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Tag: QR Codes

  • Why Does Going Contactless In Restaurants Mean More Profit And Safety For Restaurateurs?

    Why Does Going Contactless In Restaurants Mean More Profit And Safety For Restaurateurs?

    Modern technology has made running a business more manageable for business owners, especially during this challenging time. The use of a QR code for digital menus is one of the most recent restaurant trends to adapt to the new normal setting. 

    No one wants to touch anything during the COVID-19 outbreak. Small and large businesses are looking for ways to provide a touchless experience to address the new consumer need. Also, one of the new guidelines for many countries is to use a contactless option whenever possible.

    Restaurants have discovered that QR codes are one of the most effective ways to limit physical contact and lessen the risk of contamination. The advantages of QR codes are numerous; they provide guests with an easy and efficient way to order, pay, and more.

    The days of lingering over a menu at a table or in front of a restaurant are long gone. After scanning a menu QR code to order, you can sit down and watch a movie or talk to anyone on your phone.

    What is a menu QR code? 

    A menu QR code is a digital menu that allows customers to browse and purchase menu items immediately from their smartphones.

    Restaurants can add visuals to their menus.  It is also an environmentally friendly, contactless, and safe solution for the food industry. A contactless restaurant is safe because it restricts physical interaction with personnel, menus, etc. 

    Diners can use their cell phones to display and view menus, order, and pay for meals. Users don’t need to use other devices to access your menus; they need a smartphone camera.

    Restaurant owners do not have to reprint their menu, as they can edit the QR code content. Unlike the traditional handheld menus where you have to reprint them when adding new menu items, you don’t have to reprint them in the menu QR code. 

    That is why you can update or change any items on your menu; you can edit your menu file behind your QR code anytime. The changes will automatically reflect in the QR code even after printing or distributing it.

    How to create a menu QR code

    1. Create your menu and save it as a PDF or in a Jpeg file.
    2. Go to an online QR code generator with logo software. .
    3. Upload your PDF or Jpeg file in the Menu feature.
    4. Generate your QR code and personalize it. You can add a call to action tag to increase scans and prompt your customers what to do.
    5. Do a QR code scan test and download it.
    6. Print and place the QR code on any corner of your dining table. You can print it like a sticker or display it as a table tent for your customers.

    Advantages of using a contactless dining solution in a restaurant

    1. Brings greater customer satisfaction

    Because contactless dining speeds up the entire ordering and payment process while offering customer control and autonomy over their orders, it increases customer happiness. 

    With contactless ordering, diners can assure that precisely what they ordered will be prepared in the kitchen. Special instructions, add-ons, dietary preferences, and allergies are all examples of this. 

    1. It keeps everyone safe and healthy.

    Another significant advantage of digital contactless ordering is its potential to improve building occupant safety. It is absurd to expect restaurant patrons to eat while wearing a mask. 

    Consider how many lives could be saved by helping to minimize the transmission of infections on physical surfaces by allowing customers to view menu options and place orders from the convenience of their own homes. 

    1. Digital ordering increases customer loyalty.

    Digital ordering improved frictionless ordering, converting and retaining customers through personalized offers, loyalty points, and rewards. As a result, guests are more likely to return to the restaurant again.

    1. Improve the efficiency of your operations

    Table turnover is one of the essential indicators, as it affects operational expenses and efficiency. 

    The more tables you can set and the more things you can offer, the faster you can turn tables.  

    Guests can send orders directly to a kitchen display system using a contactless dining solution, then split the bill amongst the table when it’s time to pay. The entire process avoids a few low-value procedures for staff and is sure to save minutes at every table. 

    In Conclusion

    Using a digital contactless ordering mechanism is also a step to pursue further foodservice expansion prospects. 

    Restaurants with digital technology sound futuristic, and they are.  Digital kitchens are the pinnacle of foodservice innovation, combining technology, people, software, and guided workflows to streamline and smooth restaurant operations. 

    With the use of a QR code generator online, restaurants can have a complete integration between old and new technologies like QR codes to succeed and adapt to this new normal.

  • Monmouthpedia Becomes the First Wikipedia Town

    You can chalk this one up in the “worst ideas in the world” column. It seems the town of Monmouth Wales, has become the first “Wikipedia town”, according to PC Magazine. What this basically means, is that there will be QR codes posted on the front of buildings around the town that you scan with your phone and Wikipedia gives you interesting facts and directions about where you are.

