I think QR codes were innovative at first glance, but now… they’re just an eyesore.
Flipping through a magazine, you see these really fantastic print ads, and then to the far left or right, there’s this:
Well, apparently I’m not the only one…
bieMEDIA, an online marketing and media solutions company, is predicting the end of the QR Code.
With all those QR scanner apps out there, you’d think that consumers MUST love ’em, right?
57% of consumers who have scanned a QR code say they did nothing with the information, compared to 21% who shared the information with someone and 18% who made a purchase, according to a survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB).
In fact, of those who have scanned a QR code, just 41% said that they found the information they received useful, while 42% had mixed feelings and 18% said the information was not useful. (The End of the QR Code is Near – MarketingVOX, January 24th)
Enter Pongr.
When brands ask consumers to snap a product photo and text or email it in, Pongr recognizes the image and replies. (Forget QR Codes: Pongr Easily Turns Your Photos Into Brand Rewards – Fast Company, January 9th)
So how does Pongr work for its clients? Here’s an example:
1. Fan photographs self with Michael Jackson’s Immortal, sends it to mj@pongr.com.
2. Pongr’s image-recognition software identifies album in photo.
3. Fan is entered in contest to see premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson show.
The call-to-action by the brand is so much greater here. With QR codes, you’re hoping that the link embedded within will be enough of a pull to bring in a new consumer. Using a mobile visual search
…provides consumers with faster, more convenient and compelling, interactive marketing experiences. (bieMEDIA Predicts the End of the QR Code – MarketWatch – January 24th)
As Jamie Thompson, President of Pongr explains it (in the Fast Company article):
Some brands are stuck in the mindset of this old-fashioned data-sampling model, where they think their customer might be the guy on the panel, because some data company has painstakingly and very expensively created a panel for them. Yet the reality is, there’s 100 million other people out there that they don’t know, that they’re not looking at, and they’re not slicing into that correctly.
So get the user to share real information with you, so that you know who they are.
That about sums it up.
(Note: I have no connection to Pongr. I just think that the company is super innovative, and it provides support to my anti-QR code claim).
Filed under: Business, Marketing, Social Media, Tech, app, bieMedia, call-to-action, eyesore, innovation, interactive marketing, mobile visual search, Pongr, QR code, QR scanner
Maya Reports 