Scotts Lawn and Garden: A QR Code Case Study
Posted on by Timothy Boyle
I recently received some marketing materials from a local Home & Garden store near where I live, and found it to be a useful case study on the good and bad of QR code use.
The local Scamman’s House & Garden postcard was an advertisement for Scotts LawnPro, advertising various special deals they were having on Scott’s products this month. On the postcard they also included a QR code, and it is their QR code use that I wish to focus on.
First let’s look at what they did well. Scamman’s Home & Garden is a single location garden showplace, so this first point cannot be emphasized enough; despite their small size, their QR code upon scanning, took them not to their desktop website but a MOBILE website. The reason why I highlight this is that there really is no excuse for not having both a desktop and mobile website, and if a small single retail location store like this can have both then there is no excuse for any other business to not have both.
The landing page you are sent to is also done well. This page, again mobile optimized, gives you four main options to click, including ‘coupons’, ‘specials’, ‘events’, and ‘location’. This is pretty much a perfect use of a QR code landing page. It provides the consumer with the things that he/she is most likely to want upon scanning, and with the coupons and specials, makes their scan worthwhile. Having the location button is also helpful for giving directions to potential new customers who have never been to the store.
Now for the one large glaring mistake. It is terribly unfortunate that the landing page is done so well and the site is perfectly mobile optimized, and the reason this is so unfortunate is because it is likely never to be seen by the consumer. When you use a QR code, 95% of the time you MUST have a call to action. Give the consumer a reason to scan the code; don’t just assume that he/she is going to scan it without knowing what they will get from doing so.
The lack of a call to action next to the QR code greatly limits the QR code’s use and diminishes its productivity. Using QR codes can be incredibly valuable, but if you fail to follow the best practices in their entirety your QR code may be completely wasted.
Think before you code.
