Blog

QR Codes as a Digital Customer Engagement Strategy

QR codes emerge as a transformative solution that amplifies a company’s digital engagement and enhances customer experience— a win-win scenario for both parties. This article touches on QR codes product information, loyalty programs, data collection, and more.

QR Codes as a Digital Customer Engagement Strategy

Customer engagement encompasses many methods, all with their own distinctive benefits. These benefits are easily realized when using QR codes on product packaging as part of your company’s digital engagement strategy. Using QR codes for consumer engagement is becoming increasingly popular as it allows scanners to easily view important product information, personalized offers, promotions, services, and more. Along with the convenience, businesses choose to implement them because they’re trackable. This enables QR codes to collect data such as number of scans, unique users, devices used, locations, and times. Businesses can then leverage this information to assess performance, offering a way to improve their digital customer engagement strategy. With Scantrust’s enterprise QR codes, companies can further accommodate customers and personalize their experiences by creating campaigns based on region, language, and other specifications. Content within these campaigns can be changed in real time through the use of dynamic QR codes.

QR codes for product information

Accessible and comprehensive product information is a cornerstone of effective digital customer engagement strategies. With a limited amount of space for product information available on packaging, physical labels are rapidly being replaced by digital labeling means. Implementing QR codes for product information is a dynamic solution that streamlines a customer’s process of acquiring information. With a quick scan, users are directed to landing pages that offer them immediate access to product details. For instance, Melitta used QR codes as a solution to showcase their product journey and history. BHS Corrugated improved their spare parts traceability using secure QR codes and customized their landing pages with convenient access to engineering drawings, user manuals, and other important information for their customers. Overall, QR codes are an easy to use solution and are great for enhancing digital consumer engagement.

QR code loyalty programs

loyalty programs incentivize customers to continue supporting a business and skyrocket retention rates. QR codes on product packaging can boost loyalty program engagement by enabling easy enrollment, points tracking, rewards redemption, promotions, and more.

Why use QR codes?

While they can be executed through various means, loyalty programs with QR codes are unique in that they can deliver instant gratification and are easy to use. Compared to traditional reward program methods such as point systems and discount cards, QR code loyalty programs are much more immediate and personalized. The ease of use and real-time rewards align well with a customer’s desire for quick and seamless experiences. For example, ISDIN sought an enterprise-grade, scalable QR code management solution. They used Scantrust’s enterprise QR codes and created custom landing pages that uniquely engaged customers while also utilizing real-time dashboards for QR code data collection. Moreover, QR code based loyalty programs offer an efficient way for consumers to review products and otherwise make their opinions heard. For the company, these insights allow for in-depth customer testimonials that can be added to websites and social media pages to build a good reputation for first-time viewers. Knorr used dynamic, serialized QR codes to employ a digital customer engagement strategy that would emphasize their products’ quality and enjoyable taste, overall intending to create brand loyalty.

Data collection with QR codes

After using the above strategies, companies are left with an abundance of data on customer trends. The data collected through QR code loyalty programs, for example, can offer insights into customer behaviors, preferences, and interactions, which are all invaluable in shaping targeted marketing initiatives and personalized offerings— all of which then translate into an enhanced customer base. Smart packaging strategies like QR code labels allow for low cost analysis on supply chain data and have been shown to increase customer engagement. In turn, this could for instance lead a company into making better-informed decisions about region specific sales. 

QR code data collection is expansive, as it can track for type and frequency of actions within a landing page, locations, dates and times, general webpage traffic, and more. Customers provide businesses with insights into their preferences, behaviors, interactions, etc.; this real-time feedback loop is what allows companies to best refine their digital customer engagement strategies and align with their consumers’ expectations. Because QR codes are easy to use, they also increase customer participation rates, meaning the data collected with QR codes is more accurately representative of a larger body.

Learn more about optimizing your data collection through QR codes and connected packaging.

Other methods besides using QR codes to collect data exist. Various CRM softwares allow companies to analyze data trends across the board, yet they’re sometimes criticized for being too complex or not customizable. Should a company feel the need to switch programs, they face a formidable challenge: migrating to another platform may be risky and costly. Dynamic QR codes remove this impediment. While static QR codes lead directly to a URL, dynamic QR codes are a more flexible solution in that when scanned, users are first led to a redirect URL, then to the landing page. This makes it easy to change content on or switch the landing page entirely.

Overall, Scantrust’s solution is user friendly, with all necessary data visible on one dashboard.

dashboard example image

Self service strategies

IImplementing self service strategies could benefit digital customer engagement. AI and website chatbots provide around the clock assistance, and customer satisfaction surveys are an automated way to hear your consumer’s insights. Yet amidst the spectrum of self service, using QR codes for your digital customer engagement strategy presents a distinctive advantage; although self service strategies are undoubtedly beneficial, QR code consumer engagement offers an intuitive, universally understood means of engagement that requires minimal learning, ensuring a wider reach. Besides allowing for improved data collection, the immediate gratification provided by QR codes sets them apart, delivering instant rewards or information without the learning curve associated with other self-service methods.

QR codes for consumer engagement: A trustworthy digital strategy

As companies fine tune their digital customer engagement strategies, QR codes become an indispensable solution between brands and their audiences. Accessible product information, loyalty programs, and data collection converge seamlessly through QR code technology, delivering personalized, real-time interactions that benefit the customer and the business. This propels digital consumer engagement to new heights, fostering brand loyalty and driving exponential growth. In a world where every interaction matters, a QR code’s simplicity, immediacy, and ability to cater to diverse needs position them as an instrumental solution to elevating digital customer engagement.

Businesses look toward Scantrust for trustworthy digital customer engagement solutions: our dynamic enterprise QR codes allow you to easily share a myriad of product information on campaigns that can be tailored to specific languages, regions, and other constraints. Learn more about their benefits here. Our customizable mobile landing page creator enables centralized content creation and can integrate with PIMS, ERP, and other product information systems.

Want to learn more? For more information, request a demo or contact our experts.