Why QR Codes Are Quite Right For Your Direct Mail ROI

COVID-19, the Corona Virus, Novel Corona, or whatever you choose to call it, has forced many businesses to change the way they market their products and services. The restaurant industry has, by leaps and bounds, capitalized on QR Codes and realized other-worldly returns on their initial marketing investment. But wait! If you aren’t in the restaurant business, it’s something you can do, too – just as easily, just as efficiently.

With one postcard mailing prominently featuring a single QR Code pointing the reader to the company website – or specifically to the ‘Online Order’ page – you’ve given them a one-stop, quick-hit way to buy what they need from you.  Over and over again. Incent the reader to add your postcard to their fridge door or desk and make it easy for them to re-order dinner, or whatever repeat business you’re providing (air/water filters, landscaping, picking up charitable items, etc.). However, before you just slap a QR Code onto a postcard and hope for the best, there are some things you’ll want to consider to get the absolute most of this clever marketing effort.

Here are my 6 Ways to Maximize QR Codes:

1.) Give them a reason to scan the code! QR codes are super easy to add to any Direct Mail postcard, but the content behind the code – or what you want the prospect to SEE – has to be interesting enough to hold their attention and make them want to know more about your product or service.

2.) Point them where you want them to go. Probably self-explanatory, but the QR Code to generate more (and repeat business) from the same mailing does zero good if you send them to your Home Page. You want them to order – so point them to the Online Ordering page or your Products page – with a clear link to the Ordering or Checkout page.

3.) Make the QR Code PROMINENT. The point of this is to ensure they find and scan the code. If the code is hard to pick out, if it’s too small, or buried in the wording, you’re making the reader work too hard, and giving them a reason to bypass the best offer you’ve ever come up with.  Arrows, boxes, different color font, whatever it takes to ensure the code isn’t a wall flower!

4.) Give them a helping hand. It’s true, not everybody is qualified to be their own Help Desk. If you think it might be helpful (depending on your target audience), add information on how they can download a scanner from ‘the App store’ to their phone or device. Again, make it easy for them to use YOUR code. You can assume they already know how, but there’s zero harm in playing it safe and adding a few more characters to your postcard just in case.

5.) Test, Test, Test! Surprise! I don’t mean the mailing, but the QR Code, itself. Be sure that the code you’ve added to your mailing actually works and that you’re sending the reader to the exact place you intend. This is meant for repeated business. If you send them to the wrong page or even the wrong site the first time, they might never come back.

6.) Track, Track, Track! You need to ensure that your investment is paying off. You can link the usage of your QR Code to tracking systems which let you know what codes are working, which offers (on multiple mailings, for example, to different target audiences) are working the best.  You’ll know quickly how the offers are hitting and when/if you need to change them to maximize your ROI.

I’m willing to bet you that the people who make up your target audiences have two things in common: 1) a smartphone; and 2) a mailbox of some kind. Those two simple things, alone, are the key to expanding your marketing, and in many cases, blowing your ROI through the roof! You know what they say about teaching a man to fish… Give Opportunity Knocks a call today. We’ve got Success Coaches standing by who can help you break the QR Code!