A source says consumers nearly see approximately 6,000 to 10,000 marketing messages daily. A lot gets lost in the clutter. You must stand out from the crowd when your job is to generate leads to drive awareness and sales.
You only have a few seconds to capture someone’s attention and get them to act. One way to distinguish yourself and generate more leads is to use QR Codes as part of your overall marketing efforts.
By using a QR Code you enable a creative and effective channel for brand-customer interaction and to generate leads.
In this article, we will explore more on the QR Codes for lead generation.
Table of Content
- Drive print to digital with QR Codes
- Benefits of using QR Codes to drive leads
- How will QR Codes for lead generation uplift marketing funnel conversion?
- How to generate leads using QR Codes?
- How to create QR Codes for lead generation?
- Examples of brands using QR Codes effectively
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Drive print to digital with QR Codes
QR Codes can be effective at driving print readers to your digital platform. For example, a billboard or poster might promote your product or services by including a QR Code. People seeing your ad might spend a long time typing in the mentioned URL on their mobile phones. But they can easily use their phone’s camera to grab the QR Code, and they will be directed to the URL with a single click.
Using QR Codes is a great way to drive prospects from print materials to digital content or conversion points.
With QR Codes, consumers cannot only directly visit your website, but you’ll also know about the sent print message. That will help you track the effectiveness of your print campaigns.
For example, Chipzkut – A food retailer, uses QR Codes on all product displays in retail partner stores to drive people to their digital content across social and websites.
Benefits of using QR Codes to drive leads
When people scan your QR Codes, you can instantly provide them with information and take them to a relevant online web location. You might use QR Codes to generate leads and redirect users to:
- Contact forms
- Information requests
- Service inquiries
- Special offers, promotions, or coupons
- Videos
- Whitepaper downloads
- Email lists and newsletter signups
- Registration
You can also generate targeted lead capture forms on your website and track them back to individual QR Codes for reporting.
Here are some of the benefits reported by marketers using QR Codes for lead generation.
1. High conversion rates
QR Codes’ high conversion rates are due to the reduction in friction between the end-user and the content you want them to see. Any step you make during the conversion funnel reduces the overall conversion rate. With registration QR Code usage, consumers can access prefilled google forms eliminating another step in the conversion process.
In addition, you can track each QR Code scan to reuse the customer data to retarget campaigns across social ads. This also significantly increases the overall conversion rate of the campaign.
2. Higher engagement rates
QR Codes will encourage your customers to engage with your products or company. They can be utilized to direct customers to surveys, contests, or incentives.
Check out: How to increase brand engagement with a Twitter QR Code
3. Cost-effective
QR Codes are inexpensive. You can reduce the number of printed pieces you create, such as product instructions or QR Codes are inexpensive. You can reduce the number of printed pieces, such as product instructions or marketing materials. Users only need to scan the QR Code and get additional information. Less paper also means less environmental waste.
4. Direct to conversion point
When you create custom landing pages, you can use QR Codes to direct customers to your website’s relevant section. Customers may struggle to remember web addresses and domain names, but scanning a QR Code eliminates that issue.
Even retail stores use QR Codes when customers want to make purchases using cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. With the rising price of Bitcoin, QR Code is becoming a primary means of payment for millennials. Stores can create QR Codes with their cryptocurrency digital wallet address so customers can quickly scan the QR Code and send a payment for merchandise they want to buy.
Like any call to action you use in marketing, you need to give consumers a valid reason for scanning your QR Code. To effectively generate leads, you must present an offer or provide something of value to a consumer before converting.
Related: Read more on the rules to generate leads for small businesses for cool ideas.
How will QR Codes for lead generation uplift a marketing funnel conversion?
QR Codes provide a wealth of data for companies. When someone scans a QR Code, it can generate a report with essential metrics to help marketers better understand what’s working (and what’s not).
You will also get access to underlying data to help both brick-and-mortar and digital businesses to evaluate customers’ changing needs accurately:
- IP address, including country, state, city
- Timestamps
- Total scans
- Unique scans
- Repeat scans
- Device, browser, operating system
- Scan to conversions
You can connect QR Codes created via the Beaconstac dashboard with Google Analytics 4 or Universal Analytics as account property. With the connection, you can analyze user interactions after scanning a QR Code to help you track goal completions and conversions. Before QR Codes, this was a guessing game at best.
You’ll be able to assess the effectiveness of your campaign. By creating different QR Codes for various campaign elements, you will be better able to tell which aspects of your marketing drove consumers to act. This can help optimize your marketing continuously.
How to generate leads using QR Codes?
There are many ways to leverage QR Codes to generate leads. Here are some effective ways:
1. Digital business cards
It is challenging to map physical card details across digital devices through manual typing. However, with a QR Code printed on the business card, customers can easily add those physical card details over their phone. This will enhance customer interaction with a business.
2. Customized landing page
Businesses might require campaign-specific landing pages without an effort to create unnecessary web pages for each campaign.
With QR Codes, you can build a customized landing page based on your requirements with the latest design and templates.
Such a customized landing page will create personalized customer interaction.
3. Access to coupons
Coupons are one of the best ways to retain existing customers and gain new ones. However, it becomes difficult for most brands to create and manage several coupons based on their tier-based reward system. Failing to attract consumers will decrease new customer headcount and the departure of existing customers.
