American Business: Cracking the QR Code
openforum.com
openforum.com
As an iPhone user, I also need to download an app to read the QR codes, and suddenly I now have another choice to make -- which app is the best quality and least spammy of the ones listed.
As a designer, I also think they are quite ugly -- Try putting one of these into your beautifully designed billboard/magazine and it looks pretty terrible.
The business side of me appreciates the metrics that come from this, but I think QR is a stopgap technology until RFID readers become mainstream.
Essentially, it makes the offline work "clickable". There are other technologies as well that serves as a bridge for offline2online (folks have already mentioned about RFID). QR code is just one of them and as with any solution it has it's pros and cons.
I do like the trend of businesses trying to make things interactive, contextual and personalized. I hate typing URLs on my phone so any solution is a welcome one.
As for folks complaining about the aesthetics of the code; there are companies working on making the code invisible: http://www.digimarc.com/ Personally, I would like a non-proprietary technology though; so unless they make it royalty-free; I will continue to favor QR codes.
The problem right now is that, between a (short-ish) URL on a poster/billboard and a QR code, I am far, far, far more likely to use the URL than the code.
Why? Because it's easier. Here's what I have to do to scan a code:
- Scroll homescreens/app list over to the code reader app.
- Start code reader app.
- Tap (probably 2 taps, more if the app is not well designed)
- Wait for my camera to warm up (this is really slow on Android and earlier iPhones)
- Hold the camera still over the code. Nope. Even more still. No wait, I'm too close for it to focus. Pull it away from the poster for a second. Wait while the camera hunts for focus in the indoor, dim lighting (where else do you think QR codes are?). Wait for iiiiiiit. There! Code acquired!
- Tap on a button to open the URL inevitably embedded within.
No thanks, I'll type in yourcompany.com/qr faster than that, with less frustration, and less looking like an idiot.
RFID is going to be a great solution to that - but that would require the proliferation of readers first.
What would you change it to? UPC codes? One of my games has a UPC code of 000888834625. Try reading that quickly on a product tag. Short hashes like jKghH3? How do you convey that it's case sensitive? Otherwise you have to make the code longer and more complex because they have a LOT of products
BestBuy is a technology retailer. Use of technology looks good for them. They have an extensive marketing department because that's how they get normal people to shop there. It's been said this is a marketer's technology, not a user's technology. Who cares if people whip out their smart phones? Their product tags are all computer generated anyhow, it doesn't cost them anything if people use it. But what if this QR code just happens to get someone to check out the reviews and buy this product? Or what if it ever so slightly changes the perception of some parents that BestBuy knows what they're talking about, so they go there to buy their kid's electronic gizmos.
They buy a new short url: http://BB.GD/shoes/1234
Keep adding sensible folders as is needed, words that customers can remember and numbers that are easy to type in. Hey the QR can still point to this, but give me something I can type in, or even remember and look at later.
By only using QR you are telling the customer that they are too stupid to type in a URL, to lazy to remember one, yet tech savvy enough to know what the barcode actually is.
- Unlock phone
- Code reader app shortcut is on home screen, one tap to activate
- App (Barcode Scanner/ZXing) goes directly to camera view
- Wait about a second for camera to activate (Nexus One, $200 used off-contract)
- Hold the camera still over the code and carry on with your detailed schedule
I agree that marketers should explicitly tell you what a scanned QR code is going to do.
I've found i-nigma's iPhone app to be the fastest (free) scanner. Blazingly so.
QR codes were never designed for public consumption and look quite digital. I like the trend of 'designer QR codes' and error-correction within the QR code's data payload allows for a certain amount of design freedom.
I'll have to check out i-nigma's app, but this isn't going mainstream until it's integrated into the phone. I believe Android already does (Google Goggles?), but get iPhone on board and we will definitely see the market turn.
I think designer QR codes look better, but this is an issue of putting lipstick on a pig -- it looks better, but not that much better.
