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Contactless Marketing – Need of the Hour

COVID-19 has taken the world by storm and QR codes are coming to the rescue for businesses. The concepts of “social distancing”, “contactless marketing” and “safety first” are shaping up to be the new norms of interaction. Contactless marketing encourages social distancing while maintaining businesses operational. QR codes have become an indispensable part of our new contactless world and businesses are embracing them. 

 

QR codes are starting to pick up steam among the growing smartphone-browsing crowd – a statistic that has marketers brimming with creative ideas and promotions. Companies are finding innovative and unique ways to not only get you to scan their code, but boost its brand awareness in the process.  

The QR code wave is hitting the world.

QR Codes today are used everywhere, largely for marketing purposes to deliver an enhanced customer experience by brands and businesses of all sizes. But if you are a marketer who used QR Codes a decade back, you probably hate them. Back then, the mass end-users had a terrible experience in adopting QR Codes.

 

Most consumers had terribly slow speed internet, did not own a smartphone and even when they did, they had to download an app that took forever to scan a QR code. Upon scanning the QR code, the websites where users get redirected were not optimized for smartphones making the whole situation worse.

 

This is why QR Codes failed to pick up as a marketing tool as people were not using it back then.

 

Now businesses and brands have come to realize how powerful QR Codes are as a weapon to do contactless marketing. It is because of the following reasons:

  1. QR codes allow contactless marketing – This is one of the essential reasons why QR codes are useful and can serve as an effective marketing tool, especially now that we are facing the Covid 19 pandemic that requires us to minimize human contact. Customers can access QR codes using their smartphones and be in control of the situation.
  2. QR codes in marketing provide quick access to information – QR Code provides quick information directly to your target audience just by scanning them and without the need for bulky devices. Again, who doesn’t own a smartphone in this era?
  3. QR codes can build a relationship with customers – QR codes in marketing allows marketers and business people to have a more in-depth insight into their products and services, helping them build a deeper connection and trust with their customers.
  4. Bridge the gap between the online and offline world – Throughout the marketing campaign, marketers and business people use different types of medium to interact and engage with their audience, both offline and online media. QR codes help bridge this gap by integrating a virtual experience to their marketing that enhances the overall customer experience while being in a real-world setting.
  5. Access to real-time information – Using a Dynamic QR code generator online, you can also give out updated information about your products or services by changing the data behind your QR code anytime you want without having to re-print the QR code. You can easily update them about the changes in your product, and they can instantly access such information by scanning the QR code.
  6. QR codes in marketing pique customer’s curiosityCustomized QR codes can spark customers’ curiosity, and many brands are using them as part of their effective marketing strategy.
  7. QR codes to build customer databases – QR Code allows merchants to capture user data without requiring any physical contact. Brands are able to segment their customers with the help of data and market the targeted promotions, offers, or information. 
  8. QR codes are affordable – QR codes marketing is more affordable than other mobile marketing solutions owing to the various benefits. You can put QR code in various places, they do not need a lot of space, avoid reprinting exercise every time when your promotion changes, promote your marketing offers in a structured manner without requiring constant help from the professional content writers.
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Boost traffic in shopping mall post Covid-19

COVID-19 has challenged companies all across the globe to rewrite their forecasts, rethink their budgets, and shift their mode of operations almost overnight. Contactless marketing is becoming the need of the hour as it encourages social distancing while maintaining businesses operational. QR Codes do not require any physical contact and have no distance limitations.

 

With most businesses trying to be back on their feet by not just relying on online sales to bounce back, mall operators are thinking of ways to drive foot traffic back to their malls. Having said that, traditional ways of driving foot traffic to shopping malls may not work as well as before. 

 

With social distancing and increased hygiene practices are now the norm all over, crowd puller strategies such as on ground events, roadshows are no longer practical as they once were pre-pandemic.

 

So as shopping malls gear up to revive their business, they need to think carefully about how to attract shoppers to their mall. In contrast to the depressing situation which malls are facing, e-commerce has benefited from this episode of the virus outbreak as people are now turning to online platforms to purchase almost everything, from their daily necessities to luxury items.

 

While traditional retailers can list themselves on the online platforms to keep their business afloat, shopping malls have another challenge to win back the shoppers who have settled down with their changed behaviour to buy things online. 

 

To help the malls to drive foot traffic, we’ve put together some ideas that they can weave into their bounce back strategy.

