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by }uuu Wheelei on 0CT0BER 11, 2u11
www.themobilists.com2u111u11qi-coue-best-piactices-in-piint


QR (oi quick iesponse) baicoue scans giew 12uu% fiom }uly to Becembei 2u1u.
comScoie ieleaseu its finuings that, in }une 2u11, 14 million Ameiicans scanneu QR
coues on theii mobile phones. These numbeis show the impoitance of QR coues anu
a neeu to get it iight now iathei than latei. Although the list of QR coue guiuelines
seems listeu below seems long, it's not ieally that haiu of a task to uo it iight. The
fiist step is knowleuge anu unueistanuing of what to uo anu what not to uo.

2-*',/-3)
! QR coues cannot be ieau on highly ieflective oi highly cuiveu suifaces,
especially when the light hits it just iight anu whites out the uaik squaies
$%3%,
! Piint on white oi soft pastel coloi backgiounu
! Bon't piint on a uaik coloi
! Bo not ieveise oi inveit in piint. The black must be black oi a uaik contiast
coloi foi scanneis to appiopiiately pick it up. The scanneis use the thiee
uaik coinei maiks as iefeience points
! If you'ie going to coloiize youi coue, make suie theie is at least SS% contiast
uiffeience between the squaies anu the backgiounu.


example, what not to uo: QR Coue - not enough contiast


2
4/5'
! As small as inch on business caius (best 1 inch squaie oi laigei)
! Nost all cameia phones can piopeily ieau a 1.2S x 1.2S" coue. The latest
mouels have been known to ieau coues that aie less than u.4"xu.4" but why
take the iisk.
! Ninimum focal uistance of some cameia phones can be S-4"
! The moie complex the coue, the laigei it shoulu be. vCaius aie notoiious foi
having a lot of infoimation, so the laigei the bettei.
! Shoiten the 0RLs - use something like bit.ly oi goo.gl. This ieuuces the
amount of uata the coue neeus to holu anu makes it much easiei to scan. An
auuitional benefit to 0RL shoiteneis is that they geneially have some
tiacking capabilities.
! uive it a small boiuei of white space (at least 18" gap)
! Think of the meuium anu how it's going to be vieweu. It can be smallei on a
business caiu oi coffee mug, but neeus to be much biggei on a postei oi
billboaiu. Bon't put a postage stamp sizeu QR coue on a bus anu expect
anyone to scan it. To be honest, I uon't think a bus is the best place foi a QR
coue to be scanneu anyway.
! Rule of thumb: 1u:1, a QR coue that is 1 inch coulu be scanneu about 1u
inches away.
6%,7-*
! 0se PNu foimat when uevelopingsaving youi QR coue. PNu is a scalable
vectoi giaphic so it suffeis no loss when being iesizeu. Aftei it's iesizeu, you
can save it to a uiffeient foimat like jpeg oi gif.
! Nake suie when you'ie iesizing youi giaphic to scale it piopoitionately.
Bon't stietch oi uistoit the coue.



example, what not to uo: QR Coue - stietcheu

S
+%)/*/%1
! When in piint, keep away fiom the folu, this impioves the ability to scan
without ieflection of the othei facing page
! Also, know the binuing methou of the magazine anu keep it fai enough away
to avoiu pait of the coue not being visible
! In uiiect mail, keep it away fiom the euge (iemembei the white space
boaiuei that is neeueu) anu uon't get it caught in the ciease



example: goou positioning in a piinteu piouuct

8')*/19
! Test in uiffeient lighting scenaiios
! Test with Anuioiu, BlackBeiiy, Winuows anu iPhones anu uiffeient veisions
of these as sometimes oluei iPhones ieau it uiffeiently uue to the cameia
iesolutions
! Test foi signal stiength acioss uiffeient netwoiks. Bon't put youi QR coue on
a postei that's in a subway wheie theie's no signal. What's the point if they
cannot get to youi content.
! Nake suie the thing you'ie linking to woiks anu uisplays piopeily on as
many phones as possible


4


example: ensuie youi coue is ieauable in as many foimats as possible

:)-9'
! Explain how to scan, incluue wheie to uownloau a ieauei app. Possibly
incluue a shoit coue that iesponus with a 0RL to a QR coue ieauei
! Piint the 0RL neai the QR coue as a fallback measuie
! Foi those without a smaitphone, you coulu also pioviue a shoitcoue to text
them infoimation, when appiopiiate
! Tell them about the "bonus" mateiial they will ieceive
! Know why you aie using the coue. QR coues aie a tactic. They aie a simple
gateway to ieuuce typing in 0RLs, text messages oi phone numbeis. They aie
a way to make puichasing something, uownloauing music oi apps, get
uiiections oi access infoimation. Theie is a gieatei stiategy behinu why you
aie using QR coues. QR coues aien't the stiategy.

$%1*'1* %1 *;' %*;', '1& %0 *;' .%&'
! Nobile fiienuly web page. This means no Flash!
! Senu useis to a web page that auus value, like a special offeis oi uiscounts,
time-sensitive piomotions oi exclusive content that make it woithwhile foi
them to scan. In othei woius, motivate the usei to take theii smaitphone out
of theii puise oi pocket, open the app anu scan it by giving them a !"#$%& call
to action.
! Nake suie the lanuing page has a ieuiiect, just in case the page is evei
iemoveu oi changeu



S
2'*,/.)
! Netiics aie a must foi any campaign
! A simple way to tiack is to use uoogle analytics on the web page
! 0se uiffeient lanuing pages to tiack those who type it in veisus those who
scan
! If you cannot oi aien't goou at auuing analytics to youi web pages, look foi
QR coue tiacking seivices to manage youi campaign like the following:
o http:tappinn.com
o http:scantag.com
o http:tagomobile.com
o http:www.scanlife.comnewinuex.html
o http:beqiious.com
o http:www.scanvee.com
o http:www.i-nigma.comCampaignNanagei.htm
o http:oiangeqi.com
o http:www.spaiqcoue.com
o http:www.qimiiioi.comappqimon
o http:www.avmoie.comqi
o http:uelivi.com

This is only a paitial list of QR coue management platfoims.