Great thought from Andy Sernovitz:
“A lot of usability simply comes down to timing. If it’s not convenient for them, people just won’t do it. QR codes are a great example. It seems like they’re always
jammed in odd places at odd times — which is part of the reason so few people bother with them. But Applebee’s stumbled onto a great moment to feature them: At the table while customers wait for their food. People already have their phones out, and the QR codes give them something to explore. The result of the experiment was a whopping 30,000 conversions in just one month. That’s a whole bunch of people using a still-new technology, and all because they found the right time to present it.
The lesson: Find the perfect time and you’ll find the best way to help them use it.”
Go ahead, snap it. You know you want to.
I can see a consignment, resale, thrift using QR codes
- in the dressing rooms: leading to a page on your blog where you talk about “Do these jeans make my butt look AWESOME?!?” with fit tips,
- or a QR code for a thrift posted by the linens leading to a blog entry “What size tablecloth fits what?”…
- or even, on the designer rack where the most-expensive stuff hangs, a QR code labeled “Why should I pay $40 for a used designer dress?” leading to a page with photos of all the folks your charity helps.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Thanks Kate,something to thing about when using QR codes!
We use QR codes in all of our advertising and make a special effort to highlight them with graphic arrows, colors, etc. We found that if you don’t make them stand out they’re simply ignored. Conversions increased over 20% after we made these changes and conversions have been particularly good on our coupons since we increased the size of the coupon and highlighted the QR codes. They are linked to our video pages which offer a series of short and useful videos about our store, polices, sales, events, etc. Feedback has been terrific. We also started a new “QR campaign” which states “What’s the secret?” It has an arrow pointing to the QR code and it’s linked to a page on our website called “resale secrets you need to know”. We have about 25 “secrets” that are randomly rotated. Our customers love them!
P.S. Sad that “people already have their phones out” in restaurants. My husband and I really get upset with people yacking on the phones in restaurants. There is hope though! A local restaurant here recently put tent cards on their tables asking people to take their conversations and texting outside. I asked the owner about this and said people told him he was nuts and would lose business but his feedback so far has been very favorable. He said many of his customers have gone out of their way to thank him for the new policy. Like I said, there is hope! BTW, who is Andy Sernovitz?
Thanks Kate!
Elaine, I think the randomly-rotated secrets are a great idea! Can you share with other shopkeepers, an example or two? Are they tips, or discounts, or ?
As the proud owner of a dumb phone, do you find folks like me feel left out of the QR stuff? Also, do you caption your QR codes, so people know what to DO with them?
Andy Sernovitz has the ideal name for this electronic age… exquisitely google-able. Unlike, say, Kate Holmes. 🙂 Look him up and get his daily (?) emails… he brings up interesting points!