1. Place MysteryQR code on the delivery boxes – Restaurant owners and retailers are relying on the e-commerce delivery platforms that are bringing them orders. In order to build a way for all these customers to visit their physical stores post-coronavirus, merchants can put up MysteryQR code on the delivery boxes for their users to scan. Upon scanning, users will get a mystery promo that they can redeem in the next visit. Shopping mall operators can work with the retailers to offer some extra perks and promotions from their side like Free Parking or coupons.

2. Capitalize on the free parking space – Malls located in the city centre or in the vicinity of official complexes can offer mystery promos on the parking. This will attract users to park their vehicles in the mall. Malls do not necessarily need to give it for completely free. They can create 5-7 different offers, such as for off peak hours, early birds, or a few dollars off from the total parking fee, or for off-peak hours. Generate a MysteryQR and place them strategically to promote it.

3. Billboard outside the mall – Place a MysteryQR billboard on the sides of the mall building. People passing by can scan the MysteryQR to receive a mystery promo from the brands inside the mall. It can generate traffic for the mall as people would walk in to redeem the promo and the mall also gets to have the user data.

4. A giant MysteryQR – Mall operators can be creative and use it at places like at the foyer area or hanging to the ceiling or at any third place, as long as it grabs the visitor’s attention. Place a timer and users can scan the MysteryQR every hour to receive a mystery promo from the retailers. An excitement to re-scan the QR after every hour would mean users spending more time inside the mall.

5. Campaign linking online-offline channels – Mall operators can leverage on their incoming footfall by turning them as an influencer for their mall. Set up a nice installation with MysteryQR, drive the people to take a photo of it and share it online for their followers to scan and win a promo from the mall. The person with the most number of likes on the image gets to win a big bumper prize from the mall.

6. People walking in with MysteryQR – Have a group of people dressed up like a QR code to engage with the mall visitors. Unlike having someone handing over leaflets or flyers promoting the campaign, users proactively scan the QR code in order to receive a mystery promo from the mall.

7. Tie up with influencers or brand ambassadors – Get the influencers to show the mall’s MysteryQR to their followers to scan and win a mystery reward from the mall or merchants. This is a great way to drive a new set of users to the mall, build the database, and calculate the ROI on engaging with the influencers.

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How MysteryQR brings down marketing costs

Small businesses looking to grow their presence know that internet marketing is a must. The shift toward digital marketing has become almost mandatory, impacting small businesses big time. Digital Marketing is always evolving, and even the most trusted digital marketing resources can go out of date almost overnight. Small businesses do not have the luxury of having a big size team or enough financial resources to invest in the best talent.

 

Topic of online marketing can be challenging to execute whether it is running facebook ads, staying creative on various channels, working with a lean budget, and staying up to date with the new innovations taking place. The overall cost of creating sustainable digital marketing strategies can be immense. 

 

Even at the offline side, small enterprises spend a lot of their resources in printing, reprinting marketing assets. The shelf life of many such marketing assets are very low, at times even just a day. Small enterprises often do not completely utilize their internal ecosystem that can be used to push marketing campaigns. Visiting Cards, delivery boxes, packaging, receipts, staff, merchandising space are not being used creatively. Walk into a shopping mall and you will see every merchant doing a flat discount percentage off promotion by putting up standee outside the store. There is nothing creative in doing that. Every month a similar strategy is utilized on a new standee. All this is a cost and it doesn’t translate into a consistent spike in sales. Worst is that the reach of all those promotions is limited. People outside the mall don’t even get to know about these campaigns.

 

With MysteryQR, enterprises create the gamified campaigns that are engaging for the customers, amplify them on multiple channels, and build communication channels for future interactions with the customers who scan the MysteryQR code. 

 

