A recent study conducted by mobile marketing and technology company Nellymoser Inc. shows that QR codes (and other action codes) are being rapidly adopted by marketers. Even more compelling is the fact that marketers are finding new and compelling uses for them.
The study examined all of the 2011 issues of the top 100 magazines in the U.S., and found that advertising was the primary driving factor for the use of QR codes. The ratio of QR codes used for advertising—as opposed to editorial—purposes was 7:1. Over the course of the year, that ratio jumped up to around 25:1, an increase of 439 percent.
“In the beginning of the year, it was really very much an experiment,” explains Nellymoser executive vice president Roger Matus. “It seemed like somebody in the company had said, ‘Hey, we oughtta do mobile, and I heard about this thing. Let’s stick it on there.’”
Nellymoser’s researchers scanned every iPhone and Android action code they came across in the magazines, including QR codes, Microsoft Tags, BEE Tags, JagTags, Spyderlink SnapTags, and Digimarc watermarks. They found that in the first quarter, QR codes made up 61 percent of the total. By the fourth quarter, that amount had grown to 72 percent. The only other code in the running, the Microsoft Tags, dropped from 39 percent in the first quarter to 25 percent in the fourth. As for the rest of the codes, they each accounted for about 1 percent of the share during the last quarter.
As for the evolution of use, the study showed that by the fourth quarter, 70 percent of the codes were accompanied by descriptive text that explained what would happen after the scan (which has come to be considered a best practice in the industry). On the other hand, embellishments of the codes (such as icons demonstrating how to scan them) dropped off as the QR codes and other tags became more ubiquitous.
Another change in the QR code marketing strategy, according to Matus, was the drop in SMS alternatives to scanning. “At the beginning of the year, people were worried there weren’t enough smartphones, so they would have also a texting option,” he explains. “Now only 3 percent have that.”
The study showed that, in terms of marketing, QR codes are used for four primary purposes:
- Branding and demonstrations
- Capturing data and building lists
- Commerce (including online, coupons, and store locators)
- Sharing on social media
One sure sign of the emerging importance of mobile media is the fact that, by the end of 2011, very few of these codes actually led to desktop websites.
According to Matus, QR codes are vital to mobile marketing because they give users the option to act immediately, when they’re interested. “Typing a URL on your phone is a pain but remembering to go do it at your PC later on isn’t likely to happen. Mobile delivers instantly on the call to action.”
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