Quick response (QR) codes were used in the Japanese automobile industry more than half a century ago, but they haven’t taken off in the rest of the world until recently.
Nevertheless, these tiny, square bar codes can be turned into extremely powerful marketing tools. Since QR codes can include up to 1,000 characters, they can pack a lot of information.
Any person with a smartphone can use its camera to scan your QR code and be presented with several options: they can call you, send you an SMS, visit your website, and so on. In fact, why don’t you scan the QR code on the left side of the page? If you have a QR reader application installed on your smartphone (most of them are free), you will be sent to this webpage right away.
The quick response codes can have pretty much any size, provided that the camera included in your cellphone has decent quality (and most of them are more than decent these days). This means that you can include a QR code as part of your new business card, for example.
The larger the QR code, the easier it is to read, of course. Many companies print huge codes and hang them around the city, giving people the ability to scan them while they wait for their buses to arrive.
Using QR Codes for Business
So how do these QR codes help your business? Many business owners use them incorrectly, simply slapping their website address on a QR code and hoping for the best. Creating an effective quick response code requires making sure that your code stands out by presenting a unique sales proposal.
A QR code can store up to 1,000 characters, which is more than enough to write a tiny copywriting masterpiece that attracts new customers.
It all starts with the headline. If several people scan your code and aren’t excited by what they see on the screen, they will move away from your QR code, forgetting about you, your business, and your offer forever.
A great QR headline has two roles:
1. It has to present your potential customers with an irresistible offer.
2. It has to calm your potential customers’ fears.
How would an entrepreneur wanting to build their own website respond to a QR code that displays this headline?
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Now that you have your readers’ attention, tell them what benefits they will receive if they buy your product or service. Make the customer realize that they really need whatever you are selling.
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of listing their products’ features instead of focusing on their benefits.
For example, if you sell vacuum cleaners, don’t just say your product has a 40-foot power cord. Instead, say it can clean the entire house without having to change the power plug. Don’t just mention that the vacuum cleaner has a HEPA filter—most people don’t know what that means! Instead, say the HEPA filter traps all the harmful particles that can affect people with allergies.
Spend a few hours converting your products’ or services’ features into benefits. Then, use the QR code to list these benefits; also, list the same benefits on your website.
Can your product help clients save time? Or does it offer the same features as your competitors’ products but at a lower cost? These are clear benefits that anyone can understand.
The Unique Selling Proposition
To make your offer irresistible, you need one more ingredient: your unique selling proposition (USP). This is the key ingredient of any sales letter, whether we are talking about a QR code or a landing page on your website.
Given the fierce competition in most industry sectors, which leads to markets being flooded with lots of similar products and services, what is the unique benefit that your customer will receive by purchasing your product?
Coming up with a valuable USP can be difficult, especially in industries where innovation isn’t key. Nevertheless, you can wrap your offer differently, making it the most attractive in its category by offering additional services, for example.
Do your main competitors offer free shipping? If they don’t, this might be the USP you were looking for. Are you selling bread makers? Then you could invest a few hundred dollars to create a “Bread Lovers’ 101 Favorite Recipes” e-book and bundle it on a CD with your bread-making machine.
Don’t skip over this step: if you don’t have a USP, it will be very hard for you to attract new customers.
Creating a Proper Landing Page
So now we have a QR code with a killer headline, clearly listing the product’s benefits and having at least one unique selling point—where do we go from here? The answer is simple: focus on your website’s landing page. While QR codes can’t store much information or show pretty pictures and videos, your website can.
This is where you should explain all your product’s benefits in detail, reinforcing your potential customers’ need for your product or service. The landing page could also offer an additional discount valid if the purchase is made within the next three days, for example. And don’t forget to add a big (red?) call-to-action button that’s hard to miss.
This is the best way to use QR codes for business. But how can you generate those QR codes? We are offering our free QR Architect application—get it here. The program will create QR codes for websites, phone numbers, SMS, emails, geographic locations, and even plain text. It is a Windows application that works on all PCs running Windows XP or a more recent version and includes a detailed instruction manual.
Have fun with it, and if you think this article is useful, please let the world know about it by clicking one of the social sharing buttons.