QR Codes | How Direct Mail Redefines Old Tech for Marketing

Advancements like cars or medicine are usually developed to address an underlying need or demand within a society.

However, there are rare occasions when innovations are created long before the original inventor can justify its use – such as a weak adhesive glue invented five years before the Post-It note.

For marketers, the invention of the QR code falls into the latter type of innovation. While manufacturing and some foreign markets found a use for the technology early on, American customers did not understand its value until the mid-2010s. 

Despite its slower adaptation to US consumer markets, the “Quick Response” code has seen a resurgence in popularity, leading to more and more companies integrating this novelty into their marketing content. 

The Origins of the QR Code

Three years after the start of the Cold War, Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver were brainstorming new methods to streamline the grocery check-out process. 

Together, these two visionaries developed the “Classifying Apparatus and Method” which is a bulls-eye code made up of parallel lines of various widths that is scannable by a computer – similar to the dots and lines of Morse code.  

Nearly 20 years later, electrical engineer George Laurer took this concept and redesigned it into a linear format known as the Universal Product Code (UPC)– which later became the barcode we know today.

From the Barcode to the QR Code

Although the linear code had massive appeal and versatility in the consumer-facing industries, the barcode’s limited capabilities were not sufficient for the manufacturing sectors. 

This is why  DENSO Wave’s Masahiro and Takayuki Nagaya developed a 2-dimensional “Quick-Response” code in 1994, which could store more information within one scannable code. 

While the QR code remained mostly within manufacturing, some customers in Japan saw an emergence of the QR code as early as 2002. Thanks to technology like the J-SHO9 mobile phone, Japanese customers could scan QR codes right from their mobile device.

QR Code Popularity In The US

For Americans, the QR code was still unfamiliar even 15 years after its inception. A 2012 Inc Magazine article famously criticized the technology, as it reports that 97% of customers did not know what a QR code was.

That is – until the rise of Snapchat’s “Snaptag” feature. 

This 2015 development allowed users to scan a custom QR code within the app to add friends to their Snapchat account. With over 107 million users at the time, Snapchat created a new appeal for the QR code in a fun and practical way. 

Two years later, Apple Inc. launched the iOS 11 update, which included QR code scanning capabilities to the default iPhone camera. With 97.2 million active iPhone users, the QR code had a much larger potential audience than ever before.

Even though the QR code positioned itself as a favorable commodity with accessible features, it still needed more implementation to be considered a successful widespread technology. Despite all its advantages, companies were still slow to implement the QR code within their marketing content. 

What the QR code needed was a culture shift. 

The 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

The worldwide pandemic introduced new business innovation due in part to the quarantine lockdowns, no-touch technology, and a surge of online accessibility.

Thanks to the emerging demand for contactless payment options, online restaurant menus, and contact-free returns, the QR code saw a notable boost in popularity within that year. 

Data from eMarketer pointed to a 24.9% increase in iPhone scans in 2020 – with the total number increasing year after year. Furthermore, a 2021 Statista survey reports that 45 percent of US shoppers had used a QR code within the prior 3 months.

At the time, it was unclear if the QR code was here to stay. However, once pandemic protocols gradually reduced over the following years, the QR code remained a prominent innovation among American consumers.  

But how can companies take advantage of this technology within their marketing content? 

QR Codes for Direct Mail

With a new path forward, QR codes offers customers the chance to access their favorite brands online – and marketers are quick to notice. 

Direct mail is no exception. The ease and convenience of the QR code only lends itself to the long list of advantages this marketing medium offers in terms of accessibility, analytics, and online integration. 

1.) Offers More CTAs On Your Mailer

While a phone call or physical form fills are common call-to-actions for a postcard or envelope, the QR code offers a digital alternative for customers. This means that a direct mail piece can make a powerful first impression and use online integration for digital shopping and coupons. 

Adding a QR code may also help boost overall response rates, as customers are now much more familiar with scanning these codes on their devices. 

One smaller 2024 study published under the U.S. Census Bureau observed how participants (N=20) responded to an online survey. Researchers then compared it to how participants responded when scanning a QR code to complete the survey on their mobile device. 

The results found that all participants could successfully scan the QR code, and 70 percent stated they would be “extremely likely” to access further online surveys with this method. 

Additional CTAs and marketing touchpoints can also derive from a QR code. Once a user successfully accesses the company website, their device can then serve digital re-targeting ads after their visit.

2.) Easy Online Integration

Prior to QR codes, the only way for print media to encourage online visits was by printing the entire website URL. This method was unattractive for marketers, as even short domains were frustrating to manually type out.

The QR code offers a unique solution to this issue, as customers now had a way to access a website, landing page, or survey with the click of a button. 

Shopping directly through a mobile device is also much more commonplace, as one 2022 Pew Research study notes that 76% of U.S. consumers make purchases through their smartphone (with a heavier skew toward younger demographics). 

Thanks to the ease of the QR code, customers can now make online purchases through a direct mail campaign. With global QR code payments forecast to hit a  $4.8 billion market size by 2028, QR code accessibility shows tremendous potential growth for companies. 

Related: The Omnichannel Approach to Direct Mail Retargeting

3.) Easily Trackable Sales Analytics

Thanks to the power of QR codes, direct mail gains additional insight into the timing and fluidity of the customer pipeline. 

When a prospect scans a QR code, they are directed to a custom website page that tracks their online user behavior. From there, a company can observe the user’s activity to understand the typical pathway from landing page to final purchase. 

Are users leaving the webpage before completing their form? Which pages did they explore before making a purchase? How long is the average user’s online session? 

Data that was once only accessible through digital platforms can now be tracked with QR codes. That way, marketers can view which sections of the customer pipeline need refinement for more conversions on the next campaign. 

Conclusion

QR codes have made significant headway in the American population as their prominence and convenience grows day by day. 

While this technology boom may not have occurred without something as unpredictable as the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand has only grown as more and more businesses recognize the value of the QR code within their marketing framework.