QR code usability do’s and dont’s

There is some major shiny-object, throw-spaghetti-against-the-wall-and-hope-it-sticks syndrome going on when it comes to QR codes. But there are also some companies doing QR codes the right way and providing a valuable user experience to customers. Let’s take a look at the difference.

#Fail

Did you know that only about 15 percent of people in the U.S. have successfully scanned a QR code? Just throwing up a QR code on a bus stop billboard doesn’t make a whole lot of sense from a usability or investment standpoint. Users need additional ways to access the information the brand is sending them to if they can’t get the code to scan.

Good

At least this example includes a mobile url underneath the code. Good thing too, because there probably are very few people who’ll be able to successfully scan that code off a billboard on the side of a building.

Better

This is more like it. Three different options for the user to access the information behind the code — scan the code, type in the mobile url or opt in via text. And more than 70 percent of people with mobile phones have successfully sent a text message.

Best

Now we’re talking. Do you know the folks at 44Doors.com? Tim Hayden, Stephanie Wonderlin and team have helped Kendall-Jackson with a QR Code program that makes sense. The codes are placed on the side of the wine bottle with a mobile url and text access option. And the call to action doesn’t just take customers to Kendall-Jackson’s website. It takes them to a mobile experience that suggests food to go with the wine and recipes to complete suggested meals. Now that’s QR codes done right.

Who have you seen doing QR codes right? Who’s got the shiny object syndrome?

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