45% of respondents have scanned a QR Code

There is little point revelling in the high recognition of QR Codes among respondents if the actually scanning result is low. According to statistics from Scanbuy an American owned scanning company, worldwide scanning behaviour is increasing every quarter year on year. It is learned that Irish companies have invested 32%  into QR Codes as a mobile marketing channel. (earlier post)

It is an interesting finding that although there is a high awareness of QR Codes the scanning rate is not in contention with this. However, 45% of consumers have scanned a QR code which remains a significant proportion for marketers to target.

Next Post: Reasons why respondents have not scanned a QR Code.

Do you know what a QR Code is? - RESULTS

Initially, it was necessary to offer a further opportunity to those that answered ‘No’. Due to extensive research of QR Code questionnaires it was critiqued that an image of a QR Code be included in a survey rather than just asking by name. As you can see from above image, this tactic proved successful.


Therefore, we can say that 206 people out of 220 people recognised a QR Code. That is almost a staggering 94% of respondents recognising a QR Code.
Though research methods and sampling size are different, the results are almost parallel to those of Japan in 2005 where there was a 96.5% had knowledge of a QR Code.

It is interesting to point out that respondents are somewhat familiar with a QR Code by name but the visual image of a QR Code is what triggered overall recognition.
To conclude, a staggering 94% of smartphone owners surveyed in Ireland know what a QR Code is either by name or/and image. This demonstrates the visual proliferation of QR Codes in Ireland.


Next Post:  - How many respondents are actually scanning QR Codes?

Smartphone ownership -RESULTS

Over the next few weeks, i will include results from an online survey conducted in Summer 2012 about QR Codes in Ireland.

Question: Do you own a smartphone?

Of the 332 people surveyed 252 people (76%) own a smartphone while 80 people (24%) do not own a smartphone. This is in line with the prediction by AMAS where smartphone ownership was due to increase from 49% in 2011 to 71% by the end of 2012.

For businesses, the main takeaway is that mobile needs to at the core of marketing strategy.

As the survey was online and only Irish respondents were required, the following question was asked.

Question: Do you live in Ireland?

Of the 250 people that qualified from Question 1 to answer this question, 222 (89%) of respondents were Irish residents while 28 (11%) were not.

After these filtration questions, the exciting results about QR Codes awareness followed.

Results in next post : )

NFC - a threat to QR Codes?

As technology improves, new developments that engage the offline to online world will emerge. The NFC technology may father the QR Code ubiquitous domination or perhaps offer an alternative approach.
Near Field Communication (NFC) is a new, short-range wireless connectivity technology that evolved from a combination of existing contactless identification and interconnection technologies. Products with built-in NFC will dramatically simplify the way devices interact with one another, helping people speed connections, receive and share information and even make fast and secure payments. Operating at 13.56 MHz and transferring data at up to 424 Kbits/second, NFC provides intuitive, simple, and safe communication between electronic devices. NFC is both a “read” and “write” technology. Communication between two NFC-compatible devices occurs when they are brought within four centimetres of one another: A simple wave or touch can establish an NFC connection, which is then compatible with other known wireless technologies such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. NFC can be used with a variety of devices, from mobile phones that enable payment or transfer information to digital cameras that send photos to a monitor with just a touch.

NFC is an evolved form of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). The difference is that RFID is a one-way street: But, crucially, NFC is two-way, allowing your NFC-enabled gadget to both send and receive information. The integration of NFC into mobiles allows consumers to easily opt-in to receive information from brands - for example by passing their phone over an NFC touch point to provide their email address and instantly receive more details on the product or service advertised. For brands, this new technology can also provide numerous benefits.
The technology, that can help boost social networking, like sharing contacts, photos, videos or entering multiplayer mobile games, will enable phones to double up as credit or debit cards, thanks to an embedded chip. Handset makers Nokia, Samsung and Research In Motion (RIM) have phone models that are NFC-enabled.

However, Apple’s decision to exclude a near field communications (NFC) chip from its new iPhone 5 handset may threaten or prolong NFC adoption as a contactless payment method at least.

The Future of Mobile Marketing (QR Codes)

QR Codes are gaining in popularity and the numbers of people scanning worldwide has increased (5.3 million scans recorded by ScanLife in June 2012 alone). In Ireland there is a notable proliferation of QR Codes on products, posters, flyers and print media.

“It also took time for people to realise why advertisements contained mutant crosswords” (The Economist 2012).

With the augmentation of smartphone ownership and the government plans of improved broadband there is potential for QR Code scanning to rise significantly.

According to the latest EConsultancy report (based on a survey of more than 650 US companies and agencies carried out in April and May 2012) “1 in 2 marketers are using QR codes to encourage their customers to interact with their brand“, up from just 8% a year ago.
This positions QR Codes as the most used mobile channel for engaging customers, surpassing other mobile channels such as mobile applications (35%), mobile commerce (29%), mobile optimized emails (29%), short message service (SMS) marketing (26%), location-based marketing (17%), multi-media messaging service (MMS) (7%) and Near Field Communication (NFC) (2%).

What is intriguing about this statistic is that much of the other methods (such as mobile optimised emails, SMS and MMS) content is pushed first by the company, where you have no control when you receive the message or even if you want it. With QR Codes you are in control, you are only scanning it because you want to and in the time and situation that is appropriate for you to do so.

Overall, there is huge growth potential for mobile marketing. The figures below shows consumers (U.S) are spending 10% of their media attention on their mobile devices while the medium only commands a mere 1% of total ad-spend. Comparatively, the quickly "dying" print medium attracts only about 7% of media-time, but still captures an astonishing 25% of the total U.S. ad-spend, with print receiving 25-times more ad money than mobile.  The disparity between the two mediums gives a strong indication as to how much room mobile still has to grow.

Limitations of QR Codes

Though the marketing world is steadily embracing QR Codes the actual amount of people adopting (scanning) QR codes in Ireland is undetermined.

The requirement that a QR Code be accessed via smartphones instantly eliminates 63% of today’s mobile market (Nielsen, 2011).

Forrester's research points to four obstacles to broader adoption:
• Many consumers do not know what QR codes are or how to use them;
• QR codes require users to download an application to their phones;
• There are no standards for codes and readers; and
• Content is often disappointing. Most codes only took consumers to company websites.

Lack of uniformity among QR Code scanning applications means that there is no one known QR Reader, there are in fact a plethora of readers which creates ambiguity among users. All QR Code readers are not created equal and it may be necessary to have at least two readers on your mobile device or the necessity to trial a few. This is because some readers need a good quality QR Code image for the scan to be effective, while other readers have a better ability to scan an image.

There is a fear that QR Codes may become another vector for on-line crime to weed its way into people’s devices by linking to malicious websites, and providing new way of luring people into phishing scams. These concerns are legitimate but much alike other communication portals –there is always going to be scams e.g. junk mail, phishing sites, premium text messages. The user should only trust QR Codes that come from a reputable site, brand, source, company and person.

Finally, the impact of new technology such as NFC  is seen to be the biggest limitation or competitor for QR Codes. However, this technology is expensive to implement unlike the free ability to make QR Codes. Additionally, it requires the users phone to have a special component (chip) inside.

Contextualised QR Code

Public and private parts of a contextualised QR Code.
 With thanks to Rouillard (2008)