QR codes are not going away anytime soon! They have become more popular and widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering touchless transactions, such as replacing paper menus with a QR code that displays the online menu when scanned.
QR CODES IN CANADA
A recent survey by Dalhousie University estimates that about three in five Canadians have used QR codes at a restaurant or in a grocery store in the last month, for payment services, marketing purposes and other industry aspects. Almost 39% don’t use QR codes at all. That percentage is much lower among Millennials and Gen Z.
Canada has a massive adoption of QR codes thanks to the increase in smartphones and access to high-speed internet. As reported by Statista, there are over 31 million smartphone users in Canada. Furthermore, Canadian consumers now prefer contactless payment methods such as QR codes.
A report by Statista shows that the percentage of users of QR codes globally was 8% in North America, 13% out of 15% in Asia Pacific, and 10% in Europe and Middle East Asia. This means that Canada has a relatively high share of QR code users compared to other regions.
MARKETING & ADVERTISING
QR codes are effective for driving immediate engagement and boosting real-time conversions. They can also help marketers measure the effectiveness of a campaign or a particular ad and collect first-party data, something that is extremely important as marketing giants like Google move away from third-party data.
A study by Scanova reveals that the top three industries that use QR codes the most are retail, entertainment, and education. These industries can benefit from QR codes by providing interactive content, personalized offers, gamified experiences, and educational resources to their customers.
QR codes can be used in Out-Of-Home advertising to bridge the gap between online and offline channels. They can also increase brand visibility, widen distribution of brand content, provide more information on offerings, enable easier and quicker access to offerings, and even act as a trigger to encourage engagement with Augmented Reality experiences!
Fuel engaging user experiences in real-time. They can provide interactive content, personalized offers, gamified experiences, and educational resources. They can also grow social media followings, update content even after deploying on TV commercials, and track QR code campaigns.
Allow marketers to create goal-driven OOH ad campaigns. They can measure the effectiveness of a campaign or a particular ad by tracking the number of scans, clicks, conversions, and other metrics. They can also use dynamic QR codes that can be customized for different platforms and audiences.
Lend themselves to greater measurability. They can help marketers collect first-party data from their customers, which is extremely important as marketing giants like Google move away from third-party data. They can also use short URLs that can be easily shared on social media channels.
QR codes can also be used in TV commercials to allow brands to give an interactive engagement to their viewers by scanning the QR code that leads to online content. QR codes on TV ads can help marketers convert offline engagements to online conversions, hook viewers with interactive content, grow social media following, update content even after deploying on TV commercials, track QR code campaigns, and give the information right away to the viewers.
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