Hatfield, UK - International research* from Pitney Bowes released today has highlighted a largely untapped market for QR codes in Britain, thus offering a growing opportunity for marketers.

The white paper, entitled ‘Getting ahead of the emerging QR code marketing trend’, revealed that uptake of Quick Response codes is highest from print magazines, with 15 per cent of British consumers using the 2D bar codes from the medium. Uptake amongst other media however - particularly bills, statements and on television - is far lower, with just five per cent claiming to have used QR codes from these outlets.

This minority of British consumers using QR codes is growing though, and with clear benefits to using the bar codes, marketers have everything to gain from integrating the new technology into their campaigns.

Not only is QR code use highly measurable, but the versatile codes can be used across various different media (including on envelopes, posters, packaging and online), meaning that they are ideally suited to multi-channel marketing. Added to these benefits, the 2D bar codes can be targeted directly at the locations and demographics most likely to use them – which in Britain is 18-34 year olds. 

Used in the correct way, the new technology offers benefits to both consumers and businesses. A QR code on a utility bill, for example, could take a customer directly to a convenient, secure instant-payment website. This would save the consumer time, and would also be likely to decrease late payments, improving businesses’ cash flow.

Ryan Higginson, Vice President Digital Channel & Supplies Europe at Pitney Bowes said, “When new technologies emerge there is often inertia amongst businesses, but QR codes, if used correctly, have huge potential. British businesses should be encouraged to utilise them creatively as an additional avenue to interact with their customers.

“For those wary of taking a step in to the unknown there are tools available, such as pbSmart Codes, to help. This step-by-step software helps businesses of all sizes to develop and implement innovative, measurable, QR code campaigns. What’s more, they’re highly affordable - a QR code can cost as little as £2.99 a month – and campaigns can be launched within a day.”

About pbSmart Codes

• Create branded QR codes including company logo or image to support corporate branding
• Create new business leads by capturing email addresses
• Measure a campaign’s success with real-time reports that count clicks from the QR code campaign or record how customers responded to a mobile survey
• Identify the locations that customers have scanned the codes through maps and geolocation technology

pbSmart Codes is a part of pbSmart Essentials, a suite designed for businesses to quickly and easily implement wide-reaching and high-impact multi-media campaigns to increase customer numbers and sales.

Businesses can buy one or multiple tools at once to help with their marketing initiatives. It is also possible to scale services up and down on a monthly basis depending on requirements.

The full range of tools in the suite includes:

• pbSmart Codes: can develop and launch an innovative QR code campaign
• pbSmart Mobile: easily builds scalable mobile websites
• pbSmart Connections: improves email marketing processes.

For more information, visit http://www.pbsmartessentials.com/eu/products-portal/.

The full findings of the research are available in Pitney Bowes’s whitepaper, ‘Getting ahead of the emerging QR code marketing trend’, available at http://pressroom.pitneybowes.co.uk/getting-ahead-of-the-emerging-qr-code-marketing-trend-/ 

*Survey methodology: Online survey, 2,000 consumers in the US and 1,000 respondents in the UK, France and Germany respectively.