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What am I missing about QR codes?

9 points by An-dy ↗ HN
I like to think that I am relatively smart guy, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how using QR Codes in advertising, on business cards, etc. is better or more effective than simply using a URL to point to the same information. At least a URL is explicit and something that I might have a chance in hell of remembering. Do any of you really whip out your smart phone, load a QR Code reading app, and scan the QR code, and then immediately consume what the advertiser is feeding you? What am I missing?

13 comments

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ricardobeat
URLs are hard to type, and prone to human error. Simple as that.

Once in a while I do scan a QR code while out in the street, but only if it makes me really curious. Not true for most ads.

QR codes on business cards are great. It can point to a vcard to add to your contacts, or a profile page you can bookmark.

arnarbi
> URLs are hard to type, and prone to human error. Simple as that.

Your phone is just as capable of reading a URL with its camera as it is at reading barcodes.

The only useful use I've seen of a QR code is a vcard though, taped to the back of my friend's phone.

qas1981
Here is a thoughtful implementation of there use. http://youtu.be/h7HnR02kJxY
az
I love the Tesco QR code shopping video!

So easy and delivery is (hopefully) at your door when you arrive home :)

cynwoody
>I cannot for the life of me figure out how using QR Codes in advertising, on business cards, etc. is better or more effective than simply using a URL to point to the same information. At least a URL is explicit and something that I might have a chance in hell of remembering.

Absolutely right.

Problem is, coming up with a logical URL to describe your data presumes you knew WTF about your data and its organization in the first place when you composed the URL. That's a tall order.

Best solution is to implant some searchable ideas into the audience's brain and hope for the best (GOOG). It's called a Message. Second best is the like of QR codes, which some subset of your audience may bother with until the novelty wears off.

1123581321
It needs to be in an environment where people are scanning a lot (some tradeshows) or provide something that can't be found by searching and that people want - even then, better to just capture an email address and send the white paper, beta invite, etc.
jdietrich
They're fashionable but useless. Less than 10% of even relatively tech-savvy demographics know what they are and practically nobody scans them. Japan is essentially the only market where they're actually useful. They look cool when demonstrated to the client, but they're a complete fad.

Rule of thumb: If general advertisers use something but direct marketers don't, it's probably a fad.

[dead] mikejeffs
The problem I have with QR codes isn't the use of them - I'm sure there is an audience for them (I'm not one of them) but it's the placement of the code within the ad. For example, the corner of a bus stop poster, a poster on the underground escalators. There's a lack of thought in the practicality of actually scanning a code.
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Bjartr
>Do any of you really whip out your smart phone, load a QR Code reading app, and scan the QR code

Yup, for me it's swipe-up-left to scan a QR code as an alternative to swipe-right to unlock. I've timed it, it's 7 seconds from phone in pocket to loading the URL. It's at least 20 for typing out a simple URL.

I find them very useful as a way to do deep-linking in print media. For instance, I was in a store, best buy I think, and wanted to check the specs and reviews of an item. There was a QR code on the price label, so in just a couple seconds I was on the product page looking at the info I wanted. The alternative would have been to google for the product number and click a result, or go to the best-buy website and search it there.

Until I can touch a link in the real world and have it load on my phone, I'll keep using QR codes.

jgalt212
I like to use QR codes as a lightweight XML transport mechanism.
joonix
I have no idea where QR codes came from and why they are so prevalent either. I have never seen anyone I know use them, and I have never been told how to scan them. What is the "official" app everyone uses to scan these things?
mapt
QR codes as standardized visual targets for coding information are a brilliant innovation... for a group of tasks which do not include "Transmit company URL to customer".

This is a simple deliverable that "marketing experts" can use to convince a client that they're ahead of some imaginary curve. They were approached in a nearly identical fashion as CueCats. A solution searching for a problem.

Outside "Transmit company URL to customer", though, there are a number of places they could be useful. From specific computer vision (robotics and augmented reality) targets, to perfectly-private one-way or two-way near-field communication, to inventory management, to simply tracking entries from a discount-incentivized marketing campaign with referral codes, the potential application space is large.