This summer, customers who sit down on a terrasse often find no menu on the table, only a small printed square with the words "Scan here."
Restaurants reopened their dining rooms and terrasses in June with a long list of new rules, and a shared laminated menu passed from hand to hand is no longer considered a prudent option. As a result, the QR code, which most people had set aside years ago, is everywhere.
The technology is not new. Denso Wave, a Toyota group company in Japan, created it in 1994 to track car parts. Marketers here tried to popularize it around 2010 and 2011, with little success: scanning required a separate app, the destination page was usually a desktop site, and the public did not see the benefit. Two changes altered the situation. In 2017, Apple's iOS 11 allowed the standard iPhone camera to read QR codes, and many Android phones now offer the same function through the camera or Google Lens. Then, this year, touching shared objects became a concern. The QR code waited a decade to find a genuine purpose.
When does a QR code genuinely help a small business?
The Wikipedia page on QR codes covers the technical aspects. For a business, the question is simpler: when is a printed code more effective than a sentence?
It is more effective when the person is on site, phone in hand, and the next step takes place online. Here are some relevant examples:
- A menu or price list that changes often and would be costly to reprint.
- A sign at a trailhead or campground linking to a map, the rules or current conditions.
- A receipt or card requesting a Google review and linking directly to the review form.
- An event poster linking to the registration page.
- Packaging that links to instructions, recipes or a video that will not fit on the box.
In each case, the code saves the person from typing a long address on a small screen. That is its entire value, and it is sufficient.
One use is particularly effective in small towns: a code in the window of a shop that is closed for the day or for the season, linking to your hours, your online store or a way to order ahead. The code continues to serve your customers when no one is on site to greet them.
When does a QR code harm the customer experience?
The restaurant menu is the most significant case, and it has both advantages and drawbacks. For the owner, the solution is economical and flexible. For some customers, it is frustrating: older people who do not know how to scan a code, people whose battery is dead, dim lighting on a terrasse at nine in the evening, or a 12-page PDF that must be enlarged on a phone while the meal gets cold.
We expect many establishments to return to paper menus once health measures ease, and that will be a sound decision. A QR code should be an option, not the only way to access information. A person who cannot scan should never be left without an alternative. We recommend keeping a few printed menus behind the counter, starting now.
Other practices also frustrate customers:
- Codes on highway billboards. No one can safely scan a code at 90 km/h.
- Codes on websites and in emails, when the person is already using the device and could simply tap a link.
- Codes that lead to the home page and force the person to search for the information they wanted.
- Codes that stop working because the link expired or the "free" generator that was used started charging.
This last case is likely to affect many businesses. Some QR code generators provide a "dynamic" code that goes through their server first. This is convenient, since it lets you change the destination later. However, if you stop paying or the provider shuts down, every code you have printed stops working at once. If you use this type of code, make sure you know exactly who controls it and what it will cost next year.
What are the best practices for using a QR code?
Link to a fast mobile page
Everyone who scans a code is using a phone, often on mobile data and often standing up. The page must be designed accordingly: light images, large text and the information people are looking for placed at the top. A PDF is almost always the wrong choice. A simple landing page designed for one specific sign or flyer almost always performs better.
Print a short web address next to the code
Under the code, print an address that is easy to type, such as yoursite.ca/menu. It helps people who cannot scan and shows everyone the destination before they point their camera. This practice also builds trust. A QR code is a link that cannot be read. It is likely that malicious actors will eventually place fake codes over real ones in public places, and a visible address provides additional protection against that risk.
Track scans with a campaign tag
This step is rarely applied, yet it is the most useful.
Add UTM parameters to the link behind the code. These are a few words added to the end of the address, such as ?utm_source=flyer&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=summer-market. Google Analytics will then show you how many visits came from that flyer, that table tent or that poster at the dépanneur. Use a different tag for each placement.
You then have reliable data. The poster at the grocery store may have brought forty people, and the one at the gas station, two. The following season, you can adjust your printing based on these results rather than estimates. To go further, conversion tracking can follow those visits all the way to a booking or a sale.
Are QR codes here to stay?
The observed trend suggests they are, and not because of menus. Millions of people have now scanned a QR code, found that it is easy and no longer distrust it. That is precisely what was missing in 2011. The habit is now established, and habits generally persist beyond the reason that created them.
The principle remains the same: the code is only an access point, and the value lies in the page it leads to. A fast, useful page reflects well on both the QR code and the business. A slow PDF, by contrast, gives an impression of carelessness, and it is the business that bears the consequences.