5 To-Do's When Activating Digital Shopper Marketing Programs

Digital shopper marketing tools are clearly enhancing the consumer shopper experience, both for the marketer as well as the shopper. However, the dizzying array of tools available can make it a bit challenging to discern which ones will provide the most bang for the buck for marketers.

A new survey on digital shopper marketing from Catapult helped provide the following five considerations when activating these programs:

1. Leverage the Proven Winners

To date, only three tools have captured shopper hearts and minds: Self checkout, printed coupons from the Internet, and online circulars, all of which are previously-existing tactics translated digitally. These tools are easy for shoppers to understand and easy to use and should be integrated where possible.

Brand Examples: Kellogg's, P&G and General Mills all have robust programs on Coupons.com and MyWebGrocer. Publix's circular integrates lifestyle images and recipes on the cover rather that just product shots with price.

2. Beware of the Bright and Shiny

Know the facts and understand where fatigue has set in. Tools such as Foursquare, QR codes, and social media are not shopper motivators, while other media darlings such as Shopkick and Checkpoints have very low shopper penetration. Evaluate the facts, and ensure you've selected tactics that deliver against your higher-level objectives.

Brand Examples: QR Codes on Heinz Ketchup bottles in restaurants and Walgreens Foursquare program.

3. Understand the Balance of PR Drivers vs. Those With Utility

The way many digital shopper-marketing tools have been leveraged to date -- such as augmented reality and location-based check-ins -- have provided good public relations opportunities for brands, but lack a real use for the shopper. Be sure you are clear with your objectives, and rethink how you leverage moving forward.

Good PR Drivers: Foursquare
Good Utility: Grocery IQ

4. Early-on vs. add-on

Deliver Integrated digital shopper solutions vs. tactical add-ons, and understand how to re-leverage national/brand assets and activity across the path-to-purchase at retail.

Brand Example: Pets Lovers Love Walmart -- a category program that extends Pedigree's National Pet Adoption program into a retail-specific environment.

5. Leverage the Full Spectrum of Shopper "Need States"

Digital shopper marketing tools do more than just "save me time" and "save me money." The tools "make me feel smarter," "make Shopping Fun," and "support my values," among other benefits. Determine where and how digital can best deliver against these need states, and leverage the tools whose need states align with brand, product and target needs as well as program objectives.

Brand Example: Kellogg's Share Your Breakfast Program -- "Supports My Values"

(Source: Promo Magazine, 01/10/12, by Brian Cohen, Director of Digital Shopper Marketing, Catapult)

Is QR Worth the Trip? Consumers Still Unsure

Only 28% of mobile users who have used QR codes more than once say they "usually" get something in return that made the effort worthwhile. Another 3% (call them QR enthusiasts?) say they always get something good from the goofy-looking digital symbols.

The use of 2D mobile codes in media and ad material is always good for a debate among marketers. Some argue they effectively extend physical assets into a digital interaction and engagement. Others wonder if the multiple steps involved in activating a QR code Microsoft tag or other scannable item pay off for the consumer consistently.

According to a survey of 500 U.S. consumers by research firm Russell Herder, mobile customers may be as undecided about the utility of 2D codes as the marketers. In a new white paper on "The QR Question," Herder found that 52% of repeat code snappers said the process only "sometimes" produces a fair exchange of value. For 15% of QR users the platform "rarely" delivers value.

Herder researchers say the QR code is still not recognized by all. While 72% say they have seen a code, almost three of every 10 say they don't know what a 2D code actually is. About one in five relatively sophisticated mobilistas (those who go online with their phone) still don't know what they are.

Demographics are key to understanding when it comes to mobile 2D codes. While close to 80% of 18-24s recognize them, closer to 60% of the 45+ segment do. Arguably, for a phenomenon that is relatively new in the U.S., those rates of recognition are not too bad.

Still, whatever ambivalence there may be over the platform, 54% of those who have used QR codes and have a cell phone that is capable of going online say they are likely to use them again.

In order to improve consumer confidence with the scanning process, Herder recommends that marketers not only target the right demographic, but pay attention to the ritual surrounding code snapping. They require time and leisure to activate, so consider the situations in which the consumer will encounter them.

Herder also warns that as QR codes become ubiquitous, they risk also turning invisible to consumers. Finding creative ways to craft and position the codes will help cut through the clutter.