  • Gamified campaigns to engage with the customers – Users do not like ads, they love to get gratified. A small enterprise operates in a highly competitive landscape with very lean resources. They do not get multiple shots to grab the attention of customers. Businesses are always on a lookout to make a customer feel special by offering discounts, promos, coupons, deals, giveaways. In order to gain an unfair advantage over others who are possibly trying to do the same, marketers use MysteryQR as it’s a gamified way to gratify the customers. Gamification is a new but rapidly growing trend impacting a wide range of areas such as education, marketing, and others. Companies are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of gamification. Gartner studies highlight that 70% of companies on the Forbes Global 2000 list are currently using gamification techniques and that 50% of innovation processes will be gamified in the coming years. The striking aspect of gamification is that it drives the customer engagement by keeping the marketing cost optimal. Popularity of spin the wheel or scratch cards is known to us. With the growing demand of contactless marketing, MysteryQR is rising to the occasion as customers can scan it from a distance to claim a promo from the merchant. All they need is a phone with a QR code reader which everybody has these days. 
  • Amplify the campaigns on multiple channels/platforms – Marketing is not about spending money, it is about having multiple channels. Businesses who struggle to push their brand out have one thing in common, they do not make the most out of the internal resources. They rely on online mediums such as facebook ads, internet marketing, attractive promos such as giving deep discounts but do not leverage on the channels that they can use. Businesses can use MysteryQR via channels like social media, delivery boxes, receipts, billboards, visiting cards, flyers, live streaming, influencers, blogs, press releases, window decals, merchandise, and so on. Businesses even put it on their staff t-shirts or ask their staff to encourage customers to scan it. 
  • Build communication channels with the customers – There are many CRM companies out there that serve big businesses only. Small business owners do not have access to affordable, simple, and scalable tools that can build their database and further can be used to communicate with their customers. Current mindset is that one has to have a website to establish communication channels. For small enterprises, solutions should be fairly simple that merchants can use. With MysteryQR, merchants can build the database, collect user information. All that data can be used from multiple perspectives for example – to target the users who scan frequently to notify them about future events, or new launches, promotions etc.
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Affordable and scalable way to gratify your customers

Illustration describing a loyalty member card with Mystery QR and a woman receiving a reward on mobile phone

Loyalty programs gratify only those who are a member, card holder or the person who is paying the bill while MysteryQR gratifies all your customers.

 

For decades, businesses of all sizes have been using loyalty programs to gratify the customers by rewarding them. This is all done to keep them coming back.

 

Nowadays, businesses of all sizes and in just about every industry are using customer reward programs to improve customer loyalty and to make more sales. From Best Buy to Amazon to the confectionary shop down the street, companies are finding success with these rewards programs.

 

In fact, companies now spend over $2 billion each year on loyalty programs. Furthermore, the average consumer is a member of about 18 different customer rewards programs.

 

Ever gotten a punch card at a sandwich shop? For every certain number of sandwiches you buy, the shop gives you a free sandwich. Sounds simple but there is a decent cost attached to it.

 

Having a loyalty program by a SME owner is not a cup of tea. There are certain challenges for them such as:-

  1. Crowded Space – The entire loyalty and rewards program space is getting competitive. Everybody is trying to woo their audience by giving extra rewards, upsize cash back, or bonus points on top of the usual rewards.
  2. Cost – From coming up with the right structure that can give you an edge over the competition, to printing, to building an entire rewards mechanism, loyalty platforms and reward programs can be very expensive and out of reach for SMEs. Also all the points issued sit as a liability in the balance sheet.
  3. Customization – Most of the loyalty programs end up catering to around 4-5 consumer profiles – Basic, Bronze, Gold, Platinum. Customizing it mid-way is not an easy task. Businesses need to pen down a complete operating model before they start building loyalty programs.
  4. Urgency – Redemption rate of loyalty points usually stays low which also shows that it doesn’t bring in immediate rush factor among the audience.

SMEs look for solutions that are simple to understand by their staff, affordable for them, and technology wise it should not be complicated that leads them to educate their staff and consumers.

 

While trends in brand loyalty and customer retention are constantly evolving and advancing, all these advancements may not be cost friendly to install and execute.

 

That’s precisely what MysteryQR offers with its gamified concept to enhance the customer experience for SMEs. In order to gratify the customers, SMEs can use MysteryQR that gratifies the customer upon scanning. One of the big wins that is achieved by using MysteryQR is that SMEs or marketers can gratify everyone who comes and not only to the person who is paying the bill or owns a loyalty card.

 

