The Role of QR Codes in SMS Marketing (with 3 Real World Examples)

When it comes to finding the perfect addition to your SMS marketing campaign, there are few features more well-suited than QR codes. Designed to be read by customers on smartphones, QR codes are already almost exclusive to your target audience of mobile users. QR codes were first released in 1994, but they didn’t take off in popularity initially until the early 21^st century. The codes are used to store information easily, allowing businesses give customers more information about a product or lead customers to a new service, without overloading them instantly with information. Today there is no doubting the popularity of QR codes, you’ll find them on everything from products to posters. QR codes are used in advertising and marketing campaigns and can be utilized in every industry where a business is trying to promote their brand or a product or service. QR codes can easily be implemented into an SMS marketing campaign, but what exactly is their role, and how can they be used effectively?

The Perfect Marketing Spot Between Offline and Online

QR codes are an interesting mixture of offline and online marketing, filling a unique gap in the middle. The amazing benefit of QR codes is that customers can scan them whilst offline, so they can be used on any product or even just a piece of paper. Once read, the QR code can lead the user to a website on their mobile – a paper link to the digital world! The popularity of QR codes is still growing in some parts of the world, but they have already helped many businesses to connect with their customers in a unique way. In 2016, QR codes were responsible for $1.65 trillion in payments made through mobiles. QR codes can bring a lot to different businesses, but for SMS marketing use alone, they offer some outstanding benefits…

What Can QR Codes Bring to Your Marketing Campaign?

A key role of the use of QR codes in SMS marketing is the space that they fill between offline and online marketing, which in itself opens the door to a wealth of benefits. The QR code can instantly direct customers to your business website, and specifically to the URL that allows them to register for your SMS marketing campaign. By using QR codes to do this, you’re cutting out that time between a potential lead learning that your business offers SMS marketing and either getting home to where they can sign up or having to go through the much longer process of manually finding out how to sign up. QR codes take customers to where they need to be instantly, without any of the leg work in between. QR codes can do many things, all of which are in your control to set-up. With a QR code, you can make a person’s phone perform a range of actions, such as:

• View websites or social media pages
• Send emails or text messages and make calls
• View offers, deals, and promotions
• See locations on Google maps

Compared to other methods for increasing your subscriber count, QR codes are:

• Easy to Analyze
• Cost-Effective
• Convenient to Use and Produce
• Versatile

Real World Examples of QR Code Use

What makes QR codes really stand out and claim an essential role in SMS marketing campaigns is their ability to help you grow your subscriber list quickly. Anywhere you can hang a poster, you can attract a person to sign up to your SMS campaign, giving you a much broader reach than many standard marketing techniques. There are many ways that QR codes can be used in different settings, including these three real world examples of successful QR marketing:   Example One: A QR Code on a Restaurant Menu QR codes can be used as a non-intrusive addition to a restaurant menu that doesn’t naturally have the space to promote other business services, like takeaway meals or offers. Once read, the QR code can allow customers to sign-up to SMS marketing, where they can be kept informed on the latest offers the restaurant has and any additional services provided.   Example Two: A QR Code on a Promotional Poster Shop windows are almost always home to a range of promotional posters, offering the latest deals and offers. QR codes can easily be added to promotional posters to allow customers to learn more about existing and future deals, and even sign up to exclusive deals. Other forms of promotion posters, like those for movies or events can also be enhanced with QR codes, allowing passers-by to quickly get a link to book tickets or learn more about the event.   Example Three: A QR Code on a ‘For Sale’ Sign SMS marketing and real-estate is already a great pairing, but with QR codes, you can generate more natural leads from people that walk by properties for sale without having to rely on the hope that they quickly jot down your phone number or email address. QR codes on ‘for sale’ signs make it easy for leads to sign up to learn more information about a property, keep informed about the latest properties on the market, or even contact you directly.

Using QR Codes in Your Marketing Campaign

The role of QR codes in SMS marketing is the ability to sign up to marketing lists and get more information in an easy and convenient way, using a device that gets checked up to 150 times a day. If you’re already using innovative SMS marketing software, then implementing QR codes into your next campaign is simply a case of making use of the features already available. Codes can be created in moments straight through the software and generated for a range of specific purposes, like PayPal transactions, locations, and URL. With QR codes only rising in popularity as more and more countries get on board with the ease and simplicity of their use, the time to add QR codes to your campaign is now!