    Now you never have to communicate with any of the townspeople, which may have been their plan all along. Getting tired of being asked questions by tourists? Just point them to the QR code. You don’t have to say a word.

    Located about 150 miles west of London, Monmouth officially became the first wikipedia town on May 19th. There are four different types of QR codes: large ceramic and metal plaques cover outdoor venues; smaller ones cover things that are non-specific to Monomouth, like flaura and fauna guides; glass stickers cover the outside windows of shops; and finally informational posters, signs and notice boards cover everything else. The town has 1,000 QR codes in place.

    And if the idea of a wikipedia town wasn’t weird enough for you, Taiwanese animated news NMA makes it somehow weirder.

    I love how they take the tour guide to the dump along with the milkman and the blockbuster video guy. In Taiwan, whenever your job becomes unnecessary we just drop you off at the landfill. Yeah, NMA is the only way to get the news.

    And cherubs deliver information to your phone when you scan a QR code, that one’s new to me.

    Psych, that library is now a strip club.

  • Facebook Has A QR Code on its Roof

    Facebook employees have painted a massive QR code onto the roof of Facebook’s new offices in Menlo Park, California. Scanning the code points users to this (get it, FB code?)page, which then links to the Facebook QR Code page.

    From the Facebook QR Code page description:

    “When Facebook moved in to our new office in Menlo Park, Mark Zuckerberg made a post announcing a “Space Hackathon.” The post encouraged everybody to decorate the new space to make it our own– tag the walls with spray paint, hang cool posters, and hack the building with some patented Facebook personality. A few of us interpreted the call to action a bit too literally. We decided that we wanted our “space hack” to actually be visible from space. We wanted to hack the globe.”

    Justin Shaffer, a Product Manager at Facebook, shared this aerial photo of the Facebook campus on the QR Code Facebook page:

    Facebook QR Code Aerial View

    Note the word “HACK” just to the top-left of the QR code.

    For now, the Facebook page only contains these photos and a video of the Facebook employees painting the code. An employee in the video said he had the idea months before Facebook moved into its new location, but was really spurred on when employees were encouraged to “hack” the new offices. The unnamed employee said, “And then, when Ben Barry and Zuck posted about the ‘Space Hack-athon’ I took it quite literally and was like, what if we actually hacked this so it looked cool from space?”

  • QR Code Condoms Let You ‘Check In’ To Your Sexual Playgrounds

    QR Code Condoms Let You ‘Check In’ To Your Sexual Playgrounds

    Remember the I Just Made Love mobile app that helped the horizontally-inclined iPhone and Android users of the world broadcast their sexual adventures to the world? That’s so 2011. This year’s model not only lets you announce your erotic exploits to the world, but comes packaged with a QR code to save you time and let you get back to more pressing matters.

    The ingenius combination of sex and social media comes by way of Planned Parenthood of the Northwest, who, as part of a promotion for safe sex around college campuses, handed out 55,000 condoms with QR codes printed on the wrappers. By scanning the code, the just-sexed will be prompted to enter a few details (if they want) about their sexual encounter, which will then be posted to WhereDidYouWearIt.com.

    The website is playful enough and makes a point to explain that all user information (aside from the details of those down and dirty dalliances) is kept anonymous. Once the information is entered, a pin is created on an interactive Google Map that announces not just where people hooked up, but a little something about the encounter:

    As Planned Parenthood describes it, they just wanted to get the point across that safe sex happens to the world and people shouldn’t be shy about it. “You should be proud to wear protection,” according to post on their website. The statement continues, explaining that the social media aspect is meant to lessen any kind of embarrassment with talking about sex while making the practice of safe sex more fun for those doing it (although as far as that effort goes, one might have better luck re-inventing the wheel).

    It’s a pretty ingenious way to engage the gadget-friendly tendencies of college students while encouraging them into practicing safe sex at the same time (more iPads, less pregnancy scares, right?). More than that, WhereDidYouWearIt.com offers tidbits of sex ed such as why people should use condoms and where people can replenish their condom supply.

    If the goal was to get people talking more openly about making with the safe sex, I think we can confidently put a check in the Success column for Planned Parenthood.

  • QR Codes: Do You Care Anymore?

    QR Codes: Do You Care Anymore?