(Source: Online Media Daily, 10/11/11)

QR Code Marketing: 5 Tips for a Successful Campaign

Mobile barcodes are turning up everywhere – buses, magazines, television, bar coasters. According to recent research from comScore, 14 million U.S. mobile phone users scanned QR or barcodes in June alone, mostly via newspapers, magazines and product packaging, both at home and in-store. My company’s own data reveals that barcodes that offer access to a discount or coupon or that allow the consumer to learn more about a product or service are the most popular.

 

Given that mobile barcodes are finally cracking the mainstream, they have enormous potential to present brands with brilliant results. Here are five mobile barcode best practices to help ensure a successful campaign.

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1. Be Everywhere

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Mobile barcodes should be incorporated into all digital and traditional media so the consumer has 360-degree exposure to the mobile marketing campaign. This will also ensure that consumer experience, dialogue and interactivity are at the heart of the campaign and not simply an afterthought.

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2. Drive Value and Make it Easy

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Giveaways, discounts, free tickets and exclusive access will compel consumers to interact with and scan your code. If your code simply offers the customer a chance to view a TV advertisement or link to a website, it’s best to try again. Scanning a barcode should provide the consumer with a brand experience that is exclusive, dynamic and interactive.

Take into account where a mobile barcode is located on the ad. Consumers must be able to find it easily and scan it quickly. For outdoor ads, place the code at eye or arm-level. In a print ad, the barcode should not fall over a fold as this will hamper scanning. Be sure to leave some white space around the mobile barcode, and use a minimum of 1 x 1-inch print specification. For TV or cinema, the code should to remain onscreen long enough for the viewer to launch the scanning application and scan the code.

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3. Keep it Simple

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Branded or custom QR codes are certainly getting some buzz, but it’s also important to create a code everyone can recognize. Producing your code in simple black and white checkered format will increase the number of phones and code readers that can scan it. Also, ensure you use global, open standards (i.e. Datamatrix) to maximize universal customer reach and impact.

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4. Build Customer Affinity

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Remember that the consumer who has just scanned your code is on the move. She will be viewing the brand content on a mobile screen and, therefore, expects instant results. Make sure the barcode links through to a mobile-enabled site rather a PC-designed site. Remember that “dead links” (codes that go nowhere or deliver the wrong information) are the equivalent of a slammed door — the consumer will not try again.

Matthias Galica, the CEO of ShareSquare, provides tips for marketers and brands using QR codes, and specifically emphasizes testing a barcode for functionality across a variety of devices and scanner applications before launching. It’s important, especially because the consumers that scan codes are likely tech-savvy and vocal — the kind of consumers you want on your side.

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5. Account for Objectives and Analytics

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Boost sales, increase customer engagement, build brand loyalty, educate your audience. Whatever the campaign objective, be sure to define its goals before integrating a mobile barcode. Consider monitoring the campaign via a barcode management platform. Your business will be able to leverage the provider’s expertise, better assess your campaign effectiveness and evaluate its real-time success through analytics.

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Following these practices will help analyze mobile ad spending and increase the success and ROI of your future barcode campaigns.

Laura Marriott is CEO and and acting board chairperson of NeoMedia.

Do It Your Own Damn Self: The Further Adventures Of The QR Kid

Great blog article by Steve Smith regarding QR Codes...quick read and worth the time.  CM

 

"Don't insult anyone, please," my wife warns as she nudges me through the door of Home Depot. "I come here regularly."

 

Do-it-yourselfers and I just don't get along. I'm sure it has something to do with my total incompetence at anything involving tools, nails, hooks, paint, saws (oh, don't get me started there), and pretty much anything that doesn't involve a remote control. Put me in an airplane hanger store filled with eager DIY-ers, and my defenses are electrified. Guys in orange aprons kibitzing over dry wall techniques and how "easy" it is to rewire your home (no, really) -- throw a switch in me somewhere. "Okay, but if anyone even mentions, 5/8-inch nails, counter-sinking, or so much as a Molly bolt - whatever the hell that is -- to me, then all bets are off," I tell her.

