How QR Codes Helped my Business

I was looking for a new way to promote my products when I came across QR codes. I had heard of them but had never really given them much thought. I love a good story and a good customer experience, and QR codes provide an easy way to do both.

What are QR codes?

Quick Response codes, or QR codes for short, are matrix barcodes that can hold an enormous amount of data. The reason they are called “quick response” codes is because you can scan them with a smartphone camera and have the information pop up immediately.

You can use many different services to create a QR code, but I'll discuss a few of the most popular ones below.

Google Maps QR Codes

One of the most popular QR codes is the one that can be found on Google Maps. You simply load the map in your browser and look for the little QR code icon next to the business names. When scanned, this code will bring you directly to that business's page on Google Maps. For example, if I wanted to find a Thai restaurant in Sydney, I would simply look for the QR code on Google Maps and the link would take me directly to the Thai restaurant's page on Google Maps.

Since businesses can specify the max height and width of the QR codes they create, there is no clipping when using these codes on a website or in a pitch deck. This makes them ideal for displaying large amounts of information without running into issues with scrolling on a mobile device.

iOS App Store QR Codes

QR codes have also become incredibly popular in the iOS App Store. Much like the Google Maps example above, iOS App Store shoppers can simply scan a QR code with their smartphones' camera and be taken directly to the app's details page on the store. From there, they can make a purchase or download the app directly.

The reason this is popular in the App Store is that many app developers let their users create QR codes for promotional purposes. For example, Slack, a popular workplace messaging app, gives users the ability to create QR codes for others to scan and quickly access information about the app. Similarly, Thrive, a productivity app, uses QR codes in its marketing material to allow users to easily navigate its features.

Bing Search QR Codes

Bing Search uses QR codes in its snippet cards. When a user scans one of these cards with a smartphone camera, they see a small QR code in the lower-right corner. If the user has downloaded the Bing app on their smartphone, they can click on this code and be taken to a page on the app with more information about the product or service that is mentioned in the snippet card.

Bing Search also allows you to create custom URL shortcuts to point directly to any webpage, app, or product. For example, if I wanted to find info on Sudocrem, a popular Canadian skincare product, I could enter sudocrem.com into the search bar and click on the associated QR code. This would open up a page on the app with all the information I could want about the product.

Facebook Ads & Shopify Product QR Codes

Facebook Ads, which can be found at adwords.facebook.com, uses QR codes to allow users to easily jump to specific product or service pages. If I wanted to go directly to a page about Vichy, a French skincare brand, I would do so by entering vichy.com into the ad's URL. After clicking on my ad, I would be presented with a small QR code that I could scan with my phone's camera to be taken to the Vichy product page.

Shopify, a massive e-commerce platform that is available in a number of different countries, also uses QR codes in some of its product pages. If I wanted to go directly to a product called “Diet Caffeine Free Cola,” for example, I would click on the associated QR code found on the page and be presented with a screen that enabled me to make a purchase. To see more details on this product, I would have simply to click the Info button to be taken to the product's page on Shopify.

LinkedIn Product QR Codes

LinkedIn, a popular professional networking service, uses QR codes in some of its product pages. If I wanted to go directly to a product called “Gym Equipment That I Can Use At Home,” for example, I would click on the small QR code next to the product's title in the upper-right corner and be taken to a page on the app with all the information I could want or need about the product.

Since many businesses use these services to power their sales funnel, having a QR code next to every product and service makes for easy navigation. This is especially helpful for users who are searching for a certain product and are likely to click on the first few relevant results that pop up on a smartphone screen.

Snapchat Product QR Codes

Snapchat, the popular photo-sharing app that is sometimes used for social media campaigns, uses QR codes in its public stories. If I wanted to, for example, head to a product page for the Huawei Ascend Mate 7, I would simply enter the product's name into the app's search bar and press the Search button. After the search bar returns a list of results, I would click on the third result from the top to be taken to the product page.

The photo-sharing app also allows its users to create custom URL shortcuts directly to point to any webpage, app, or product. If I wanted to find more information on the Mate 7, I could simply enter mate7.com into the app's URL bar and click on the QR code associated with this URL to be brought to a page on the app with all the information I could want about the product.

Medium Blog article QR Codes

Medium, a popular blogging platform, uses QR codes in some of its blog posts. To see more details on a post called “How to Create an Awesome Blog that will Dominate Your Industry,” for example, I would simply enter the blog post's URL into the app's search bar and click on the first relevant result to be brought to a page on Medium with all the information I could want or need about the post.

Many businesses use these services to power their sales funnel, so having a QR code next to every article, post, or product makes for easy navigation. This is especially helpful for users who are searching for a certain product and are likely to click on the first few relevant results that pop up on a smartphone screen.

Custom QR Codes From Scratch

While there are many services that will generate QR codes for you, you don't necessarily need to use them. If you are technical enough, you can also create your own QR codes from scratch. The only limitation is that you will need to ensure that the resulting codes are short enough to fit on a mobile device's screen.

To create a QR code from scratch, you will first need to decide on the size you want your barcode to be. There are four basic sizes that you can choose from:

  • 64x64 pixels
  • 48x48 pixels
  • 32x32 pixels
  • 16x16 pixels

Once you have decided on the size, you can move on to the color. The two options are black and white, or colored. If you are comfortable writing your own colors, you can create them using HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) or RGB (Red, Green, Blue) notation.

If all that sounds a bit much, then you always try the Online QRCode Creator from VividQR. This platform lets you create QR codes in many styles and colours, and for many different purposes. For example, you can create QR codes for your Contact Info using a VCF QRCode, or even use QR codes to create an SMS. 

About Us

We're an electrician and a coder who set out to make an intuitive, useful app for our local business community.

The idea for VividQR started when we were talking to friends at the farmers market. We met entrepreneurs with great products and websites, struggling to get customers onto their websites for refills and upsells, and not sure which upcoming location would be most convenient for their customers.

This gap between analytics and printed media/product packaging is the one we seek to bridge with VividQR. This is something that big companies have been doing for years, but we want to bring the power of this technology to everyone, in an affordable and easy to use platform.

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