    Say you’re walking down the street and you see the unmistakable black and white pattern of a Quick Response code, what is your immediate reaction? Do you have the uncontrollable urge to find out what kind of secrets are contained in its design? Do you quickly fumble to find your smartphone, hoping that activating the code will lead you to a secret website – maybe a special deal?

    Or do you just walk by, unable to burden yourself with one more thing to do in your busy day?

    According to some research by QR skeptic youth marketing agency Archrival, there is at least one important group of the population that’s failing to muster any excitement for QR codes.

    They asked over 500 students across 24 different U.S. college campuses about the technology and found that although recognition of the codes was pretty high, interaction was just the opposite.

    Students were shown a picture of a QR code and then asked questions like: Can you identify what this is? Do you know how to use it? How likely are you to engage with these in the future?

    Here are just a few of our findings:

    • 81% of students owned a smartphone
    • 80% of students had previously seen a QR code
    • 21% of students successfully scanned our QR code example.
    • 75% of students said they are “Not Likely” to scan a QR code in the future.

    Apparently, these college kids know all about QR codes and have the smartphones they need to interact with them, but really have no desire to investigate further when they encounter one.

    It looks like one of the big problems is actually a lack of comprehensive understanding of the process. Some of the students thought that their smartphone camera in some way included a native QR code reader, and had no idea that a 3rd party app was necessary to read the code. Many just thought the whole thing took too long and abandoned the process before completion. Either way, that 75% figure of students who said that don’t plan to scan a QR code in the future is an interesting one to marketers and promoters.

    QR codes can be used effectively for viral marketing – for instance when a team constructing an underground art show sticks QR stickers all over town, and scanning them leads directly to the show’s website. Still, even this interesting promotional concept requires curiosity from the public.

    And of course QR codes have simple data storage purposes, which are very practical in daily life. Take for instance airlines that use them for electronic boarding passes. Some entering the work force have also taken to putting QR codes on their resumes, providing employers with a way to access more information. Hospitals are even using the codes to help women schedule mammograms.

    But as far as college kids are concerned, Archrival has some advice for those wanting to use QR codes for marketing purposes: “Unless QR codes become easier, more nimble, and can provide content that engenders a more meaningful connection to the brand or product, students will continue to shower them with apathy.”

    Check out the infographic below and let us know your feelings about QR code marketing and promotion in the comments.

    [Lead Image courtesy Wikipedia]

  • QR Codes and Mammograms: Better Health Through Technology

    If you ask most people, I’m sure that they would tell you that the health care field can greatly benefit from the rapidly growing tech sector. Whether it is better machinery, more organized record keeping or doctors having accessibility to things like iPads, new tech can change both medical research as well as medical practice.

    The Athens Regional Medical Center in Georgia is using a different technology to improve patient care in one small way.

    The hospital is using QR codes to help women schedule mammograms. The hospital has been inserting the little black-and-white boxes into their various forms of advertising, such as newspapers and magazines.

    When a woman uses her smartphone to capture the code, she is taken to the Athens Regional website where she can book her mammogram.

    Marketing manager Courtney Alford-Pomeroy has this to say about the campaign (as quoted at Athens Banner-Herald –

    We felt that women in our community were looking for more convenience in accessing their health care…the QR code was a test to see how popular this is going to be in our market.

    The multiple-source approach to the QR code placement allows Pomeroy to see where their marketing is the most effective, whether that be magazines, newspaper ads or postcards.

    It came down to wanting to be able to track where people were reading about our services and pulling up our services on the website. I want to make sure that we’re targeting people in the places that are most convenient for them.”

    And just how successful have the QR codes in the ads been? Apparently the hospital has seen a 15% increase in the visits to the online mammograms form. Also, those who use the QR code to visit the online mammogram request site are more likely to actually schedule an appointment.

    Pomeroy said that she plans on using QR codes in their next “health and marketing campaign.”

    Do you think QR codes would increase the chance that you would schedule a procedure? Mammograms? Prostate exams? Even basic physicals? Let us know in the comments.

  • QR Code Adoption Grows, Particularly Among Those 35-44

    The rise of smartphones has given way to the rise of plenty of interesting marketing strategies – QR codes among them. Simply put, they’re a way to bring people in the physical world (as opposed to people sitting in front of their computers) to your digital content without them even having to go type your URL, find you on Twitter/Facebook, or search for your offerings.

    Essentially, QR codes extend the hyperlink beyond the web, and into print, whether that be newspapers, magazines, business cards, clothing, signage, or other creative uses.

