QR Codes, or quick response codes are a type of 2D bar code used by smart phones to scan and pull up a coded web address. In recent months, perhaps QR codes have gone too far… Let’s crack the QR code.
QC code awareness still hovers around the 52% mark and adoption is slow and skewed toward Apple’s iOS environment. Digital analyst, comScore, reports a measly 6 percent of mobile subscribers currently use QR code technology. That 6 percent tends to be male, white and wealthy.
“That’s partly why there hasn’t been a massive uptake, although that’s changing as the smartphone market starts to expand,” says Oliver Williams, founder of Oliver Digital in an interview with NPR.
Cracking the Code on the Right & Wrong Way to Use QR Codes
I love that this technology is being leveraged by big Brands like Starbucks and Audi to offer customers new and faster ways to interact with their brands. I also love that it’s not only being used by the big guys, but also by small brands like that little coffee shop on the corner. I must admit, even JDM hopped on the bandwagon when we installed a QR codes app on our Shameless News blog sidebar a few months ago.
For example, despite numerous erroneous attempts, QR codes don’t work well on anything that’s not a flat, stable surface relatively close to where the scanner is standing. So T-shirts with QR codes don’t work well and QR codes on moving cars are also not the best idea.
So let’s put this new toy back where it belongs–as a tool for bridging the gap between print/offline and mobile/online. Please don’t try putting QR codes on jet planes, billboards or tattooing them on yourself! That’s just QR too far (#QR2Far).