by Tine Thygesen Everplaces

Scanning is coming of age - 11 ways it can improve your marketing

What is scanning?

What!Scanning is the common word for technologies that are shortcuts to quickly access information found offline on your phone online. Most scanners today are optical scanners. They include bar codes, QR codes, clickable paper, labels, etc. !How With their mobile, a person scans a code, which sends them directly to a page with more information. Its a faster alternative to typing in a url. !

But wait! !

Isn’t QR the ugly child of marketing?

Well...Yes. But scanning isn’t just QR, and it does hold several advantages

1. It’s the fastest method for a consumer As technologies are getting more advanced, scanning is now often the most efficient way to transmit a lot of information fast. !2. Scanning is getting huge Particularly in Asia and developing markets, but the trend is moving west and consumers are more and more willing to scan.

In Asia, scanning is exploding

Recent stats show that QR code scanning rates have quadrupled

And it works in the West too - more TV viewers scan than use the Twitter #

Among 1,000 television viewers, 28% had interacted with a QR Code, vs. 18% with a Twitter hashtag !Says 2012 research by Accenture on effectiveness of consumer engagement triggers. !!

At the Olympics QR beat Foursquare

The proportion of individuals interacting with QR Codes during the 2012 London Olympics was 36% higher than with Foursquare

Buy something: the classic utilization Scanning has mostly been used in advertising, in forms of QR codes directing a consumer to buy or engage with a brand. !While this is convenient, it has given scanning a bad name, as something that’s trying to sell you something, rather than help you. !Marketeers now need to utilize scanning in new and more helpful ways in order to win back trust and engage in a meaningful way.

genuinely useful ways to use scanning

the

Area #1 Utility

More people are more happy to scan codes if it saves them time or hassle than for any other purpose.

Apps that make daily life easier

‣ Price comparison !‣ Showing the nearest vendor !‣ Tracking ingredients in your food !‣ Rewards and loyalty schemes

Most nurseries in Korea provide QR code tags with each plant. !By giving people the option of scanning, consumers can read detailed information about the plant and become empowered decision-makers.

Detailed info about complex products

Image by Wallpaper

My mobile memory

Increasingly people outsource their memory to their phones. !The Vivino app lets wine drinkers scan the label to access info, ratings and save to favorite lists. !Users can share reviews, and remember their favorite bottles.

Fast mobile check-in, rather than queuing

Hotels today subject guests to a time-consuming check-in process. !This is a hassle for consumers, and expensive for hotels. So in 2014, the travel industry will see more mobile hotel check-in and mobile ticketing. !The airline equivalent, mobile boarding passes, save the industry up to US$1.5 billion every year because they don't need to be printed on expensive paper and facilitate off-airport check-in (IATA) !!!!

Area #2 Great for customer communication

Service customers in off-hours

Continue providing outstanding customer service, even outside of normal working hours. !The Visitors Bureau in Glendale, Arizona, provides a QR code for visitors that come outside of opening hours. The code directs customers to the information asked by most. !!!!

Hotel Jazz in Barcelona has a QR code on their website. Guests can import the hotel’s contact information into their phones for a hassle-free experience.

Practical hotel info made handy

QR self guided tour

In Long Beach, WA, home to the longest beach in the world, QR code tours can take visitors on a tour !“A self-guided walking tour of Discovery Trail begins here. Headed north or south along the 8.5 mile long Trail, you will find a total of 19 QR codes containing information about the sites on the route” !QR code travel information put up in strategic places is ideal for tourists who want to explore at their own pace. It gives travelers flexibility, and reduces staffing costs for the destination. !!!!!!Image by Don Briggs

Be creative like in Rio

Codes can go on anything, as illustrated by these pavement mosaics in Rio! !Located in 30 of the most popular locations around the city, travelers can access info and maps in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Get in touch

The UK embassy in Beijing enables passersby to follow their Weibo account via a QR code. !An elegant way to connect with travelers, consumers, and potential clients.

Area #3Convenient shopping & upselling

Very convenient shopping

!Any unused wall space can be turned into a shop. In the metro in Seoul and in

Russia shoppers scan and buy every day items such as milk and bread with their phones on the platform while they are waiting for the train. The goods are then

delivered straight to their homes. !!!

And in 2012, grocery chain Tesco’s opened the world’s first full size virtual supermarket. !This enables them to have all the products in a warehouse outside town where rent is much cheaper, and to stock a larger selection of products.

Economics of real estate favors virtual shops

Unmanned shops & up-selling

Even if you don’t have space for a shop in front of your hotel, museum, or tourist office, a poster with codes can act as an unmanned bar or shop !Services like Qbuy enables any business to let guests order food, drinks and products in the comfort of their homes or rooms, and have their normal staff prepare and deliver. !!

Old libraries are sadly expensive and often rarely used. But here is a modern alternative: a library inside a subway station. !People scan the book to rent it, and it is then delivered at home.

Rethinking public service

So to sum it up. !

Scanning enables you to 1: inform better with utility, 2: service better, and 3: sell more !

Not half bad!

Thank you!

More like this: business.everplaces.com/knowledge

Looking to include scanning in your apps, or considering

mobile check-in? email our CEO, Tine Thygesen

tine@everplaces.com

Mobile strategy & development

Sources and images

http://www.scanlife.com/blog/2013/02/qr-code-adoption-2013-trends-and-statistics/!http://www.longbeachwa.gov/lbqrcodesmarttour/!Long Beach image by http://www.flickr.com/photos/donbriggs/4012829548/!Plant background: http://wallpoper.com/images/00/45/03/14/desktop-plants_00450314.jpg!Wine background: http://www.brooklynwineexchange.com/images/image/wine.jpg!Library background: http://charmingandchic.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/99604-050-cdda2f15.jpg!Sunshine background: http://kkelly6th.edublogs.org/files/2011/02/DSCN5437-zrrgvt.jpg !Digital Tourism Think Tank!UK embassy

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