QR Codes: Making Print and Mail Interactive

If you had the privilege of attending the lunch session at Graph Expo 2010 entitled "Integrated Marketing: What's Next for In-plants," I'm willing to bet that you came away with enough content to prove one thing: the worlds of marketing and communications are changing fast. Channels such as social media and mobile marketing are becoming more important with each passing day.

If we primarily provide services such as print, mail and fulfillment, new marketing channels can be a scary thing. They will directly have an impact on our business. However, while volumes of traditional media may not go back to where they once were, there are opportunities for us to grow our business with these newer channels.

If we can commit to taking the approach of offering multi-channel marketing services to our organizations, we can offer value. We can help them save time and money by automating certain marketing efforts; we can provide better reporting by integrating channels into the solution; and we can help increase the success of their campaigns by using multiple channels to reach people.

Let's discuss one way that we can start to integrate traditional media with a new marketing channel: Quick Response (QR) Codes.

Today, in order to grow your business, it is important to understand and seek out ways to connect traditional print and mail with other popular channels, because your customers are looking at all channels of communication in an effort to reach their own customers. QR Codes are becoming popular because they can easily engage a customer with immediate response. Learning how you can implement the technology and then showcase your capabilities to current and prospective customers will only add to your marketing efforts.

Getting started
The best way to begin transitioning QR Codes into your in-plant's service offering and effectively market the new capability to your customers is to integrate the technology into your own printed materials. For example, Sir Speedy of Tampa printed its own direct mail promotion complete with the recipient's customized QR Code to engage interest. When customers received the mailer, they were encouraged to scan the code and, upon doing so, were taken to their own company's Web site.

Showcasing the QR Code technology and usability first-hand to customers has proved beneficial in garnering interest and, ultimately, more business. Showing customers the numerous ways QR Codes can be incorporated into current materials will spark ideas on how they can use QR Codes in their own initiatives.

Successful implementation

Once you make the decision to integrate QR Codes into your mix of services, there are a few best practices to keep in mind:

• Clearly understand barcode differentiation. Understanding the various size and deterioration limitations is critical to effectively using this technology. QR Codes may still be readable with up to 30 percent deterioration. This allows you to take a few liberties when it comes to the design, such as placing your logo in the middle or adding a wrapper around the code that fits with the overall creative theme of your printed material. While it may sound difficult, there is software on the market that makes it extremely easy to generate QR Codes independently or as an integrated part of the company's end-to-end personalized marketing solutions.

• Know how to educate without cluttering. It is important to remember that not every consumer is familiar with QR Codes. It may be necessary that a successful campaign educates the consumer directly on the printed material, while being careful not to clutter and take away from the printed piece's main message. To do this, you will want to provide specific instructions that make it clear that people can take a picture of the code with their phone to access additional information. You may even want to provide a Web site that allows them to download a QR Code reader. (Here's one: qreateandtrack.com)

Coupling with PURLs

One of the most important benefits QR Codes offer is the ability to tie together print, mobile and Web channels in an effort to increase the response rate and reach individuals through their preferred channel. PURLs are increasingly being used as part of mailing campaigns as they are also an effective way to increase the response rates of marketing efforts. Coupling QR Codes with PURLs can easily boost the effectiveness of your mailings for multiple reasons, including:

• Providing one-to-one communications. PURLs can be embedded right into QR Codes so when the recipient scans the code they are taken directly to their personalized landing page. Once a recipient is at the page, you have the opportunity to engage him or her and have a one-on-one dialogue. This will only enhance the value PURLs already bring to your mailings and are a logical extension to those that you may already be implementing. They can fill the gap that other cross-marketing tools cannot.

• Making it easy to respond. QR Codes make PURLs portable. They allow the recipient to access each individual PURL without the need to sit in front of a computer. Because people are on the go, and many carry their phones with them at all times, this portability is ideal in increasing the response rate. Additionally, QR Codes eliminate the need for the recipient to type a lengthy PURL into the Web browser. By pressing one button, the recipient is automatically directed to a personalized Web site. This eliminates the chance of typos and decreases the amount of effort required by the recipient to access the information.

Measuring the success

As with anything business-related, it is the outcome and success that is most important. Being able to measure the success of any marketing initiative is crucial. Not only will it be helpful to you in determining which of your customers are interested in the technology, but it provides quantitative data showcasing your success that you can share with your customers. Additionally, if your customers are going to take the leap and integrate QR Codes into their printed materials, they will definitely want to be able to measure the results, allowing your customers to better determine customer behavior.

There are multiple ways to measure the QR Codes included on your marketing materials, including:

• Monitoring scans of the code: Various software programs have been developed with the ability to record the amount of scans per day, what time those scans took place, the location of the scans and the types of devices being used to scan the code. Let's use as an example a health care provider sending out a mailing to members with allergies promoting a new over-the-counter drug. That mailing features a QR Code that directs the recipient to a Web site with additional information. Using these software programs, the health care provider would be able to gauge interest in the new drug by monitoring how many people scanned the code each day, and in which geographic regions.

• Gathering customer information in real-time. It is also possible to take QR Codes one step further and use them to capture contact information on each customer. With the right software, it's possible to direct users to a landing page, which will request their contact information before they are able to proceed. Upon completion, your customer will now have valuable knowledge previously unattainable at that point of engagement that will allow them to update mailing lists and address labels without the individual having to send in a change of address form.

QR Codes are one of the hottest applications in the marketing world today, and for good reason: the concept of building digital elements into mail and printed pieces is a win-win. The codes are easy to create, print and track, and cost little or nothing to add to your mailings.

As customers continue to seek communications through multiple channels, printers and mailers that recognize the growth of QR Codes and act upon it are better positioning themselves to provide the information their customers want, when they want it. IPG