    The growth of acceptance and usage of these codes means good things for businesses, whether they’re online businesses, brick and mortar or both. WebProNews spoke with Mike Wehrs, a Microsoft vet, former chief of the Mobile Marketing Association, and current CEO of ScanBuy, which operates the scanner app ScanLife, about where this industry is, and where it’s headed.

    “I think we’re really just scratching the surface of what mobile bar codes can enable,” he says, discussing the “zero click factor” and the different ways businesses are using the technology. Examples include things like making a phone dial a specific number, or a restaurant presenting a menu.

    Last year, he ways, there was an increase of 1,600% in the number of scans that went through ScanBuy’s system, and that only includes the open QR code formats (not proprietary ones, such as Microsoft Tag). These days, more people are recognizing that if they see the codes, they can take out their readers and get some kind of experience on their smartphones, he says.

    Interestingly, it’s not the kids that are doing the most scanning, according to a recent study from the firm, but the 35-44 year-old demographic.

    “Mobile bar codes are the easiest entry point for someone who’s got a camera phone to move from the real world into a digital and interactive experience,” says Wehrs. “They don’t have to type a URL. They don’t have to understand how to do a text message with a short code and things in the payload. Those things are still pervasive in certain demographics….”

    “It does raise the stakes for the publisher or the person that’s doing the creative behind it, to make sure they’re creating compelling content, because the end user is in charge as to whether they’re going to engage with that or not,” he says.

    The best part about QR codes is that you can send them to any piece of content. That means you can send them to your best content or the landing page that makes sense for the instance. You can promote your site, your Facebook page, your YouTube channel, your Twitter account, specific product pages – anything you can link to.

    Perhaps the biggest challenge is finding the right places to display the codes themselves.

  • The Acceptance Hurdles for QR Codes

    absolutqr QR codes are appearing with increasing frequency in a growing range of marketing and communication activities. I’ve been paying attention to who’s using these two-dimensional barcodes and how in their marketing when I’m out and about, especially in supermarkets, taking pictures when I encounter something interesting and adding some to the QR codes in the wild group on Flickr.

    Others are doing the same – here’s a great example from Kris Hoet on what AXA Bank is doing – and adding images and commentary on what they’re encountering.

    Notwithstanding these great examples, QR codes are still very much early adopter territory, certainly in Europe and I suspect in the US also, even if they were ubiquitous at the 2011 SxSW Interactive conference and expo recently in Austin, Texas.

    SxSW is a good indicator, though, of tech that could be imminently mainstream (Twitter being a good example).

    Yet it seems to me that there’s a fundamental hurdle still to jump before QR codes realize their potential for consumers to use them easily and so for them to really enter the mainstream. That hurdle isn’t a creative one (there are plenty of good examples of using QR codes as my small selection suggests) or even a technical one: creating a QR code really is simple.

    It’s more of a usability one – when you encounter a code, what do you do? How do you scan it? With your mobile device’s camera? Even if you have a device with a camera, smartphone or any other type, that doesn’t work – you need a barcode scanning app installed on your device.

    In his post How Effective Are QR Codes Anyway? at RWW the other day, John Paul Titlow nails it:

    […] Perhaps the biggest obstacle to their widespread adoption is simply the fact that most people don’t own smartphones. Of those that do, they may or may not know what a QR code is or how to use it.

    […] Until QR code readers come built-in natively on a majority of smart phones and those devices are being carried around by a majority of consumers, the technology probably won’t have an enormous impact. In the meantime, they appear to be headed for ubiquity. It’s just a matter of time.

    Agree with that conclusion but it may be a while until devices have such apps built-in. I can see better opportunities for marketers, such as this example from UK retailer Debenhams who recently launched a shopping app for Android devices that includes a barcode reader. (I tried it: it has problems with QR codes but works with normal barcodes – that may be fine for Debenhams but not good for promoting use of QR codes.)

    Hurdles still to jump, therefore: easy for early adopters but will likely seem too high for now for your average consumer.

    Originally published at NevilleHobson.com

  • Will Augmented Reality Leap-Frog the QR Code?

    Will Augmented Reality Leap-Frog the QR Code?

    There continues to be a steady buzz about QR codes, those bar code-looking thingys that can be scanned by a smart phone to link you to added content, a website or perhaps even a coupon at the point of purchase. Here’s the Wikipedia definition.

