Friday, August 12, 2011

The 1-in-244 odds of QR code use


At first glance QR codes are taking the world by storm, according to a new report by comScore. The study found that in June, 6.2 percent of all U.S. mobile users scanned a QR code -- or about 14 million consumers in total. ComScore has lots of juicy details, such as more men than women snap images of the codes, top users have more than $100,000 in household income, and the top source were codes printed in magazines and newspapers.

But wait -- is it really becoming a habit among Americans? The comScore report neglects to tell us how frequently users snap the codes. If you assume the average person scans two QR codes a month -- since this is an infrequent, new behavior -- then of the 6.2 percent of all mobile users using the codes each month only 0.41% do so on a daily basis. For a marketer, that means that the odds of any individual holding a smart phone actually scanning your code on a given day are 1 in 244.

Since QR codes are merely square blocks that send a cell phone user to a web site, and once there, some other conversion must take place for marketers to achieve their goal, a 1 in 244 maximum potential response rate at the top of the QR code marketing funnel seems anemic. Yes, the codes are beginning to be seen, but don't assume consumers will rush to snap. We estimate longer odds than the comScore study headline suggests.

Image: John Watson

4 comments:

Carol L. Weinfeld said...

Agreed. Until consumers have an incentive to scan QR codes, they won't. Many QR codes are added to ads without an explanation. Until marketers create value for consumers who scan QR codes, the behavior will be infrequent.

Mark Wright said...

These are still a substantially better odds than someone clicking on a banner ad - potentially as high as 4x.

Ming said...

QR will not take off - Layar Vision provides a far better mechanic for engagement by recognizing the 'fingerprint' of real world objects and applying augmented reality.

http://www.layar.com/browser/layar-vision/

xl pharmacy said...

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