Ever since QR codes arrived on the mobile marketing landscape I've wondered about their ability to really become widely adopted.  People who understand their value are usually convinced that they are the next big wave in mobile marketing.  I'm not so sure.

As with anything, it will take wide adoption on both sides to become a really popular tool.  And as with most of these tools, their value and usage is misunderstood, at best.  Just like Facebook business pages, this is a medium that must be used with a purpose and not just because everyone else has one.  This is surely not the case with QR codes now, as most people I ask don't even know what they are.

I recently heard a comment that using a QR code is pain, from a consumer's perspective.  What that means to me is that the work involved in utilizing the code was not worth the value of using it.  "Liking" someone's business page is not really much work so even if there's no real value, people will do it anyway, just to be nice.

But the activity of using a business's QR code has to have some value for the consumer, because it's a lot more work than just clicking a button on a web site somewhere.  By value I don't mean that it calls up the business's web site home page.  That's not value, it's just self-serving to the business and has no meaning to the buyer.

The value to the consumer does not have to necessarily be monetary, although giving discounts is a nice motivator.  "Use our QR code and then come into the store to get a 20% discount" could be a nice offer, but it's not much different than simply handing out coupons.  It gets your visitors into your establishment.  Then it's up to you to get them to make a purchase.

Perhaps the QR code in and of itself is not all that useful, but someone will surely come up with some interesting spin or application that transforms it into a widely adopted medium.  I'm not going to be the one to figure that out, but I'll be ready to let you all know about it when I hear it.  One interesting new development is the artistic QR codes that I have noticed recently.  This at least makes them less boring to look at.

I'd be very interested in hearing what others think about this.  Have you used QR codes with any success?  What kinds of things have you used them for?  Where do you think they're going?

Photo Credit:  AXIA agence de communication