For SMEs, MysteryQR works perfectly because of the following reasons:-

  1. Low Cost – While rewards are a cost, setting up the entire loyalty program itself is a cost. MysteryQR provides the most affordable solution to the merchants to gratify their customers. It cost a fraction of what usual loyalty programs cost and issuing the rewards in a gamification manner further brings down the rewards cost. Upon scanning, you get a mystery promo and not a set template such as a flat discount offer. It is like how a scratch card or spin the wheel gratifies the user.
  2. Gamification – According to Snipp, brands that incorporate gamification into their customer engagement strategies see a 47% rise in engagement, a 22% rise in brand loyalty, and a 15% rise in brand awareness. The same study also found that more than two-thirds of the world’s top 2,000 companies have already embraced gamification. MysteryQR helps merchants to incorporate gamification aspects while issuing rewards. It doesn’t require any tech integration or require users to download any app or store the rewards. All they need is a smartphone which everybody has these days. That’s it!
  3. Instant Gratification – 80% of the consumers prefer instant gratification via mobile offers while shopping. Concept of earning points, accumulating it, and redeeming it at some point in future works for industries like Airlines as users understand that they will have to perform some more actions before winning something substantial. From SMEs, users expect it to be a simple process and it is joyous to receive instant reward. It can be something that can be redeemed in the next visit or merchants can keep it in a manner where customers get more benefit if they spend more or within a particular time period.
  4. Target mass market – With MysteryQR, merchants can reward everyone and not limited only to the person who is paying the bill or having a loyalty app. Attracting the entire community or group of people is more beneficial for the SMEs rather than rewarding one person. People love to get gratified. They do not like to see ads. Gratifying someone with MysteryQR also drives the consumers to call upon their friends and family to try it out.
  5. Optimizing your resources – SMEs face an issue of non-moving inventory that is holding the shelf space or it could be perishable inventory. MysteryQR allows the merchant to use that inventory by giving them as a reward to their loyal or high spending customers. Rewards can be like “Spend X amount in the last 1 hour and win something special” or “First 10 customers after 9 PM get to win a mystery reward”
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Use Cases of MysteryQR

The aim of promotion is to increase awareness, create interest, generate sales, or create brand loyalty. Businesses run multiple promotions at any given point in time and they try to use as many channels as possible to amplify their promotions in order to maximize the reach. With MysteryQR, businesses can collate all of their promotions into one QR code and share it across different channels. Businesses can set the offers, play with the quantity as per the situation, push new themes, and more. Upon scanning, the user gets a mystery reward from the business and in return business gets advantages like optimizing their cost, measuring the campaign’s performance, gaining user data, and providing a gamified experience to the user.

 

Businesses who are looking to grow in today’s world know that both online and offline platforms are vital to their marketing campaigns. They both have wide reaches into different audiences, and one can cover where the other may not be easily visible.

 

With MysteryQR, businesses can link people from any offline media to any digital content, that further gives them the ability to retarget these users, and gain valuable information from them like where the best buyers come from, which campaign performs best, etc.

 

Since pretty much everybody has a smart device nowadays, they can scan and use the QR codes pretty easily. Just incentivize them, offer rewards by using the MysteryQR code and get them into your digital marketing funnel.

 

Coupons and vouchers are a great way to build bridges with potential customers. QR codes are a good way to track the success of your campaign, and even potentially build a database of users for later remarketing.

 

MysteryQR codes can be printed on any media: billboards, bus stops, coupons, flyers, digital signage, or even on visiting cards -where you will use QR codes is only limited by your imagination!

Let’s look at them one by one.

  • Business Cards – Put up a MysteryQR on your business card and make it an ice breaker by getting the recipient to scan the QR and gratify it with a coupon promo. Recipients will love you for that as everyday he/she will look forward to receiving an exciting promo. It is like you are handing over a lifetime scratch card to someone. Good part is that now you do not have to spend tons of money printing scratch cards.
  • Delivery Boxes – Food delivery companies charge 20 to 40% margin on every delivery. What if behavior becomes that customers just start ordering stuff online? In order to keep them engaged, merchants can put up a MysteryQR on the delivery box and target the customers by doing a promo that can be controlled from the backend. Merchants can play with their inventory and push it out to attract their customers to come over.
  • Receipts – Noticed Starbucks putting up Wifi password on their receipt? In the same manner, merchants can put up a MysteryQR on the receipt to gratify their customers. This works very well as a part of retention strategy.
  • Press Release – Insert a MysteryQR in your next press release, can bring in surprising results. Apart from getting the user data, if you place some good coupons in your MysteryQR, then don’t be surprised if your article goes viral. Usually PR articles go outdated after the initial few days or weeks but with your mystery promotions, the lifeline of your article can go up.
  • Blogs – Same is the case with the blogs. You spend so much money on SEO. Wouldn’t it be great if your readers also start sharing your blogs within their own circle or on their social media profiles? All that can happen if you leave a reward for your readers by using MysteryQR.
  • Staff – MysteryQR is a great tool that can be used by the staff to gratify your customers by rewarding not only the one who is paying the bill but to everyone who comes together in a group. All you have to do is get your staff to share MysteryQR and offer it to everyone to see what they win. No one ever said no to a promo reward.
  • Billboards – A QR code is similar to a nicely wrapped Christmas present. You look at the present and immediately want to know what’s inside it. But you can’t know until you open it. The same happens with MysteryQR. Grab the attention of the entire city by placing a MysteryQR with the text “Scan to Win”. Surely everybody is going to give a try and out of those many may end up taking the photo of it to share it further in their social media. This is ideal guerilla marketing.
  • Influencers – Calculating ROI in Influencer marketing has been tricky. With MysteryQR, you can count the number of people who scanned the QR code to claim the promo. All you need to do is that rather than writing the coupon code in text, have your influencer to show it in the photo asking his followers “Scan to Win”
  • Social Media – People do not like to see ads, people like to get gratified. Even if you tell about your in-store promo in your family chat group, you will be boycotted. Hence next time share the MysteryQR in your social platform and get the group members to participate in this gamified concept. People are likely to share it further in their own circle if you have lined up some good promos for the masses.
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Link offline and online using MysteryQR