With QR Codes pasted in relevant marketing collaterals, customers can quickly scan and access appropriate coupons in no time.
4. PDF access
You can drive new customers using PDF QR Codes. With these codes, you can create creative menus in easy steps. Even if you are not into restaurant businesses, you can still use PDF QR Codes to distribute important docs using password protection.
The best part is that customers don’t need to install any software to access the PDF, as it will directly open in their web browser.
5. App download
If you want to increase your lead count through high app download rates, use QR Codes. The best part is that you only need to create a single QR Code for any type of mobile operating system. The customers only need to scan that QR Code, and they will be able to access the relevant app without manually typing in the app store. This way, you will reduce customers’ manual effort of typing and finding your app in the mobile app store.
6. Google forms
It is recommended to find an effective way to gather all your lead information. For that, QR Code for Google Forms is the best solution. With the QR Code, you can direct your customers to a customized Google Form for collecting valuable marketing and sales information.
How to create QR Codes for lead generation?
You can create a unique QR Code for your project with an online QR Code generator. Before finalizing a QR Code generator, consider critical points such as ease of use, reviews, features, scalability, and pricing.
Check out a guide on how to select the best QR Code generator.
Steps to create QR Codes using the Beaconstac dashboard:
- Choose the type of content you want the person to access after scanning the QR Code. Beaconstac provides various content options such as a landing page URL, SMS, calls, emails, app downloads, and more.
- Let’s say you chose to direct people who scan the QR Code to a landing page. You would enter the landing page URL. If you choose the “Static” QR Code option, you can’t change the destination URL once created. With “Dynamic” QR Codes, anyone can change the destination URL (and other data) anytime. This is incredibly helpful as you learn which QR Code ads, locations, or landing page messaging works best.
- Next, you can customize the QR Code with color schemes, your company logo, data, and more.
- Download and save the QR Code image files.
You can track and analyze the QR Code’s effectiveness once you’ve distributed it across your target marketing channels.
Examples of brands using QR Codes effectively
Some of the biggest retail brands on the planet use QR Codes to seamlessly integrate print campaigns with digital campaigns to increase the engagement of the target audience. These could be used for anything from creating social interactions to driving sales. Here are some of the top QR Code campaigns by today’s most prominent brands:
JLO Beauty
JLo Beauty co-promoted their beauty brand alongside Jennifer Lopez’s “Dick Clark’s New year’s Rockin’ Eve” musical performance. The MTA train in New York City had the QR Code printed on the side, which allowed visitors to scan the code for exclusive content and performance information.
Synchrony Bank
Synchrony Bank is a financial services company that helps consumers with products like credit cards and investment products. They are also no strangers to combining print and digital campaigns via QR Codes.
Recently, Synchrony sent mailers to current and prospective customers regarding a better way to get a return on their savings money with a CD. Instead of providing all the information, such as interest rates, they used a QR Code directly on the mailer to direct recipients to a landing page with current interest rates. This way, they can collect additional information from the person for future marketing campaigns.
L’Oreal
L’Oreal is one of the biggest cosmetics brands globally and constantly seeks to engage with new young consumers. They worked with Glamour to create an ad campaign that leveraged QR Codes on print ads in taxis across every central metropolitan area.
The brand took an interesting approach with the ad campaign supporting brands like Lancôme and Yves Saint Laurent. Instead of redirecting people from the QR Code on ads to product pages, they wanted to give people a more engaging experience while stuck in traffic.
Upon being redirected to the landing page from the QR Code, the person would get a series of videos and information. That information is mostly about using the products before being led to shop on the website.
This ultimately led to L’Oreal seeing an 80 percent boost in its app downloads.
Supergoop
Skincare brand Supergoop used QR Codes during the pandemic in a very creative way. At the end of 2020, the skincare brand used QR Codes on all their Sephora in-store displays. By scanning the code, customers received information about the product’s ingredients and videos about how the product was formulated. This contactless content option allowed in-store visitors to access information without picking up the product until they were ready to purchase.
“We’re encouraged by usage to date. The feature continues to gain momentum as consumers return to shopping in-store,” said Britany LeBlanc, VP of marketing at Supergoop, when asked about metrics for the campaign. “Our current test is in pilot mode, but we are planning a full rollout of the feature this spring.”
Wrapping Up
QR Code technology has been used across print and digital to engage with customers around content or drive sales. QR Codes are incredibly effective marketing tools to engage customers and track the success of each campaign.
Statista reported that an estimated 11 million households had used QR Codes to scan in 2020. There’s no doubt that there’s a massive opportunity for marketers.
Brands like L’Oreal, Synchrony Bank, and others have adopted QR Codes in their print and digital campaigns to drive user engagement and conversions.
How do you see using QR Codes in your own business’ marketing?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a lead generator code?
It is another term for QR Codes for lead generation. As discussed in the article, it would mean creating a QR Code and implementing it in your campaigns to drive your business by effectively generating loads of potential leads.
How do I use QR Codes to promote my business?
QR Code makes business promotion relatively easy and flexible by allowing you to integrate QR Code with any lead generation use cases effortlessly.
You can use QR Codes on :
- Posters, brochures, and flyers.
- T-Shirts or on any merchandise.
- Product packaging.
- Billboards.