QR codes have been around for ages, and their applications are still growing fast. They became a major marketing tool for businesses after Apple’s 2017 announcement that the iOS 11 update would let users scan a QR code straight from the phone’s camera.
Adding a QR code reader to the camera was a smart idea, and it changed how often people scan. The latest Android smartphones have made the QR code reader a native feature as well.
Applications of QR Codes
QR codes have many applications. The most popular are starting a customer service request, downloading apps, joining a network without typing a password, making online payments, and shopping online.
QR codes also improve the customer’s post-purchase experience, letting customers reorder a product or open details about it, which may include video tutorials.
Note: QR code coupons and QR code scanning on smartphones have grown steadily as more phones read codes natively.
Also Read: QR Code Technology Facts: 5 Myths Never Revealed Before
Here Are the Reasons QR Codes Are Still Trending
1. Information Holding Capacity
A QR code can hold thousands of characters of encoded data. QR codes store information for inventory tracking, sales registries, supply chain management, mobile marketing, and logistics.
An added perk of QR codes is that they can encode links, including links to images.
2. Error Correction
The biggest advantage of the QR code over the first-generation barcode is error correction, with levels that range from 7% to 30%. A QR code can restore its data even if the code is dirty or damaged.
3. Readability
QR codes hold more data than barcodes and still stay physically small. The data is encoded in both the vertical and horizontal arrangement of the pattern, which is what makes it 2D.
You can use the information whether or not you are connected to a database. A large enough QR code can be read from a few feet away, which gives users more flexibility.
4. Easy to Use
Some people believe QR codes are hard to scan, but that is a misconception. Just hold the phone straight and steady over the code. A good smartphone scans a QR code almost instantly.
5. Cost-Effective
QR codes are not at all expensive. Used well, they are very cost-effective, because they save money on maintenance and increase the efficiency of machines and equipment when used on assets, and of operations overall.
Also Read: How Can You Use QR Code Technology in Your Business?
6. Trending Technology
Around 2010, QR code technology was everywhere. But at that time most people did not have a smartphone, and phones did not come with a QR code scanner.
So QR codes faded for a while. A few years later, smartphones were everywhere and came with QR code scanners. Apple added a built-in QR code reader to its native camera, because QR codes had become too popular to ignore.
7. The Popularity of QR Codes
As mentioned above, smartphones and built-in QR code readers were once rare. Now QR code technology is everywhere.
The number of people in the US who scan QR codes on their phones has kept rising.
In Asia, many people make payments with QR codes, and payment apps such as Paytm and WeChat have hundreds of millions of users.
8. Highly Customizable
QR codes no longer have to be black and white. They can be more colorful, attractive, and eye-catching, customized with different colors, logos, and shapes to catch the customer’s attention.
Beyond looking good, QR codes can be dynamic. Dynamic QR codes have flexible destination URLs, which can be scheduled or changed by time, device, and location.
Note:
- QR code scanning is widespread in Southeast Asia and India.
- QR code payment systems have signed up customers at remarkable speed in several countries.
- Consumers redeem QR code coupons on their smartphones in large numbers.
- Consumers in the US and the UK noticed a rise in QR code use after COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders began in March 2020.
Also Read: 6 Beneficial Use-Cases of QR Code Technology Utilization
Various Other Use Cases of QR Code Technology
1. Asset Tracking
QR codes are the successors of barcodes and have gained popularity in recent years. There are several reasons QR codes are better: they are versatile, can be used for almost anything, and store information that a scan brings up. Many organizations now label their assets with QR codes and scan them with asset management software, which shows how well QR codes work for asset tracking. You can try one with a free QR code generator.
2. Experiential Shopping
Many businesses use QR code technology to offer discounts on their shopping websites. When customers scan the QR code, they get an extra discount on the product. The instructions should be clear-cut, so the customer doesn’t have to guess the next step.
When you purchase a product such as clothing, wine, a movie ticket, or a plane ticket, you may get a receipt in the form of a QR code. QR code technology provides data that helps in a marketing campaign.
3. Consumer Awareness
Many big brands are implementing creative QR codes to spread awareness of their products.
For example, museums often use QR codes to offer a multimedia experience for visitors. An exhibit can display only limited information, but through a QR code it can offer video, data, pictures, audio, or a combination of media.
A coffee chain can put a QR code in its stores that opens a mobile landing page with a video, the nearest store locations, more of its coffee products, the menu, and the customer’s card balance.
QR codes on bottles and cans give information such as whether artificial sweeteners are used, the number of calories in a drink, sustainability information, and carbon emissions. This is the kind of general information you can pull from a QR code with a scan.
4. QR Code Payments
QR codes are used for payments because they can be scanned from both paper and screens. This is why you see QR codes in online stores and apps. All you have to do is scan the merchant’s QR code and make the payment.
QR Codes Will Stay in Trend
QR codes are being used extensively everywhere. Their future depends on how widely different industries adopt them, and that adoption is expected to rise in the years ahead.
QR codes are used at the store level to display the latest deals and promotions, and at the product level to make products more interactive and interesting.
QR codes will stay in trend because in asset management they are used as asset tags that bring up accurate information about each asset, such as where it is and what its status is. QR codes play a crucial role in feeding data to the software, and asset management software can help analyze trends with that data. QR codes are effective, accurate, and simple to use.