Friday, October 14, 2011

Customer Engagement | QR Codes Drive Customer Engagement

Many marketers are experimenting with QR codes, making the codes part of their existing marketing strategies. Just pick up a magazine and chances are you'll see numerous ads that include QR codes. Several pioneering brands, however, are diving in deep enough to determine how best to use QR codes to engage with mobile customers.

A trip down the cereal aisle will highlight one of these early-adopter brands. Post Foods partnered with Jesta Digital to create and deliver an original mobile-content series called "Honey and Joy," a comedy about two Post employees who work in a Honey Bunches of Oats factory. The series is available on Bitbop, an on-demand mobile TV service. Beginning this past April more than 12 million Honey Bunches of Oats cereal boxes offered consumers free trials of the Bitbop service by scanning the QR code on the back of the box. Consumers can view episodes of "Honey and Joy" online at www.bitbop.com as well as via the mobile application m.bitbop.com.

According to Insight Express, 82 percent of consumers are already using mobile phones during their shopping trips. Consequently, it's important for marketers to understand how to incorporate QR codes into the in-store shopping experience. Shoppers want more information about the products they buy. Linking to online content to deliver this information is the core of what QR Codes are all about.

A great example of this is Best Buy. Last year the retailer added QR codes to the fact tags in all of its U.S. retail stores. Customers can use the QR reader on their smartphones to get detailed information about the products they're considering. They can read consumer reviews, compare similar products, and email details to a friend who might be giving advice.

Home Depot also just launched a new QR code initiative in more than 2,200 of its U.S. stores. The campaign uses QR codes to give consumers mobile access to product ratings, reviews, how-to guides, product-specific videos, and the online store. In addition to print advertising, Home Depot will include the codes in its direct mail, on store shelves, on in-store signage, and other marketing pieces. Home Depot also can track which media is providing the most traffic or sales, and then adjust messaging or content as needed based on that data.

Customer Engagement | QR Codes Drive Customer Engagement

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