Skip to main content

What I learnt about QR codes in 2012

QR codes have been appearing islandwide in 2012 and it will continue to appear 2013.

Our Fan Club posters also incorporate QR codes and this has taught me a few things about QR codes.

QR Codes are personal

We have seen QR codes on big window posters, big posters hanging out the walls, etc. However, what I found is that consumers will scan QR codes when it is more personal. 

Consumers find it quite weird to be pointing their mobile phone in public places as they are concerned it would invite stares. 

On the contrary, when you have a smaller poster at tables top, they are more than willing to scan as it is done in their own personal space. Looking at the phone while sitting down seems acceptable to the consumers.

Putting links or description next to the QR Codes increase scan rates

When consumers see a standalone QR code, they tend to be suspicious where the QR codes leads to upon scanning. Some digital marketers will respond to say that these adds to the element of surprise. Unfortunately the uncertainty will lead to zero scans.

Some marketers will say that putting a link makes the QR code redundant. On the contrary, the presence of the links help assure consumers that scanning the QR code will bring them to the right link. 

The QR code is a tool to assist consumers to go to a site quickly without the need to type in a long URL. So as a tool, one would need to assure the users that the tool is safe.

QR Code as Facebook profile photo is kinda lame

I may have been guilty of this before, and I have to admit that putting a QR Code as a profile photo on Facebook is lame. 

The reason is obvious when you think about it. Nowadays, smart phones connect to Facebook to get your profile photo. So it is kind of weird to see a QR code appearing as a profile photo on the smartphone. How is someone going to scan that QR code on to the smart phone they are holding on to, unless they so happen to carry another smart phone?

Also, if your status update is only seen by friends, would they rather see a face or QR code on the wall? Unless the QR code leads to a photo of the face, but that would be extra work and no-one will know what they will get after they scan that QR code. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How UOB's Paper Trail Amplifies IT Greatest Security Threat

UOB required you to do everything on paper. If you want to change your mobile number for your banking account with them or for your credit card, you need to fill up a form. Yet, this paper trail represented a potential security fail for the bank - Human Error. So a bitcoin expert walked into UOB to open a bank account. The bank employee had to print a form from a online pdf document to fill in this bitcoin expert's particulars. When it came to entering the bitcoin expert's email, that's when the forgotten art of handwriting was the most obvious of the digital generation. Wrote Robert Capodieci, My name is Roberto Capodieci, as most of you know. and my email address is very obvious to decode. It is not a p4l_l337_s0u1@gmail.com, but it is a more obvious roberto@capodieci.com, thing that, right after reading my name in the same form, should come out easy. Still, a data entry personnel of the UOB bank (or of a service provider the UOB bank uses) entered it as roberto
1 comment
Read more

NEL Train Fault Shouts Lack Of Crisis Communication

The North-East Line train fault of 11 April 2018 was my virgin experience of a rush hour train fault since I moved to Punggol. One would have thought that with the number of train faults experienced by the North-East Line operator, SBS Transit, they would have improved the communications and handling of train faults. However, my personal experience told another story. First, there were no announcements at the Punggol LRT stations of the train fault even though SBS Transit manages them. The train fault was reported as early as 7.10am as I had a friend who was also stuck in the train. I boarded the LRT at Coral Edge around 7.30am and I didn't hear of any announcement nor was there any signage to inform me o the train fault at Punggol Station. Second, the announcement kept saying that there would be a 15 minutes delay, but 15 minutes passed and the trains, on both side, wasn't moving. If the announcement would be more frank to say it will be a longer delay, commuters would
Post a Comment
Read more

Singapore radio personality in "hot soup" for reporting train delays based on Tweets?

Update - Hossan Leong has commented on this post to say " I'm not in trouble pls don't blow this out of proportion. Let it rest. It's getting silly. Thank you for your love and concern and I apologize for any misunderstanding." ~  Hossan Leong. Hossan Leong, a Singapore radio personality for The Gold Breakfast Show on Gold 90.5, was censured today for reporting on train delays on the Circle Line because he based the information on Tweets, rather than waiting for the official reports from the Circle Line operator, SMRT.  It is, however, unknown if the "warning" came from Mediacorp producers or SMRT. Tweeted Hossan Leong ,  OK...I reported it on air and now I'm getting into trouble for it?? The CC line is DOWN rite? I did nothing wrong rite? The SMRT Circle Line was reported to be down this morning during peak hours and started as early as 7am. However, local news only received official statement was received by the mainstream media at about 9
14 comments
Read more