Illustration showing online and offline connected by a bridge using QR code.

A decade back, marketers tried to connect offline customers with their online platforms by using QR codes only to discover that they were way ahead of their time because of slower internet connection speeds, lower smartphone penetration rates and the need to download separate apps to use the technology.

 

Fast forward today, everyone now has a smartphone clubbed with fast speed internet and QR code scanner and that has resulted in the usage of QR Codes go up by leaps and bounds. The number of smartphone users worldwide today surpasses 3.5 billion and is forecast to further grow by several hundred million in the next few years.

 

QR codes allow targeting smartphone users in a quick, simple, and affordable way

In today’s world, it’s all about accessing everything in a fraction of a second and getting the information across from one person to another or from a business to consumer. Now days, users are done with anything that’s slow and time-consuming. It’s all about being instant and fast, especially in the world of marketing. QR codes can provide more information about the product or service without a sweat and the information quickly goes to the user’s device.

 

QR code marketing is more affordable than other mobile marketing solutions owing to the various benefits.

 

QR codes are images that can be decoded through specially built-in readers in tablets and smartphones. These are two-dimensional codes that contain a lot of information than traditional bar codes.

 

QR codes are easily trackable, appeal to people’s curiosity, and can be found in many places such as social media apps, newspapers, billboards, magazines, web pages, and any other marketing material.

 

Gamification in marketing by using MysteryQR

Marketers are always on a lookout to make a customer feel special by offering discounts, promos, coupons, deals, giveaways. In order to gain an unfair advantage over others who are possibly trying to do the same, marketers use MysteryQR as it’s a gamified way to gratify the customers. Gamification is a new but rapidly growing trend impacting a wide range of areas such as education, marketing, and others. Companies are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of gamification. Gartner studies highlight that 70% of companies on the Forbes Global 2000 list are currently using gamification techniques and that 50% of innovation processes will be gamified in the coming years.

 

There are upfront benefits of using MysteryQR are:-

  • Instant Gratification – Over 80% of the customers appreciate instant gratification via mobile offers while shopping

  • Mass Gratification – Customers do not like ads, they love to get gratified. This can be achieved with simple messaging such as “Scan to Win” in the offline or online space. We all have seen how people queue up to spin the wheel of fortune to try their luck. Scanning a QR code is exponentially faster than that.

  • Play with the marketing budget – Marketers can play with their marketing budget as because of the gamification concept, their cost to run the flat discounts or coupons can go down.

  • Build the database – This is where marketers win big. Upon scanning, in order to win a mystery reward, the user key in their phone number or email id and the reward is sent to them digitally. This is indeed a valuable piece of information that every marketer looks up to.

All this information helps marketers to craft their next marketing strategy, stay connected with their customers, grow their online presence, channel the footfall to their online platform.

 

Read more: What is MysteryQR?

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MysteryQR vs. Regular Promo Campaigns

Illustration showing promotion campaigns and reward programs converted to a single QR code by MysteryQR

One of the key differences between the regular campaign and MysteryQR campaign is that with MysteryQR you can promote your multiple campaigns with the help of one unified QR code in a gamified manner.

 

All marketers, SMEs run promo campaigns to engage with their customers. In fact, most of them run multiple campaigns simultaneously.

It could be to:-

  • Acquire new customers,
  • Retain the existing customers,
  • Reward loyal customers,
  • Cross-sell them to your new service,
  • Up-sell them to drive their average spending.

