Are QR codes the way of the future for promotional management?

The practicality and benefits of QR codes have finally been accepted.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced work colleagues apart and employees to work from home, consumers were also separated from engagement opportunities with many businesses. As always, technology stepped up - this time to facilitate communications and commerce when people could no longer be face-to-face.

Although QR codes have been around for a while, in the past they weren’t popular with consumers as it was cumbersome to download an application to read them on smartphones. In our experience the average consumer would not bother to save the QR reader app ‘for next time’ when they could just type the URL. People weren’t in the headspace to adapt to QR code technology.

QR code technology had to adapt to people instead.

Now, with every smartphone camera being able to scan and read QR codes, they have been thrust into the limelight by the pandemic as being the fastest and most direct method to direct the public to information.

This includes directing customers to promotional websites.

Consumers can walk past a sign, product, screen, anything that shows a legible QR code and be almost immediately taken to the information that you want them to see with just a swipe or a button press.

Rather than using intrusive SMS messages, or time-consuming paper entry forms, tradesmen can now walk out of a store with a QR code on their receipt or printed on the product they purchased and enter a competition with ease through the linked microsite.

This is much less cumbersome and much more contact-less (COVID safe) and is now the most user-friendly way to engage with your targeted market.

The Million Dollar Vax campaign is proof of this. It has had the highest QR code entry rate of any Australian promotional campaign, with more than 2 million Australians entering the competition.*

Marketers can use QR codes to link consumers to information about products and services, promotional offers, and interactive media. The applications are limitless.

3 Key QR code advantages for Sales Promotion:

Consumer convenience - interaction is easy now that QR codes are read via smartphone cameras.
Versatility - QR codes can link consumers to digital information and stimulate interaction via any marketing channel.
Traceability of the consumer journey and a measurable R.O.I.

SAM have used QR codes for promotional applications since their inception. Now that the majority of consumers can scan codes from their mobile phone cameras, we can assist marketers to capitalise on opportunities.

Setting up a Sales Promotion campaign needn’t be difficult or expensive if you partner with a dedicated Sales Promotion company like SAM.

SAM can:

Consult and develop a campaign format that will cut through to your target market.
Create high impact campaign theming and design / produce promotional collateral.
Draft Conditions of Entry and apply for the relevant Trade Promotion Permits.
Develop a campaign Microsite tailored to your promotion.
Set up an interactive digital game.
Build a database to capture campaign data and provide back end client access for live analytics.
Perform prize draws using approved software (with an independent scrutineer if required).
Set up on going database communication programs for ‘opt in’ participants (email / social).

*Source: Russel Howcroft, 3AW radio. November 4, 2021

If you’re planning a promotion feel free to contact Peter McKinnon for a complimentary consultation: (03) 9646 5644 | peter@samsales.com.au

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