 

Ordinarily my eager DIY bride leaves me behind on these regular trips to Home Depot down the street, but my involvement this time can't be avoided. I need to pick paint colors. So she placates me. "They have a lot of those code things all over the place now. You can play with your phone most of the time," she assures me. So now I am age 10 again and my wife is handing me a toy to keep me out of her hair in the store. Here kid, play with your Nintendo, Mom has to shop.

 

Home Depot is in mobilization mode, to be sure. Its iOS app is exceptionally rich. While it leads with the weekly circular features and a link to the TV ad, all is forgiven once you start drilling into the tools at hand, including on-board calculators, measuring utilities, instructional videos and store inventory look-ups. If anything, the app is so feature-rich it needs the kind of customization a full-blown media app requires.

 

Of course, in the cavernous, metal-filled hanger that is Home Depot, you can literally watch the five bars of signal strength descend as you move from the front door to Aisle 3. My wife is already deep within the bowels of DIY hell somewhere and I am hovering near the door trying to keep a connection. But luckily, Home Depot is getting its connectivity act together, because I detect an open WiFi signal with its brand name attached. Kinda, sorta. Here is where the store clerk fun begins. My iPhone can attach to the network but none of the usual terms of service come up and my iPhone sticks with the 3G signal. My Home Depot door greeter hasn't a clue. Go ask the Services desk - where the woman behind the counter says, "I didn't even know we had a WiFi network." Sorry. I make a final try with the fellow at the paints desk who acknowledges that, yes, they have a network -- and he wishes he could make it work for himself. "I have a smartphone and an iPod, and I can't get either of them to use it," he says. Apparently that memo hasn't gone out yet.

 

"Are you making trouble?" My wife, who sees me talking with someone with my iPhone in hand just senses I am up to no good. "We're trying to figure out the WiFi," I assure her. She shares an apologetic look with the guy behind the paint counter, as if she just retrieved her kid from dipping his hands in a gallon of Eggshell White. She guides me away. "You can't help yourself, can you?" Hey, it's not as if I had instigated a connectivity uprising among the customers. I wonder if I could have gotten a movement going by chanting "WiFi! WiFi! WiFi!" in the power sprayer aisle.

 

The customers may not know what they are missing, because when the app does connect properly to some network somewhere, the experience of augmenting product with relevant information via 2D codes is getting closer to where it needs to be. Snapping an image of one of the grills on sale pops me into a product listing that lets me move in a number of directions. It tells me off the bat that there are five of them located in Aisle 5, for instance, and it even offers to find some at nearby locations. The user reviews are pulled in, as well as a scroll of product specs that are informative without being overwhelming. The next obvious stage would be to tie the product into some of the how-to materials also offered here. But the fact that the app can locate the product in my local store is a big plus, especially in a massive retail outlet like Home Depot.

 

There is some code confusion going on at the store shelf level, however. In some cases we get actual QR codes and in others the user is left to scan a UPC, although many people wouldn't know to do that. In some other cases there are manufacturer QR codes in the mix that are not keyed into the Home Depot system. This is an issue I had at Macy's as well; a similarly aggressive 2D coding project that could easily be hijacked in store by a cacophony of codes from different sources that led to various experiences.

 

Home Depot has an exemplary 2D code experience in the nursery, however. On select plants, a code will bring you to a great landing page that shows you the plant, outlines its characteristics, sun and water needs, spacing in the garden, etc. And then the page offers suggestions for companion plants. "Wow -- that is really useful," my wife says, for the first time showing some interest in what my smartphone can do in a store -- other than keep me quiet. "It actually gives you better ideas. That comes in handy." Which is a helpful observation from my beloved focus group of one. She takes notice when the mobile augmentation moves from straight information to inspiration. When it tickles her creativity, the app moves from nice-to-have to fun-to-have.

 

The downside of Home Depot's mostly excellent implementation of 2D codes in the garden section is that it sets a high bar elsewhere. Only a select few plants have this cool QR experience -- and it leaves you wanting to see this level of shopping augmentation implemented consistently across all products.

 

But we are getting there. We are starting to glimpse some of the ways in which a retail brand can use mobile to surround the shopper with relevant and even inspirational content that not only augments retail but communicates brand values. But we need a more end-to-end experience where the mobile process is promoted comprehensively, the opportunity and the content is consistent throughout the inventory, the simple technical issue of connectivity is made a part of the strategy, and the staff are fully informed and in support of the enhanced shopping experience. That is a tall order, to be sure. But so is rewiring a house.