While at the consumer end, these campaigns are pretty straight forward but at the business end, executing each and every campaign can be a task to juggle with multiple items.

 

And after rolling out the campaign, there is a possibility that campaign might not perform as expected because:-

  • It simply doesn’t attract customers or;
  • It could be because your competition decides to do better promotion or;
  • Your campaign is not getting enough visibility as you are located on the 5th floor of the shopping mall or;
  • You do not understand digital marketing as it is evolving too fast, and even the most trusted digital marketing resources can go out of date almost overnight.

At that point, the problem becomes even bigger as it gets difficult to go back. As a marketer, business owner, you cannot pull back your campaign, or even make the edits in the structure. For most of the business owners who are lean on resources, they end up giving it up and accepting that nothing more can be done.

Aggressive Campaign Structures

MysteryQR makes the campaigns stand out from others. While rest of the world is stuck up with the offers like 10% or 20% off, MysteryQR allows the marketers to do aggressive campaigns like “Scan to get up to 100% off” or “Scan the QR, Win up to Free Tesla”. Like, this image shows an eye-catching billboard in a shopping mall asking customers to scan the QR code and grab a change to win a Tesla.

Promoting Multiple Campaigns

Businesses can promote multiple campaigns via one single QR code. Businesses run multiple campaigns at any given point in time. Let’s take an example of Domino’s. You receive a flyer with multiple promotions along with the Domino’s delivery but not many people look at it as it’s too much content. Putting up a sticker on the delivery box that says “Scan to Win a Promo” on the box is a much better call to action.

Leveraging on the existing channels to increase the visibility

Marketing is not about spending money. It is about having multiple channels where you can push your campaigns to reach out to the audience. Many marketers, SMEs, business owners; do not acknowledge the ecosystem they have that can be used to go beyond branding purposes and to promote their campaigns and digital platforms. It can be business cards, delivery boxes, shopping bags, receipts, webinars, staff, blogs, flyers, and other promotional materials.

 

Optimizing operational & marketing costs

MysteryQR benefits the marketers and SMEs by keeping the campaign execution cost low. There is so no need to burn money in printing the promotional material that usually has a shelf life of a few weeks or a month. Also business can improve the ROI of the campaign as rewards can be tiered in a manner that can bring down the blended cost lower than what usually merchants incur when they do flat discount campaigns.

 

Get Started with MysteryQR 

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Why Marketers and SMEs use MysteryQR?

Everybody loves to get gratified

People do not like to see advertisements, they love to get gratified. As per the survey done by Global Industry Analysts in the US, 80% of customers appreciate instant gratification via mobile while shopping.

 

Connecting the offline-online world

Marketers, SMEs, businesses are targeting mobile users via QR codes as they are cost-effective, universally applicable. QR Codes help marketers reach their target audience in the offline world and connect them directly to their digital platforms. At any given point in time, marketers, SMEs, businesses run multiple marketing campaigns across various online, offline channels.

We have seen merchants doing promotions:

  • For off-peak hours
  • For off-peak days
  • For specific days
  • For a particular store
  • For social media
  • For early bird offers
  • For giveaways
  • For cross-selling
  • For upselling

The list can go on and there are many combinations that can be added further.

 

Marketers love MysteryQR as they can amplify all of their promotions by collating all of them into one QR code and putting them across online and offline channels. Upon scanning, the user gets gratified by a mystery promo from the pool of options that are pre-fed by the marketers or business owners.