They probably share your thoughts regarding the look of QR codes and are waiting for adoption rates to be higher (I.e. 'cross the chasm'). Or they're waiting on a more designer-friendly solution to fill the gap.
I believe Android phones have QR scanning built-in.
I see QR codes everywhere in NYC, but actually getting one onto my phone involves stopping, taking my phone out, spending 10-30 seconds with the QR code.
If your advertisement is capable of inducing me to do that much work, that's a pretty fantastic advertisement. However, despite the QR codes being damn near everywhere, I've still not bothered to scan one.
QR codes are, in my estimation, a fad.
RFID also has the issue of discoverability. In order for someone to know that they should scan for RFID, there would need to be some visual indicator. The only reduction in user friction would be the fact that they need not point their phone at the indicator.
Yes, I do realize there are QR Code "hacks" where the codes are colored and/or integrated with logos, etc to look less ugly and those hacks do look good (or at least less bad) on a web page, but they destroy usability of the codes in the real world (by removing data redundancy, killing the contrast to the point where devices with cameras with low dynamic range won't scan it well, etc).
I don't mind so much the other issues, I like that they can be used flexibly for just about anything from encoding a url for marketing to doing internal inventory management.
How so? Every app I've tried (for Symbian) shows me the URL and asks me if I want to load it.
Look at the traffic snapshot for that NYC liquor store they profile: http://cl.ly/3s3Q1J3s0x1Y2f3w3V3x
That looks to be about 45 visits for 1 month. FORTY FIVE! That poor lady probably spent 4-figures in cost and time implementing that crap.
I've never seen someone scan a QR code on a storefront in the wild.
I can't wait until these things go away.
iPhone? Need to find/pick/install/test an app. Likewise for Android (I think). BlackBerry's got reader software baked-in, but you'd never find it organically (why is the easiest way to get it open through BBM's Scan a Group Barcode option?).
In the time it took to do that, a user could have just typed the URL in, and known exactly what would happen. I'm on a BlackBerry, and even though I know how to run my QR reader, it's still easier and quicker for me to just type it in manually.
Similarly, it often seems the people who design posters/ads that feature QR codes have no concept of how you'd scan them - if there's a code on a billboard that's three stories up a building, there's no way my camera will pick that up. Conversely, if the ad is a subway poster (which I'll never be more than 3ft from), you don't need a 4ft diagram.
The marketer in me (and everyone) loves them because they allow metrics down to the individual poster/magazine edition, and make it easy - in theory - to jump from something physical to something online. Actual users don't care about them, because there's no perceived increase in value or convenience over the tried-and-true-and-well-understood method of just Googling the product name.
I see the value of QR Codes in stores as being a way to quickly give you more information about a product.
Walking up to an ad or whatever and waving my my phone around at it just feels un-cool and socially awkward.
By the way I'm launching http://qranberry.me to make mobile sites and QR codes in a snap.
"People have camera phones with web browsers now. Some things are still the same: typing URLs is not hard ... "
Actually it is.
The problem with Joel's argument is that I don't think he's ever tried to type a URL on a phone. It was an infuriating exercise in 2008 when he wrote that post, and it's an infuriating exercise today, even on the iPhone and on my Android phone.
I use a QR code as a quick link to deploy a new build of an app I'm working on to an Android device, and it's definitely easier then firing up the browser and painfully navigating to our CI server.
As a consumer, I've never used a QR code in my life. If companies reward users for using QR codes with discounts, as the video suggests, I would use it.
Also, now I understand why a business would want to use QR codes. They help the businesses to track the effectiveness of advertising.
I've never been walking around thinking, "Man, you know what would be cool? If a merchant could incentivize me right now. I wish my digital loyalty card also had an e-coupon so I could checkin somewhere".
Change the pitch to: "Scan this for X free Airmiles" or "Download Social Passport for X free airmiles."
Is it possible to design a QR code that looks like a plane taking off or something?
Who the fuck even knows what a Digital Loyalty card is?