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Dear Marketers: Enough with the QR codes

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Re: Dear Marketers: Enough with the QR codes

#61

Post by aaronjg »

The problem is that 'me not wanting to ever see your ad again' is NOT quantifiable. Marketers can see the positive impact of QR codes but not the negative.

Thus by their metrics the more prominent the QR code, the more people who swipe it and the 'better' the ad performs. But it's very expensive to quantify the negative impact of the QR code. Advertisers would need to run focus groups, ask people if they saw the ad, what they remembered about it, what their impression was, etc.

So we find ourselves seeing more, bigger QR codes, even though people don't really seem to care for them.

Re: Dear Marketers: Enough with the QR codes

#62

Post by taligent »

rprospero wrote: post #58
ColinWright wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running a timer on my desktop, I've just timed pulling my phone from my pocket and scanned a bar code, one handed. Including getting the phone out it took 19 seconds, without any possibility of getting it wrong. And yes, the glasses thing is a pain, one of the disadvantages of getting old. 8-(

19 seconds? I may have to give QR codes another shot.

So you saved 9 seconds.

Think about how much time it takes to find the app, download the app, learn the app, remember the app and use the app. My guess is 100x longer than all of the times you will ever use QR codes put together.

That right there is your problem.

Re: Dear Marketers: Enough with the QR codes

#64

Post by icebraining »

b_emery wrote: post #53

I predict that a few years from now we will not be seeing QR codes. I dislike them because they are ugly and their abuse seems to be widespread and growing, but I can see many reasons, some of which are posted here, why they would be useful. But why does it have to be an ugly code? Getting the data (link?) into the phone is the general problem. Seems like image search is getting to the point where you can scan in a l…

Seems like image search is getting to the point where you can scan in a logo, or take a photo of it, and plug that into a search to get to the product/web site etc.

1) The recognition is less reliable

2) It depends on another service which might be unavailable, slow, not have the logo in its database or have it associated with a different URL.

3) It's limited to products that have their own logos, which are a small minority.

4) It can't support different URLs for the same service or product, losing context.

5) As ugly as they are, QRCodes are identifiable as a link, logos aren't.

How about OCR on the URL?

OCR in real world conditions, using camera phones (not everyone has a 4S or similar) at widely different angles and distances and on the outdoors doesn't work that well. There's a reason why QR Codes where invented, and it was not just to offend people's aesthetic senses.

They have those big squares to detect the distortion, extra bits using Reed-Solomon for error-correction, they're much more compact and immediately identifiable.

Re: Dear Marketers: Enough with the QR codes

#65

Post by dllthomas »

urbanjunkie wrote: post #50
s_henry_paulson wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then consider me loathing the future in advance. To me, people talking out loud to their phones in public is akin to bluetooth headsets. The technology might provide an easier way to let you do something, but you look like an idiot.

If the price I have to pay is that people like you think I'm an idiot, I'm sure I'll manage. I am curious though, how do you distinguish between people "talking out loud to their phones", and people talking out loud to other people using their phones (ie making a phone call).

There are a lot of situations where people talking on the phone to other people is annoying and rude. I expect there's substantial overlap with the situations where people talking out loud to Siri is annoying and rude.

Re: Dear Marketers: Enough with the QR codes

#66

Post by dredmorbius »

ColinWright wrote: post #35
rprospero wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of hate comes from the fact that I've never encountered a QR code where I couldn't have typed in the URL on my stupid-tiny keyboard faster than the time it took for the QR app to scan the code. I'm curious if this means my phone has a terrible camera or if yours has a terrible keyboard. Probably both.

It's the error-pronedness - clicks are far easier. Can you always type a lengthy URL without any mistakes or having to make corrections? Plus, I can't read a poster and a phone without constantly changing whether I'm looking through glasses or not. I type pretty well, but the scan wins every time. Added in edit: I really, really don't understand the downvotes. I'm offering a point of view as to why QR codes are easie…

Two words: URL shorteners.

That still introduces the problem of surprise, but with the space saved by not posting the QR code, you can provide context about what the URL does provide.

And riddle me: why can't your phone to OCR on a legibly-presented URL any better than it can read a QR code (yes, I know, redundancy and all that, but still).

Re: Dear Marketers: Enough with the QR codes

#70

Post by mrtron »

DavidAdams wrote: post #59

My company went to a trade show recently, and instead of brochures, we made up a little business card with some summary information on the front, and a big QR code on the back. When you scan the QR code, it puts the summary and contact information into your phone as a contact. (It's labeled, so people know that scanning the code will transfer the card's information to their phone's contact list). I think this is pret…

What % of business cards got scanned?
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