Guaranteed wins for the marketers and business owners by using MysteryQR

  1. Gratify your customers – We all have played spin the wheel or scratch card in our lives and unanimously we all agree how appealing they are, right? We’re all human; it’s normal to want instant gratification. MysteryQR brings the concept of gamification to make the marketing campaigns go viral. The good part is that it doesn’t require marketers to spend a lot in building heavy billboards or printing tons of scratch cards. All they need is a QR code that can be put up on the online and offline channels.
  2. Building database – MysteryQR helps marketers and business owners to build the database at a fraction of cost. Upon scanning, the user key in their email/phone number, and the reward is sent to the user. Owning a database is super valuable. It can be used further for many different monetization purposes. It can be setting up your own not-so-complicated CRM mechanism, loyalty platform, and more.
  3. Measure & Improving ROI – MysteryQR allows marketers to measure the performance of their campaigns by the number of users who scanned, claimed, redeemed, and redirected to their digital platform.
  4. Totally customizable – MysteryQR allows the marketers and business owners to play around with the offers that are doing well by pushing them more and editing the offers where redemption is low. Marketers and business hours spend hours, days, and months to roll out a campaign and often they face bottleneck because of a lack of creative resources such as designers, content writers, or even getting physical printing done. With MysteryQR, marketers, and business owners do not need to haggle around with such stuff. Imagine you are a restaurant owner and you forecast a lot of perishable inventory that may not move off the shelf by end of the day as it has suddenly started raining or generally footfall is low. You can just go to the backend and throw a crazy deal such as “10 cents for a pastry after 9 pm”, set the quantity, and share the MysteryQR within your network or to the people who are around. There are numerous possible curated use cases that any marketer or business owner can think of that can fit their business.
  5. Easy to roll out – MysteryQR doesn’t require users to download an additional app or any sort of integration at the business end. You can create a campaign from your mobile itself on a real-time basis.
  6. Incremental Revenue – Marketers and business owners use MysteryQR to upsell and cross-sell. You do not need to always give a deep discount to attract a customer. No need to re-invent the wheel. Just put your promos for the inventory that you want to push out. Example – Spend $100 to avail the promo. If you are a platform that has super high traffic, then you can even push promos sponsored by other businesses. You can recall the promos that are funded by the banks, Visa, Mastercard running at big brands.
  7. Optimize Resources – Marketers, SMEs, Business owners spend a lot of their resources in printing, re-printing exercise. Spend tons of money on Facebook ads that by the way, don’t give single-user data. There is no unfair advantage that marketers or SMEs or offline business get as they are doing the same campaigns which their competitor is doing. Digital Marketing is always evolving, and even the most trusted digital marketing resources can go out of date almost overnight. Small businesses looking to grow in the digital world know that internet marketing is a must. The shift toward digital marketing has become almost mandatory, impacting small businesses big time. The cost of creating sustainable digital marketing strategies can be immense. MysteryQR is emerging as a prominent tool for small businesses to bridge the gap between the online-offline world in a quick and simple manner. 

Read more: What is MysteryQR?

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Do Marketers use QR Codes?

Illustration showing marketers love QR code for both small and big markets

QR Codes today are used everywhere, largely for marketing purposes to deliver an enhanced customer experience by brands and businesses of all sizes. But if you are a marketer who used QR Codes a decade back, you probably hate them. Back then, the end-users had a terrible experience using QR Codes: there were problems galore with mass end-user adoption.

 

Most consumers had terribly slow speed internet, did not own a smartphone and even when they did, they had to download an app that took forever to scan a QR code. Upon scanning the QR code, the websites where users get redirected to were not optimized for smartphones making the whole situation worse.

 

People stopped using it and hence QR Codes failed to pick up as a marketing tool.

Do people use QR Codes now?

QR codes are being used by millions now. Everyone now has a smartphone clubbed with fast speed internet and QR code scanner. The number of smartphone users worldwide today surpasses 3.5 billion and is forecast to further grow by several hundred million in the next few years. Smartphone owners do not have to download a separate QR Code app.

 

The use of QR Codes surpasses the bazillion mark. QR Code usage is now more than ever for marketing purposes, payment services, and various industry verticals for other useful use-cases. QR Codes have become an integral part of everyday life. In many countries, primarily QR codes are getting used for making payments, receiving offers, and unlocking coupons.

 

Why marketers are using QR codes?

Businesses and brands have come to realize just how powerful QR Codes are as a weapon in their marketing arsenal. People now keep track of their favorite brands and products through their mobile devices. Targeted to mobile users, QR Codes are cost-effective, universally applicable, and help marketers reach their target audience in the offline world connecting them directly to their digital platforms.

 

Since the Internet hardly extends beyond digital platforms by itself, object hyperlinking aims to extend it to the physical world by attaching tags with URLs to tangible objects or locations.

 

QR Codes do just that by linking in-store products to Internet resources, enhancing the value of the shopping experience for buyers. This is a simple and easy way to enhance shopper’s experience and how customers interact with your product and services.

