Just a few years ago, QR codes seemed to be "the next big thing." Store windows, food labels, band fliers, magazine advertisements -- those distinct piddling black-and-white squares were everywhere, vying for our attention.

And while minor business owners and marketers thought they'd hit the jackpot, the QR code tendency didn't go every bit popular with consumers as some had predicted. A 2013 surveyinstitute only 21% of American smartphone owners say they've ever scanned a QR code, and merely ii% say they scan a QR code at least one time per solar day.

You might think that, in an age when consumers tend to go on their smartphones close by at all times, an application that connects the concrete and digital worlds -- kind of like Instagram, FitBit, and thousands of other apps do -- would accept flight.

But I'll be honest here: I've never scanned a QR code in my entire life, and I'm pretty tech-savvy. I tin can't even recall watching a friend scan a QR code, either. But I realize I'yard a sample size of one, and I've heard people argue -- marketers peculiarly -- that QR codes are still alive and well. I found myself thinking, could that even be possible?

Download our gratuitous guide hither to learn how to create QR codes for yourself.

So I decided to look for success stories and data to encounter whether I was sick-informed or QR codes really are still a affair. Though I could hardly observe a data point that was less than ii years sometime, I'll tell you what Ididnotice, what I recollect it means, and what marketers should practice about it.

Are QR Codes Dead?

Like I said, this isn't an like shooting fish in a barrel question to answer because of the limited data. But the data I did find suggests that QR codes are not widely used.

For case, Inc's 2012 research found that 97% of consumers don't even know what a QR code is.Digital business analytics visitor comScore found that vi.2% of the full U.South. mobile audience scanned a QR code on their mobile device in 2011.

Since 2011, the number of mobile users has increased, especially among the younger population, while QR codes seem to accept maintained steady popularity and visibility. According to comScore's written report,the number of people who have scanned a QR lawmaking seems to take plateauedsince 2012:As the number of smartphone users continues to rise, the number of consumers scanning QR codes remains the same.

trend is out of style, or are some of them actually seeing real success? After all, it'due south understandable that we're constantly looking for ways to bridge offline and online marketing in our internet-driven world -- and then to united states of america, links you can "click on" in real life are a godsend.

Data from MarketingCharts suggests that the average marketer'south view on QR codes is "somewhat at odds with the consumer statistics. Whereas relatively few consumers say they're actively scanning QR codes, marketers are finding them to be quite an effective mobile marketing tactic." To exist specific, of the marketers who responded to an Experian survey near the effectiveness of QR codes as a mobile marketing tactic, 29% of them rated QR codes very constructive, and another 66% effective.

And so what does this information all hateful? Basically, QR codes appear to exist working for that small, brackish population that knows how to use them. While QR codes aren't "dying," they're certainly not thriving. The question is why, given how many consumers have smartphones nowadays.

What Happened?

There are a number of reasons why QR codes might be going "out of style," just the virtually of import is probably that they're often misused. They're in subway stations where there'southward no WiFi, on TV commercials that accept an air time of a second or two, and some of them pb to cleaved links or landing pages that aren'toptimized for mobile. Once a consumer is disappointed by the mobile experience behind a QR code, she may never scan one again.

For those of yous who use QR codes properly and offering great mobile experiences backside them, this is probably very frustrating.But even when QR codes are used properly by businesses, the bigger result is that the manyusers don't know how to utilise them properly. They accept been poorly adopted in the United states and haven't really broke out of the tech-savvy crowd. And although mobile devices incorporated a preloaded version of a QR code reader into their organization (Apple's is built into Passbook, non the photographic camera itself),that isn't very widely known or used.It turns out that the activity of taking out your phone, opening a QR code reader, holding the camera from the app up to a QR code with steady hands, and pressing a button isn't super intuitive -- then you should probably adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.

What'south a Marketer To Practice?

Marketers who believe QR codes are alive are already drinking inbound marketingKool-Assist -- they're simply trying to utilise an offline channel to drive website visits. And then, what are other ways to bridge the online/offline gap and draw more people to your website?

Ane practical solution is to lock down a short, memorable URL and give people that URL. Consumers are becoming more than and more familiar with their smartphones, and nowadays, typing a URL into a mobile browser is non a problem for about people. Only make sure that these URLs are short and that they contain a unique UTM tracking code so y'all can measure your success. (HubSpot customers: learn how to create a tracking URL for a landing page in HubSpot here.) And, also QR codes, there are other effective ways to attract people to your website, add you on Twitter, or buy your production -- y'all can click here for some ideas.

If QR codes are a office of your marketing strategy and y'all believe they bring you success, I advise that you run an A/B test or two to guess their effectiveness. For case, at your next effect, you could include a QR code on one-half of your programs, and a shortened, easy-to-remember URL in the other half, both linking to the aforementioned folio on your website. Put separate UTM tracking codes on the QR code link and shortened URL and so you lot tin compare how many people visit from each, and voila -- y'all can see if your audience likes to utilize QR codes. Simply because QR codes don't work for some companies doesn't mean they won't work for you, and this type of testing is the only style to know if they work for your unique audience.

What practise you think? Are QR codes dying?

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Originally published Aug 14, 2014 8:00:00 AM, updated July 28 2017