The Fascination with QR Codes

If you are like many people, especially those that do not have smartphones, you, too, are probably wondering what those strange-looking new barcodes are. You may wonder what they are for and how you can get in on what they can provide. Well, these "barcodes" contain a lot of information that, when scanned, can give potential customers so much information that it can change a possible client into a buying customer.

These barcodes have their own name. They are known in the marketing world as QR codes. They are actually two dimensional barcodes that are much the same as the barcodes that are used to scan a product when you are making a retail purchase. However, they contain much more information. Each quick response, hence the name QR, code has many tiny shapes that are read by your smartphone horizontally or vertically. These codes are so advanced that, when scanned, there are many different actions they can perform, such as sending you to a website, opening up a video, or sending your phone a text message. All of these actions are done in the hopes that the information provided will lead the consumer to making a purchase. Because the world loves to have instant information, QR codes are the answer to this desire. This is one of the best known ways to capture the attention of your would-be customers through the use of their cell phones.

Because of the newness of QR codes, not many people understand or know what they are used for just yet. This is all set to change, as more and more consumers switch to smartphones and more and more companies realize the importance of reaching their customers in this way. People like having information at their fingertips, so what better way to reach them than to send information to what they already have in their possession…their smartphone?

As stated, people love receiving information, especially when it is just what they were looking for. People nowadays turn to the internet to check out reviews or product descriptions without ever stepping foot in a particular store. And like human nature, the more information individuals receive, the more they want to procure. Studies have shown that the introduction of smartphones has helped to improve overall customer experiences. Other studies have shown that people use their smartphones for everything, such as finding out information on the ingredients in their favorite foods, to nutrition information, and even the origin of the food that they are consuming. In this study, it showed that more than thirty percent of the people in the study wanted this information sent to their cell phone.

Considering QR codes, they are really not a new technology. They were introduced in Japan around 1994 and were present on nearly everything, including beer bottles and bussing systems. Even though they are only recently hitting the shores of the United States, and they require a smartphone in order to operate, the addition these are making to the world of marketing is astounding, and it is only predicted to grow as the number of consumers owning smartphones grows, as well.