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Thoughts on QR Codes
I’ve been tweeting a fair bit lately (and commenting on posts) about QR codes. I don’t hate them, but here are some reasons I’m not convinced they are worth the effort.
(Apologies in advance for a rambling post. It’s late, and i type for crap on my phone.)
What need do they fill?
The way I fend off Shiny Object Syndrome is to ensure that I use something- a new tool or technique- not because it is shiny, but because it fills a need.
Call me short-sighted, but there aren’t too many things that I need or want to get from my (smart)phone that I can’t get already in some other form. And it doesn’t improve the experience to get out my phone, fire up my QR code-reading app and point at the QR code only to have information returned to me that would have been better suited for the print item I was already looking at, or so forth.
Example: I was at a big-box electronics store the other day to replace my router. Just for fun (and scientific research) ;) I scanned a QR code on the product label on the shelf for a particular router. Ok, there was some information there, but it duplicated what was already on the product label in print, or what was on the box. Maybe there was something new there, but it wasn’t easy to discern. The QR code didn’t fill any need for me, didn’t add to my experience or help me in any way.
Perhaps this was just one example of poor execution, so let’s look at some other suggestions that have been floating around.
I hate filling out web forms on my phone.
So as far as nonprofit actions go, I am highly unlikely to engage, donate, sign a petition, share my information or write a letter to a legislator via the web form - mobile friendly or not- that your QR code served up. Maybe that’s just me. I’m kind of grinchy about my phone. ;) I’ve been doing some informal polling, and I don’t get the idea that it is just me though…
But let’s pretend your landing page is Made of Awesome.
So I can imagine in a non-specific way that there could be something seriously cool that a QR code could deliver- I bet there are plenty of people more creative than me who will dream this stuff up. There still remains the challenge of putting that code in front of your target audience.
If you’re already designing mailers and print items and so forth with specific goals in mind (and you are, right?) then just slapping a QR code on to those things can really muddy the proverbial waters. So I guess this is simply a caution- I think QR codes should be implemented with more intention that just including them on the things you’re already doing with other goals and strategies in mind.
A final example…
I admit I haven’t tried using QR codes extensively, but I did have one interesting experience. I designed a flyer for a college campus that included a QR code. The student leadership group that I was working with took one look at the flyer and asked what that weird-barcode-thingy was. One of them knew that there was something he could download on his phone, but he couldn’t remember what it was called.
If these 20-somethings aren’t into it, and fuddy-duddy 30-somethings like me are over it, then mercy, who are QR codes for?
I’m sure there is some need, some content and some delivery vehicle that all fit together and make sense with one another for QR code use. I just suspect that the occasions when all these things dovetail is more of an exeception than a norm.
Alrighty then- o interwebs, come prove me wrong! ;)
Tell me what you want, what you really, really want…
If you want to live in a spam-free world, I’d like your opinion about something.
I don’t like spam. I know you don’t either. I don’t like it whether it’s spam according to a legal definition or someone’s personal definition. I think that only people who want stuff should be sent that stuff.
So here’s the question:
Why would you write your email address on a form (or provide your email in some other way) but NOT select the opt-in checkbox? I’m not asking that in an incredulous tone. I sincerely want to know- what is someone trying to communicate by providing her/his email address but not giving permission to use it?
I want to build with bricks.
In chatting with a colleague recently, I mentioned that I have changed my position over time when it comes to web Content Management Systems (CMSes). Or rather, I have landed back where I started.
In short, I don’t like them. Here’s what I told him when he asked me why.
Do you remember what Legos were like when we were young? They came in pieces. Lots of tiny pieces. And you could make anything out of them! I had (still have, actually) the wonderful Yellow Castle set. Of course, there are detailed instructions on how to make the castle. And the set has a few pieces that are very specific to castles – flags and the like. But most of the pieces are such that I could have made anything I wanted out of that set.
At some point in time, I noticed that many of the boxed set pieces were now molded to specific shapes (sections of spaceship hulls, smooth surfaces of sand dunes, etc.). Those pieces are really only good for making one thing. Sure, there are still some 1x2s, 1x4s, etc. But in all likelihood, if you have a Star Wars set and you want to make a simple house, you probably don’t have the right pieces to do so. It’s hard to make a section of spaceship hull into a roof.
I am sure you see where I am headed.
My experiences with CMSes have been like having the modern Lego sets. I feel waaaay too locked in to the one thing that the set is designed to be. That one thing may have been just what I wanted when I went to buy Legos, but if I ever change my mind - well, I have to buy a whole new set.
If I just had the plain old bricks in the first place, I could build anything I wanted.
So does the analogy hold, or are there CMSes that truly offer you the flexibility to make anything you like?