    I’m not an expert in QR codes – or anything for that matter — but I’ve been around long enough to have a good idea if something is going to work or not.  I’m thinking the buzz on QR codes may be short-lived – and I’d like to explain why by telling you a short story about a beer can.

    One of my most interesting jobs was global marketing director for aluminum packaging products (like beverage cans).  While this may sound mundane, the opportunity to nurture $2.5 billion in sales with some of the world’s biggest brands was a lot of fun!

    On a customer trip, I noticed the flight attendant had a lanyard around her neck with a strange plastic device on the end. The device served as a fulcrum that she used under the tabs to open each can.  I asked her why she just didn’t open the pop-tops with her fingers and she pointed to her well-manicured nails.

    I suddenly realized that our humble package had a big problem. A significant part of the population — people with manicured nails — needed a secondary device to open the package. We were vulnerable!  Any competing package that did not require a secondary "opener" (like plastic bottles) would be preferred by these consumers!

    This revelation led to an R&D project aimed at an easier-opening lid which included a depressed "well" under the tab to protect well-groomed nails.

    QR codes are vulnerable in the same way — you need an "opener" to get to the goods. Consumers will resist this, especially if there is an alternative — and there is.

    Last summer I was in Bordeaux and noticed they had QR code posters everywhere to provide information on city events. I was a tourist with money to spend — their target market — but I couldn’t use the system.  Problem 1: The instructions were in French.  Problem 2: You had to download special software to access the information.  Problem 3: As an international visitor, I would have to access expensive roaming charges just to get the code.

    The "opener" in this case was a significant obstacle.  If the city went to the trouble of creating posters, why not put up one up that simply had the information people needed? Why make me WORK for it?

    Now suppose such a helpful poster existed … you would still have the problem of a language barrier, right? The problem could easily be solved for anybody that had a free smartphone app called WordLens. This technology is part of a swelling trend called augmented reality that I think will leap-frog the QR code innovation.

    In this example, by simply holding the phone in front of the foreign language, you get an instantaneous translation and access to the information when you need it, where you need it. No instructions. No dependence on an Internet connection. No expenditure in time or expense.  It’s just an extraordinarily user-friendly experience.

    I don’t think you can question the power of the idea behind QR Codes but I have reservations about customer adoption.  I believe augmented reality is one of the seminal technologies of 2011 and a development that could obsolete QR codes in many cases.  Imagine holding your phone up in front of a city street and having discounts, movie times, even names of nearby friends overlayed on top of the buildings?  Or using the phone to scan a display of shirts to immediately find your size, discounts, and matching pants and accessories?

    There will probably be legitimate uses for QR codes, especially for industrial applications and logistics tracking, but I believe augmented reality may leap-frog the innovation in the consumer arena before it leaves the gate.  This is just one opinion and I’m sincerely open for debate here — what’s your take on it?

    Originally published at BusinessesGrow.com

  • Use QR Code to Increase Traffic and Sales

    Use QR Code to Increase Traffic and Sales

    QR (or Quick Response) code is not a new technology. Actually it’s been around for sixteen years or so, but the ever-increasing popularity of smartphones and their support of QR-code-reading apps is making use of the codes more popular than ever. It’s a very easy way to attract the attention of a potential customer with a scannable (often curiosity-inducing) link to your website or latest promotion. There’s something about a QR code that makes smartphone users want to scan them.

    WebProNews QR CodeThere are various ways to use the codes to increase your sales. Here are a few:

    – Use them to simply drive traffic to your site. You can place a code in a print ad, on your signage, on your business card, etc. Anywhere potential customers might see it, you can include it, and if you catch them in the right frame of mind, they may just scan it.

    – Use one as a call to action. Simply tell people to scan it and link it to a special offer. Maybe it links to a printable coupon. Maybe it links to a promotion code for a discount on their next purchase. They don’t have to be in print, by the way. You can use them on your site.

    – Use them in creative ways. Dana Oshiro at Mashable looked at 5 unique uses for QR codes a  while back. One of them was self-branding through swag you pass out (hats, shirts, coffee mugs, etc.)

    There are a bunch of QR-Code reading apps. Mobile-Barcodes.com has a good list of them. Perusing the list, you will find that many mobile devices will support the technology. Likewise, there are a number of sites you can go to and easily create a unique QR Code on the fly. If you search for "QR Code Generators" you will find a number of them.

    Have you ever used a QR Code for promotion? How well did it work? Comment here.