 

by Steve Smith , Tuesday, July 5, 2011

QR codes and Microsoft Tags can boost your bottom line - Six Tips to Get Started

QR codes, which are popping up everywhere, can boost your business and reward your customers.

Do you know what a QR code or Microsoft Tag is?

As a small business owner, you may not have heard about them yet, but you will very soon because they are popping up everywhere these days. Major brands like Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble and Macy’s have embraced them in their marketing campaigns.

QR or Quick Response codes are two-dimensional bar codes, similar to ones you would find on a price tag at the clothing store. Using a scanner or reader available on any smartphone, your potential customers can scan the code and see where it takes them. Major brands use QR codes to take customers to discounts, freebies and special promotions. A Microsoft Tag works just like a QR code, but can only be scanned with a Microsoft Tag Reader.

So how can your business use QR codes and Microsoft Tags to boost its bottom line? To find out, BizBytes enlisted the help of Matthias Galica, founder and CEO of ShareSquare, a platform that allows anyone to create and share QR codes.

“QR codes first appeared in Japan back in the early ’90s,” said Galica. “The goal was to be able to scan a product and pull up all the information about it, such as price. That technology has been used in stores when you need to look up the price of something at the cash register for years. But now it’s moved beyond just something that looks up the price of a product to a useful marketing tool for business.”

Rose Harris, a Realtor at ONE Sotheby’s International Realty in Miami, has been using QR codes to educate clients about the properties she sells. “We use them to drive traffic to our single listing websites,” said Harris. “Our clients love them because they can simply scan the code and find out everything they need to know about a property without having to go to a computer to search for it. It’s right there in the palm of their hand.”

To start adding QR codes and Microsoft Tags to your company’s marketing mix, follow these simple steps:

STEP ONEDetermine whether you’ll use a QR code or a Microsoft Tag to market to customers. Because Microsoft Tags can only be read with a proprietary Microsoft Tag Reader, you may want to use a QR code so that your promotion can be accessed by a larger pool of potential customers. Once you’ve decided whether a QR code or tag is right for you, it is time to focus on creating the promotion that will be linked to it.


“The goal with QR codes is to get people at the point of interest, which is when they see the code,” said Galica. “And turn that into a point of action where you get them to do something and then hopefully, turn that into a point of purchase.”

STEP TWODetermine your customer call to action. What do you want your customers to do when they scan the QR code or tag? Do you want them to sign-up for something? Do you want them to like your company’s Facebook page and then receive a 20 percent discount on your products because they did it? Determining your customer call to action is crucial to the success of your campaign.


“There are so many uses for QR codes in marketing,” Galica said. “What you’re basically doing is taking a real-world experience such as seeing a QR code on a flyer and connecting it to a worthwhile online experience that hopefully will translate into increased sales or awareness for your company.”

STEP THREEDetermine what kind of promotion customers will receive when they scan the code or tag. What are you going to offer the person who scans your QR code or tag? Are you offering a 30 percent discount on your products exclusively to those who scan the code or tag?


“You never want your customer to feel like they went to the trouble of scanning your QR code and they got nothing in return,” said Galica.

STEP FOURDetermine where your customers will see the code or tag. Where are you going to place the QR code or tag? Will customers see it in your storefront, on your brochures, on a billboard or in your direct mailers?

“Marketers and business owners have gotten quite novel in their use of QR codes,” Galica said. “The only limit to their use is really your own imagination.”

STEP FIVEDetermine how you will deliver the code or tag to current and potential customers.


“Don’t wait for your customers to find the QR code,” Galica said. “Tell them about it. Send an announcement via email, tweet it or put it on your Facebook page.”

STEP SIX
Create a custom QR code or Microsoft Tag for your promotion. Now that you know what your promotion is about and how it will be delivered to your customer base, it is time to actually create the QR code or tag that you’ll be using. You have several options for creating free QR codes that are available online including BeQRious, ShareSquare and Bitly.

“It’s important when using QR codes to make sure the person who scans it has a good experience,” said Galica. “The code should lead them to something that’s going to make their lives better, calls them to action or rewards them.”

Tasha Cunningham-Miami Herald 05/30/11