Editor's note: Edmund M. Jessup is an academic librarian at the New York Institute of Technology's Manhattan campus. He can be reached at edjessup@gmail.com. This article appeared in the November 11, 2013, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.
We see them everywhere - those little pixelated boxes. The marketing and advertising world has a love affair with QR codes and why wouldn't they? QR codes offer a way for advertisers to take readers from one medium (in-person) to another (digital). For magazines, the codes provide a way to track eyeballs on ads and prove the value of advertising. QR codes are also cheap in comparison to developing a proprietary app. Unfortunately, these little boxes are better in theory than in practice, as the actual method in which marketers use QR codes could very well be their downfall.
The QR phenomenon is arguably quite trendy, making marketers feel that if they don't participate, they'll be left behind. But consumers haven't caught on to the trend in the same way. The dismal reception of QR codes by consumers may be due to a variety of circumstances, including consumers not knowing how to scan them; marketers placing them indiscriminately; little uniformity regarding the scanning apps available; and the dearth of useful and pertinent information once at the landing page. Additionally, the increased prevalence of introducing a virus or malware to a device as a result of scanning a QR code could be a growing factor in why some may choose not to scan.
It's one thing to put a QR code on an ad, poster or direct mail piece but it's another to understand the dynamics behind consumer scanning behavior. But that raises yet another issue. With all the companies that create data surrounding the scanning of these codes, there's no consensus on what motivates a consumer to take action. So what's a marketer supposed to do?
Remember the consumer. Consumer behavior is one of the found...