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Although they’ve been declared dead time and time again, QR codes are in the midst of a small renaissance. They’re popping up on more and more posters, at bus stops, and in advertisements. For some people they’re eyesores; others think they’re printing errors. Yet more and more people are pulling out their smartphones and “scanning” them. Websites and short messages are encoded in these little squares – and apps like barcoo can display them in a browser within a split second. Since you don’t have to type in any URLs or web addresses, you save precious time and can even access them later.

Here at barcoo we’re also assisting publishers of QR-Codes. We’re creating print templates for the German Yellow-Page conglomerate and are offering an interface for evaluating scans and accessing websites.

Kabel1’s ad campaign with QR codes generated by barcoo (detail)

The following list contains some valuable tips on gaining and securing customers using QR codes.

Success factors:

• Get people excited. Offer more: It’s not enough to just print the company website as a QR code. Potential customers will only scan it once at the most. Link it up to background information or a special product page.
  It’s best to display QR codes at bus stops and train stations. Many people pass the time in those places with their iPhones or Android phones. Once they scan your QR code, you have their undivided attention.
• Offer clear instructions: Make the customer want to scan your QR code. Make your message clear and meet their expectations. Keep in mind that a poster’s essential information should be visible at first glance – because many customers don’t know what to make of the QR codes. If necessary, include short instructions and recommend an appropriate QR code-reader. Since barcoo has a market share of 85% of all barcode-scans in Germany, there’s already one less hurdle for customers. Depending on how the customer base has been established, it may be useful to print an additional abbreviated URL.
• Track scans and requests: Every campaign requires its metrics. A QR code’s success is particularly easy to track. That’s why you shouldn’t refer directly to the target URL, but to a redirecting URL that tracks how many people have accessed it. QR-generators like barcoo automatically offer this function. Each poster can be tracked individually, if desired.
• Don’t neglect design and usability:QR codes do not necessarily need to be black and white. As long as the colors provide a strong enough contrast, the codes can also be other colors. Small design elements like logos can also be placed inside. When printing a QR code, it’s important to make sure it’s within easy reach. Customers probably don’t want to stoop down or contort their wrists to scan a poster at the bus stop.When printing QR codes, it’s important to note the minimum printing size. The rule of thumb, regardless of a barcode’s complexity, is: the scanning distance divided by 10 is the minimum size.
• Print once – check twice: Even though you can always change the target URL later, it’s still better to use your smartphone and physically test all QR codes yourself when using a URL redirection service like barcoo.

Common mistakes:

• Making QR-Codes overly complex and large: Several companies save very long URLs with parameters as QR codes, which is a bad idea because QR codes then get more detailed, require more printing space, become more difficult to scan, and take longer to recognize. barcoo’s QR service prevents this by shortening the URL, but you can also use a service like bit.ly.
• Linking to non-optimized websites: Even with average connection speeds, target pages should load quickly on any standard smartphone, e.g. iPhone, Android, and Samsung bada. Videos should only be in standard formats and not exceed one minute. Flash is a no-go!
• Using incorrect encoding: Special characters in URLs are considered taboo because they aren’t always compatible. All QR codes should use the international, UTF-8 encoded characters.
• Directly encoding addresses or dates: This is only supported by a limited number of QR-reading apps. On top of that, QR codes are getting too complex. It’s better to offer a mobile landing page that recognizes the device and then potentially offers to import an address or a date.

Feel free to contact us whenever you have questions about QR codes. Our research shows that we have a market share of 85% of all barcode-scanning in Germany, which means that the chances are very high that barcoo will be used to scan your QR codes anyway.

barcoo took a look at the scan habits of Android and iPhone users and decided to compare both to each other. While both Android and iPhone users in Germany seem to thrive on Nutella as their breakfast spread of choice – the differences are pretty interesting.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. At least that’s what Wikipedia says. Many food containers, cans, beverage bottles, and foodstuffs are made of plastics or plastic lining containing BPA. When you use such products, BPA can potentially be released and cause health risks, such as increasing infertility, and may be linked with diabetes or heart and circulatory problems. Some researchers, on the other hand, don’t agree with that theory. On June 1, 2011, after intervention of the European Union, the last baby bottles made with BPA should be taken off the market. However, BPA is still used in beverage bottles, plastic packaging, and tablewares.

© by inhabitat.com

That’s why we want to give you the opportunity to find out more about the potential dangers and will let you know whether products you’ve selected are BPA-free or potentially contain BPA.

At barcoo we aim to make independent product information available to consumers – no matter where. We specialize in combining and refining information from multiple sources and bringing it to the mobile screen in a matter of seconds – so that you are able to make informed consumer decisions right in the store. But since we expect most of you to spend time at home or in the office as well, we would like to bring the same kind of service to a bigger device that might be more adapted to these settings.

Therefore we have brought barcoo to the iPad! We took the existing iPhone version and redeveloped it from the ground up so that it adapts to the different usability and screen requirements. This results in a very different user interface even though both versions share the same core and are delivered in one universal package that can be downloaded in the iTunes AppStore. Most users will not hold an iPad with one hand but instead hold it on the lap or on a table – so one notable example is that navigation elements would rather be difficult to reach on the bottom of the screen, therefore being placed on the upper left corner for easy access. Also, you might not want to run around with it to scan in the store and search for information regarding a specific product, but rather use it to browse and discover products.

barcoo for iPad

However, for those who want it, barcoo supports scanning on iPads of second generation that have a camera. For everyone else, we made browsing and discovery very easy. Right after the start we show you the most popular product categories or what is being scanned in the area. To protect users’ privacy we strip the exact location and the user data from this map, but it is still fun to see in what city areas people are scanning what.

We also made our product guides easier to reach. They provide short but precise insights into important consumer topics – like what to keep in mind when choosing a wine to buy.

The new version of barcoo is already available in the iTunes-AppStore as a free download and also brings additional improvements for iPhone users. We look forward to your feedback.

As we have mentioned, our goal is to offer the award-winning barcoo transparency to as many consumers as possible.
No matter what smartphone, it should be possible to access green, price and background information everywhere you want.

However, lately we have gotten a little behind on the promise concerning our loyal Nokia customers – but today that will change: A new touch-enabled barcoo version for Nokia 5800 (Express Music), N97, N97 mini and other S60 5th edition devices can be download for free from Nokia Ovi Store.

The new version speeds up scanning and simplifies the user experience. Price- and product information, for example food traffic light and sustainability information, and everything else are now shown directly in the app. Gone are the days of having to fiddle with jumping between the built-in browser and the scanner.

We are committed to further invest into the Nokia platform and are looking into specifically supporting the upcoming Symbian^3 devices such as the Nokia N8 and C7.