Cracking the QRCode…?

I’ve been getting through a lot of business cards over the last few months from the increase in my networking and marketing activities. So much to that it’s soon going to be time to order the next batch. This time I wanted to do something a little different. I’m happy with the card design per se but wanted to do something a little different with the QRCode. Nothing wrong with the code as it stands. It’s reasonable compact and scans well on the original design but I’m not sure that the vCard is really the right payload.

For the next generation I wanted something a little more useful. Something that the end user would value. Hopefully something that the end user would value enough to keep or even pass to someone who might need the services of a photographer. This time I wanted to include an offer. But not just an offer code that would expire in time. I needed an offer that I could change without having to modify the card. Cue the website.

On this generation of cards I’ve included a QRCode with a URL to an offer page on my website. The theory is that the User scans the code to reveal the URL, follows the link and sees the offer. The offer is only valid if they complete the form on that page thereby providing me with their name, email address and phone number so I can call them back and arrange a consultation or photo-shoot or whatever the offer is about. To change the proposition all I need do is change the page that the URL points to. So now I have a dynamically updateable offer from a static, unmodifiable business card. Now to me, that is really cool 🙂

But there’s more…

Each card design has a different offer, targeted at a specific type of client so the QRCodes are different. Furthermore, each design has it’s own unique tracking data encoded into the URL so I can split test and track my business card designs to see which are working for me and more importantly, which are not. There is a drawback though. This makes the URL really long ultimately leading to a complex QRCode that will dominate the card. There is a solution though… URL shortening. I’ve used Google’s own URL shortener, goo.gl which reduces my rather unwieldy tracking URL to just a dozen or so characters. The nett result is that the QRCode is much simpler meaning it can be made smaller to better fit the design of the card without overpowering it.

One further improvement will be to add a mobile switcher to my site at some point. This will (hopefully) improve the user’s experience. They are most likely going to scan the QRCode on their mobile so it makes more sense to link to a mobile optimised page. That said I’ve tested this on an Android phone and it is very useable so there is no hurry there.

Other applications…?

This isn’t just limited to business cards either. I’ll be using this technique for the majority of my marketing material from now on…

• Email signatures
• Cards
• Flyers
• Invoices
• Everything

Everything will contain an offer link for the User and the intention is to drive more traffic to my site, quickly and easily.

BTW, in case anyone is interested, these are special versions of the back of each business card. They have their own unique tracking codes so I can tell how many hits I get on my site from these images 😉

Well, why not? After all wouldn’t you? 😉