  • QR codes allow contactless marketing – This is one of the essential reasons why QR codes are useful and can serve as an effective marketing tool, especially now that we are facing the Covid 19 pandemic that requires us to minimize human contact. Customers can access QR codes using their smartphones and be in control of the situation.
  • QR codes in marketing provide quick access to information – QR Code provides quick information directly to your target audience just by scanning them and without the need for bulky devices. Again, who doesn’t own a smartphone in this era?
  • QR codes can build a relationship with customers – QR codes in marketing allows marketers and business people to have a more in-depth insight into their products and services, helping them build a deeper connection and trust with their customers.
  • Bridge the gap between the online and offline world – Throughout the marketing campaign, marketers and business people use different types of medium to interact and engage with their audience, both offline and online media. QR codes help bridge this gap by integrating a virtual experience to their marketing that enhances the overall customer experience while being in a real-world setting.
  • Access to real-time information – Using a Dynamic QR code generator online, you can also give out updated information about your products or services by changing the data behind your QR code anytime you want without having to re-print the QR code. You can easily update them about the changes in your product, and they can instantly access such information by scanning the QR code.

QR codes in marketing pique customer’s curiosity – customized QR codes can spark customers’ curiosity, and many brands are using them as part of their effective marketing strategy.

 

 

Read more: What is MysteryQR?

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Spotlight on what is MysteryQR

MysteryQR is redefining & re-engaging offline-online mobile advertising campaigns by using QR Code. It’s a gamified way to make the marketing campaigns go viral. Upon scanning the QR, the user gets a mystery promo. Merchants use the MysteryQR Code for multiple reasons that can get them extra advantage over others. It could be to drive engagement, build the database, avoid the challenges to execute complex digital marketing strategies, and leverage on their existing ecosystem.

 

Let’s take an example of Domino’s. Today, when you order Domino’s, you receive a flyer that has multiple promos on it but the large numbers of recipients do not act or react to it. Instead of spending a crazy amount of time, money, and the effort to roll out the next campaign; just place a MysteryQR on the delivery box with the text “Scan To Win”.

  • Now when user A scans the Mystery QR Code, he/she receives promo of Buy 1 Free 1
  • User B scans the same Mystery QR Code, he/she receives $5 off the next transaction
  • User C scans the same Mystery QR Code, he/she receives a free choco lava cake promo on the next transaction

QR codes are starting to pick up steam among the growing smartphone-browsing crowd – a statistic that has marketers brimming with creative ideas and promotions. Companies are finding innovative and unique ways to not only get you to scan their code, but boost its brand awareness in the process. And now, companies can gamify their marketing campaigns, bring down the cost, improve ROI, track data, and build CRM strategies.

 

We can highlight all the great opportunities you could get from using MysteryQR Codes on your existing platforms, but the best way to learn is through examples. Below are a few snippets from fictional brands to inspire you:-

  • Social Media
  • Billboards
  • Influencers Marketing
  • Printed Marketing Material

  •  Business and Loyalty Cards

  • Receipts

  • Live Streaming

  • Press Release / Blogs

  •  Delivery Box

Every business owner, be it SMEs or big boys, runs multiple campaigns at any given point in time. MysteryQR helps business owners to amplify their marketing promotions by expanding their reach to the masses. Running a campaign using MysteryQR Code helps you in multiple ways:

  • Promoting multiple campaigns – Merchants, SMEs, or business owners can collate all of their promos into one QR code
  • Aggressive promotions – We all quite often see merchants doing promotions like “Get 20% off”. Honestly, they do not make an impact anymore as every other merchant is doing the same. With MysteryQR, merchants can do aggressive and impactful campaigns like “Get up to 100% off”
  • Building database – Merchants can build a database at the fraction of a cost and such can data can be used from various angles to further, monetize it.
  • Gamifying campaigns – Users do not like to get advertised. Users love to get gratified and MysteryQR does exactly the same.
  • Campaigns going viral – Imagine if you see a billboard outside the mall that says “Scan and you can win up to a Free TESLA”. We are sure that you are definitely going to scan once and will push your friends and family as well to scan it. You are definitely going to go a step forward and share the photo of the QR code in your social media platform making the campaign go viral.
  • Cost-Effective – Running a MysteryQR code campaign is very cost-effective as you do not have to haggle with re-printing your flyers or printed materials again and again.
  • Customizable – MysteryQR code campaigns are totally customizable and can be edited anytime and anywhere easily. You can play around with your inventory, messaging, promotions easily
  • Optimize your resources – Many brands do not like to give discounts as it cheapens the brand value but they do not mind using their inventory to reward the customers. Example – You scan a code and receive a promo that says “Free Choco Lava Cake for $1 only after 9 pm”. It makes much more sense to move the perishable inventory off the shelves rather than dumping them. For customers, it would be a sweet deal 🙂