In theory, QR codes are a great idea. They’re easy and extremely inexpensive for marketers to use. They allow advertisers to optimize space without reducing content. QR codes were meant to be the business world’s Narnia: a wardrobe full of information and opportunity.
If you’ve been living in fifties inspired cult town or experiencing rumspringa and have no idea what basic technology is, QR codes are short for “Quick Response,” according to Gizmodo. SC Magazine states that they are a “two-dimensional matrix barcode” that one can scan to link to websites, videos, and etc. Toyota invented them two decades ago for inventory purposes and they have been adopted by marketers within recent years.
QR codes are a hypothetical pathway to social media connection, growth, and overall success. The question is why in a world that thrives off of technology fads and instant gratification are QR codes deemed a failure?
 |
The business world finds these black and white catastrophes to be the latest and greatest marketing trend, but statistics suggest that they’re overhyped and a dying breed. So, why are QR codes considered a failed invention?
 |
In the world of texting and driving safety campaigns, you’d think designers would be smarter than putting QR codes in and on places that requires a driver’s attention. The absolute last thing I want to do while I’m on the highway is go “Wow, this is such a cool ad! Let me scan this QR code.” Pulling out my phone, waiting for the app to load, and then trying to scan a tiny blurb as I’m speeding along seems like the ultimate receipt for disaster.
2. Spam, Spam, and more Spam
A computer warns you if you click on a shady website. A smartphone does not and spammers out there take full advantage of it, according to Dan Raywood. This could lead to a number of different outcomes for affected users, such as your personal information could be shared to spammers. One out of five people that interact with a QR code have their personal information shared to cybercriminals.
Fun story, some of the information you involuntarily share will be your phone number to several spam calling lists. I had a QR code spam me with several phone calls about my severe credit card debt (which was hilarious to me, considering I didn’t own one at the time).
 |
Scan this code in the picture. You know what it leads to? A picture of the same ad that the QR code is on.
I see this kind of usage way too often in the QR world. The first time I discovered QR codes, I was in my local Kroger, where I saw a display of nail polish. I scanned the code, thinking it’d lead me to a website with more information. Nope, it was just another advertisement. To this day, I still do not know what the point of that nail polish was.
4. Viruses and Other Security Risks
We know about spam, but what other risks could there possibly be with QR codes? No one knows where a QR code is going to send you, which makes it easier to lead you to infected websites, malware apps, or phishing websites. One instance of deception is QR codes that charge you without your knowledge, and that’s mild compared to getting your data stolen.
 |
5. No Pre-loaded Apps
I mentioned before how a little over a third of users own smartphones. Fewer users go through the steps to actually download one of several QR scanning apps to their phone. Since this isn’t a program that is already embedded and the average owner has to go out of their way to connect with QR codes, it makes the popular marketing device almost obsolete from the get go.
6. No Clear Instructions
QR Codes are seemingly easy to use. You take out your phone, open the app, scan the code, and you’re directed to the desired media. So, how come only 13 percent of users are able to successfully scan QR codes, according to Mashable? The lack of instructions may have to do with the lack of pre-loaded application or technology skills by the general population, but it’s also something that contributes to the overall failure of this device.
 |
7. Fear of Unknown
The reason I like QR codes is also a reason they’re so incomparably awful: the unnecessary use for words. Instead of an advertisement saying “visit our website,” or “call us,” they give us this computer glitch looking graphic and don’t tell us what we’re getting into.
What am I scanning? What am I watching? What am I trying to win? What in the world did I sign up for?
8. Lack of Instant Gratification
For something that is supposed to speed along the ways of instant gratification, QR codes sure make you wait a lot. You wait for your app to load (and have it crash a couple of times, if course). You wait for it to scan. Then, you wait for it to slowly open up the video, page, or etc. Good luck, by the way, if you’re in an area with poor reception, like a subway. Wait until there’s a smart enough marketing team that’ll implement QR codes correctly.
9. Ugly
No explanation need.
10. Never Live Up to What it Could Be
I don’t hate QR codes. I hate how they’re implemented and how they’ll never live up to their potential. They’re a perfect fit for our society: quick, tiny, and cheap. They’re inappropriately placed, are an easy target for spammers, and don’t exactly work the way they were intended. They don’t even have an appropriate tracking system, so marketers don’t know if their efforts are working.
Look, advertisers, QR codes are attractive to you. I get that. You really want us to be connected to them so we can be interactive with you, but we’re just not into it.
In conclusion, QR codes are not a failure due to the inventor’s efforts, but rather the way it was adopted. I believe someone out there is going to take the general concept of QR codes and make them greater and more useful. Several have already begun their efforts, such as Blippar, Clickable, and Mobile Visual Search.
0 comments:
Post a Comment