QR codes are becoming big tools for marketers and much more popular for smartphone and tablet users. Here is what a typical QR code looks like.
What exactly is a QR code? As described by Marc Lyne for Search Engine Land: “They come to us from Japan where they are very common. QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). They are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media and put it in to your cell phone. You may soon see QR Codes in a magazine advert, on a billboard, a Web page, or even on someone’s T-shirt. Once it is in your cell phone, it may give you details about that business (allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details about the person wearing the T-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet. The reason why they are more useful than a standard barcode is that they can store (and digitally present) much more data, including URL links, geo coordinates, and text. The other key feature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, many modern cell phones can scan them.”
So, who are the most active users of QR technology in the world? According to a Pitney Bowes’study highlighted by eMarketer, it is young adults in the United States.
Click the chart to see more results from the Pitney Bowes’ study.
