QR codes. Are they effective? Perhaps (and no, I don’t really think this but let’s indulge for a quick second), because on one hand they are relatively inexpensive and they convey a progressive, tech savvy representation of any brand that uses them. People want to interact with the brands that interest them and many people want to do so utilizing newer technologies. Satisfying customers, potential customers and brand enthusiasts in this manner is very appealing for clients.
But of course there is the dreaded downside of things and I will take a little more than a quick second on this one. The best type of user experience is a frictionless experience and QR codes aren’t as tick-tack-toe as clients may at first think or want them to be. Creating a QR code for a campaign relies on two assumptions. The first is that the users have a compatible QR code reader or that they will take the time to download one. And the second is that the users will actually spend their personal cherished and oh-so valuable time scanning the code. Big assumptions.
Plus, what’s being offered or enticed, here? A QR code doesn’t communicate what you are about to experience and there are security issues that haven’t been realized. These codes aren’t humanly readable which means users will not know whether or not the place they are digitally being led to is safe. And don’t get any bright ideas here, but anyone with a little know-how can alter the code taking users to an unwanted place that could do potential viral harm to their brand new, just out of the box phone. Oh and one more thing – there is nothing memorable about a QR code.
So what’s the answer? In my humble opinion – shortened URLs or little earls as I like to call them. Little earls are much more likely to communicate your objectives in a simple, effective and memorable way. Little earls don’t require users to download apps to decode their meaning. People can read little earls with their own little-earl-reading eyes. And the user can receive at least a sense of where the little earl is taking them as well as what they are about to experience. For these little reasons, little earls are much more memorable.
