Bringing online & offline together
Last week I wrote an article for the Tech Notes column in The Journal giving one tiny example of how marketers can unite their online and offline activities to create a single seamless user experience. This is a fascinating topic for me, and something that keeps me up at night scribbling in my Moleskine, so it was great to share a couple of ideas…
At Riff Raff I spend most of my days dreaming up new ways to bridge the gap between the online world and its bricks n’ mortar counterpart. The holy grail, for me, is to provide a seamless integration of digital engagement and the physical customer experience. But more often than not, these worlds are disjointed, and brands are still thinking about them in separate terms: I either pop to the shops, or I visit the website. But not both.
So how do we create a seamless customer experience, from the Google search result to the cash register? As ever, there is no right or wrong answer, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t give you at least one small nugget to chew on as you think about your own digital strategy; Something simple, accessible and versatile to whet your appetite: QR codes.
A QR (Quick Response) code is a two dimensional matrix bar code that is readable by most modern mobile devices, via one of hundreds of QR code scanning apps available for smartphones, or with one of the growing number of camera phones with QR scanning support built-in. These codes can contain all sorts of data, from website URLs to contact information, providing a vital link between the physical (printed) world and digital technologies.
Scanning a QR code with a hyperlink in it will take you to the appropriate webpage on your smartphone, whilst scanning a code containing vCard data will add the contact to your address book. But this is only half the story. The most exciting aspect of QR codes is that they can be automatically generated on the fly, very easily, using one of many free web services. So what does this mean for consumer brands?
Imagine the increase in footfall if you were to reward your email newsletter subscribers with a discount voucher that your checkout staff could scan and verify in-store. Better still, imagine letting your customer scan the QR tag on the shoes she’s trying on, pulling up a list of matching handbags and accessories. How’s that for up-selling?
There’s much more to be explored here, especially for retailers and other bricks n’ mortar businesses who want to unify their online and offline traffic, but the moral of the story is this: the experiences you provide for your customers don’t have to be fragmented. It just takes a little imagination, and intelligent application of technology to provide a seamless digital and physical experience that adds genuine value to your customer experience.
There are many more killer applications for QR codes that I simply didn’t have the space to write about. Please post a comment if you have any other ideas.
