution to quickly and efficiently bring smartphone users onto your mobile website.
Provide Value, make it worth your customer’s time to scan the code. Reward them for their efforts! Don’t just place a small QR code on the corner of your poster or flyer and expect engagement. Instead, build your advertisement around the QR code and emphasize the reward for scanning the code!
You can win new customers by allowing passers-by to scan a QR code displayed in your window or handouts and other printed materials. Help the consumer to remember your company for future reference and grow your marketable database with qualified leads.
Understandable so, most small businesses do not know where to begin to make mobile data capture an integral part of their strategic marketing plan. Not to worry…… ICANetwork is a technology service company, let us take care of the technology while you take care of running your business.
Why Does ICANetwork Give 2 QR Codes With the Custom Phone App:
One code takes the prospective customer to your mini mobile website; the second code takes you to a text page where the customer must manually confirm “yes” to receive your text messages. ICANetwork takes spamming seriously, the customer must confirm that they wish to receive your updates. This procedure is in compliance with federal spamming regulations.
QR CODE HISTORY AND FACTS:
This technology was created by a Toyota subsidiary DENSO WAVE in 1994 to track vehicles during the manufacturing process. This ‘barcode’ was designed to allow its contents to be decoded with supreme accuracy at high speeds, hence deriving the term Quick Response. The QR Code is a information matrix that carries information that can be read in the vertical and horizontal direction.
After a while, other business began to realize the potential of using the QR-Code in their own industry. The most commercial use for QR-Codes is in the telecommunications industry where the mobile phone seems to be the biggest driver of their popularity.
QR-Codes have become more popular than the typical barcode as the typical barcode can only hold a maximum of 20 digits, whereas the QR-Code can hold up to 7,089 characters. This makes the use and diversity of QR-Codes much more appealing.
QR-Codes are capable of encoding the same amount of data in approximately one-tenth the space of a traditional barcode. QR-Codes are capable of handling of sorts of data, including numbers, alphabetic characters, Kanji, Kana, Hiragana, symbols, binary and control codes.
A great feature of QR-Codes is that you do not need to scan them from one particular angle. QR-Codes are capable of omnidirectional (360 degree’s) high-speed reading. QR-Codes scanners are capable of determining the correct way to decode the content within the QR-Code due to the three specific squares that are positioned in the corners of the symbol.
Many Android, Nokia, Blackberry handsets, and the Nintendo 3DS, come with QR code readers installed. QR reader software is available for most mobile platforms. The QR-Code effectively bridges the mobile phone users onto the mobile web.
World wide usage of the QR code usage is expanding rapidly. In the USA, for the month of June 2011, according to one study, 14 million mobile users scanned a QR code or a barcode. Some 58% of those users scanned a QR or bar code from their home, while 39% scanned from retail stores; 53% of the 14 million users were men between the ages of 18 and 34. Interestingly, 52% of the QR codes scans last year were to acquire “additional information”.
References:
Mobile barcodes