US QR Code Activity: Nov 2011

Posted: November 30th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: General | No Comments »

Here’s some insights into the way the QR world was in November from our database of 2.35 million QR codes created on the QRStuff.com website.

Looking at the way the website is being used, the QR codes that are being created, and the scan events that are being recorded, the hotspot cities and states for overall QR code activity during November, together with the relative increase in activity over the past 6 months for that city or state, were as follows:

One interesting take-out is that for many states, rural and regional QR code activity is rapidly catching up to city usage as QR codes become more common and their use more pervasive.

QRlicious Make Custom QR Codes Easy

Posted: November 30th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: General | No Comments »

If you’re after a custom QR code you need look no further than QRlicious. Logos, branding, colors, and cool graphic effects that your customers won’t be able to resist scanning.

And if you have a QR Stuff subscription (even a 24 hour $3.95 subscription) here’s how easy it is to create your QR code and get it over to the boys at QRlicious for customising:

Go to www.qrlicious.com to get your custom QR code under way today.

How To Make A Google Places Page QR Code

Posted: November 28th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: General | No Comments »

The mobile version of a Google Places™ business listing page can be difficult to find and link to, but by using a combination of the link tool in your Google Places™ page, a slight modification to the URL provided by the linking tool, and a QR code, you can give your mobile-enabled customers simple and immediate access to your business information with just a simple 5 step process.

1. Go to your Google Places™ page and click the link icon in the top right corner of the page.
2. Copy the URL provided by the Link Tool.

3. Paste the URL provided by the Link Tool into a text editor and remove the bits highlighted in yellow so that it looks like the second URL shown. Why? The URL provided by the Link Tool displays your Places page in a desktop browser but goes to a Google Map™ on a mobile device. By modifying the URL in the manner shown it becomes the URL of the mobile version of your Google Places™ page instead.

• Remove the “maps.” including the full stop
• Remove “aps” from the second instance of “maps”
• Remove all of the “q=xxxx” bit including the trailing “&”

4. Got to www.qrstuff.com, select the “Website URL” data type and paste the modified URL from Step #3 into the “Website URL” input box
5. Click the “Download Image” button to download your QR code image. That’s it – all done!

 And here’s an example of the resulting QR code:

Google Places™ is a trademark of Google Inc.

SMS Marketing With QR Codes

Posted: November 25th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: General | No Comments »

A QR code can be easily created containing your phone number and your pre-written text message so that when scanned it opens up the SMS client on the phone of the person scanning it, and then pre-populates the “To” number field and the “Message” field with the information you placed into the QR code.

With your message and your phone number already on-screen, all the person scanning the QR code has to do is press “Send” for it to come back to you as a regular SMS message, together with the senders phone number. Nothing for them to type in, just a “Send” button to press!

For the savvy SMS marketer the engagement possibilities for this type of QR code are huge:

• Sales – On advertising material promoting the new model and containing the message “I’d like to test drive the new 2011 Camaro” that comes back to salesman’s phone.
• User Support – On the printed instructions for a product with the caption “Need help? Scan this and we’ll ring you back”. The QR code would contain a message like “I need help with product XYZ” and would be pre-coded with the cell number for your customer support team.
• On-Request Product Upgrades – Where a paid option is available for a free service this sort of QR code could be included when the free service is delivered with a call to action “Upgrade Now” which would follow through to a call-back to the customer by the sales team.
• Opt-In SMS Registration – A QR code containing the message “Yes, send me SMS product updates”. Since the phone number of the sender is included in the return message, they can then be easily included in the SMS customer database for the approved delivery of future messages/promotions by SMS.

Here’s the process for creating a QR code containing a pre-formatted SMS message.

1. Go to the  QR Stuff  website and select “SMS Message” as the Data Type in column 1
2. In column 2 (Content) enter your phone number and the message you would like to receive (eg; “I’d like to test drive the new 2011 Camaro”)
3. Click on the “Download Image” link under the preview image to download your finished QR code.

You now have a QR code with a pre-formatted SMS message in it that’s ready to be sent back to you from the phone of the person who scans it, and by them sending you the SMS message, you also now have their phone number for a call back. Easy!

QR Code Minimum Size

Posted: November 23rd, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: General | No Comments »

In my previous post,  What Size Should A Printed QR Code Be, I mentioned that it wasn’t the size of the QR code image that determined the minimum size at which a QR code could be scanned, it was actually the size of the modules (the little black squares) that make up the QR code image. If the size of the modules fall below the resolution limit of the camera then the QR code won’t be able to be read by the device.

A fundamental part of the way QR codes work is that the more data you put into them, the more rows and columns of modules will be introduced into the QR code to compensate for the increased data load. Hence, for a QR code image of a certain size (width), the more data it contains, the more rows and columns of modules it has and, logically, the smaller each of the modules then become as a result.

So it’s all about whether the camera can actually “see” the smallest element in the QR image – the individual modules.

Another factor that influences minimum QR code size is the scanning distance – the distance the phone is held away from the QR code image. The further away the QR code is, the smaller it appears in the camera viewport, and so the smaller the modules will appear too. Once again, if the camera is held too far away, the modules become too small for the camera to read and the QR code won’t work.

The following table shows the theoretical minimum width of a printed QR code image for a given scanning distance, based on the minimum size an individual module needs to be when viewed by the camera. The assumptions here are that an 3-4 megapixel camera is being used (lower resolution cameras would need the QR code image to be even larger to “see” it), and a black QR code on a white background is being used.

The data shown is:

• Modules: Number of rows and columns of little black squares in the QR code image.
• Characters: Approximate number of characters that would normally fit into a QR code with that many modules using binary data encoding (most do) and Level L error correction.
• Scan Distance: The distance the camera is being held away from the printed QR code.

So for instance, a QR code image with 72 characters of data would end up with 35 rows and columns of modules, and would need to be 42mm (1.7″) wide to be successfully scanned from 300mm (12″) away, but only 21mm (0.8″) wide if the scanning device was only 150mm (6″) away.

Here’s a few examples to give you an idea of what QR codes look like as their data load gets higher, resulting in the modules getting smaller and the QR code image becoming more dense.