When assessing the current landscape of QR Codes, several pieces of research caught our attention:

Let’s begin with a study from Google and Ipsos OTX MediaCT titled “Our Mobile Planet: Global Smartphone Users” (Feb 2012). Six thousand individuals across the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain and Japan were polled in the course of 2011.

The first result that struck us was the speed at which smartphone penetration is increasing: from January 2011 to October 2011 smartphone penetration in western countries has increased by 20% (e.g. the U.S.) to 50% (the UK). As expected, almost 100% of smartphone users use their device to go online every day. It also comes as no surprise that smartphone users are avid video watchers and social networkers.

Interestingly, around 85% of smartphone owners seek local information and 1 in 5 make a purchase after finding that information. What does surprise us is that at least half of mobile shoppers make purchases monthly on their smartphones.

So what about QR codes? Our trend report gives some clues on their adoption, but comScore’s study “2012 Mobile Future in Focus” (Feb 2012)  complements our research nicely. The report examines the mobile landscape across the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Canada. In total, 24 thousand respondents took part to the research.

It appears that when in a retail environment, almost 20% of US smartphone users have scanned a product barcode. This is roughly the same number of people who take pictures of products or call/text a friend about them.

Furthermore, 73% did so to find product information, 32% to uncover a coupon or  offer and 25% did so to find event information.

The above is in stark contrast with what the users actually receive when they scan a code. According to a third piece of research from eMarketer, “Mobile Barcodes Drive Traffic to Brand Sites from Print” (March 2012), 40.7% of the codes in US advertisements linked to product information, a brand’s site or a purchase opportunity. However, only 7.8% of the codes led to opt-ins for newsletters or contests, and fewer than 1% led to special offers, coupons, etc.

Conclusion

Engaging consumers through their mobile device is about context (location, time) and action: “visit this shop next door”; “join the music event that starts in 30 min”; “scan this flyer and get an instant discount in this shop”; etc. All the ingredients to make it happen (mobile internet and devices, QR codes, consumer awareness of QR codes)  are in place – marketers just need to grab the opportunity!

Two weeks ago, we released the results from a study that illustrate a high awareness and adoption of 2D barcodes among U.S. marketers. The survey gave us some tremendous insight into what marketers want out of 2D barcodes. Conducted through uSamp’s SurveyBuilder, the sample included over 100 marketers from both large and small businesses in industries such as retail, healthcare and entertainment.

2D Barcode Awareness & Adoption

The study showed that 50% of key decision makers are already using 2D barcodes as a part of their overall marketing strategy and 86% plan to use the technology in the future.  The level of awareness of 2D barcodes was similar among large and small businesses, with 95% and 89% respectively.

When asked what the format of choice was, it emerged that marketers favoured open source formats, such as QR codes. The chart below shows the level of adoption of the different formats.

One of the main concerns from the respondents was having a code format compatible with most scanning apps. As a result, it’s no surprise that QR codes make up the majority here.

Other factors for a successful campaign include:

• Access to analytics including basic usage.
• Demographics of users and
• Ability to edit or access codes at anytime from a web-based platform

Usage Scenarios

When asked if they were happy with their experience, those that used a paid service were 50% more satisfied than those using a freeware generator. As to how campaigns were being implemented, the table below shows the top code content of choice and the top three media placements.

To a large extent these results confirm our observations gathered through anecdotal evidence. They also indicate that 2D barcodes are set to become a standard in future marketing efforts.

In 2011 we saw some truly remarkable campaigns. This was only the end of the beginning.