(Hint: Are your visitors?)
Barely a day goes by that I don't see at least one QR code, if not five. From pizza boxes to the pages of magazines to ads on the subway and even in television commercials, those square barcodes (the QR stands for "quick response") are everywhere. On the content producer's end, they are a quick and easy way to link to information--most commonly, a webpage, Facebook page, or online video--requiring nothing more than cheap or even free software and a print product with a little bit of real estate. For that reason they've become ubiquitous, particularly in advertising.
Museums are starting to get into the mix as well, and more and more, I'm seeing QR codes on labels or other museum displays. But are they effective? The downside of QR codes is that the barrier to entrance for the end-user is comparatively high. In order to take advantage of a QR code, the visitor has to a) know what it is, b) have a smartphone, c) download or install a QR reader on said smartphone, and most importantly, d) be motivated to do so.
This series of posts is going to tackle two issues. In this first part, who among your visitors are using QR codes… and who aren't?
A comScore study published in August 2011 concluded that 14 million Americans scanned QR codes during the month of June. This population tended to be younger, with 53% between the ages of 18 and 34, largely male (60.5%), and comparatively wealthy, with over 36% having an annual household income of $100K or greater. (Though I highly recommend checking out the entire study if you have any interest in using QR codes at all.)
Looking at these numbers, it is clear that if your audience fits this demographic, QR codes have the potential to be a very useful tool in your toolbox. Other metrics might also be useful in determining if your audience is likely to be familiar with QR codes: if you have analytics tools (such as VisiStat or Google Analytics) for your website, how much of your website traffic from mobile browsers? If you go into the galleries, do you see people in front of your displays with their smartphones in hand? Depending on your answers to these questions, you may find that your audience is already comfortable using QR codes.
But what about everyone else? Are the rest of us doomed to be left out of the QR craze? Not necessarily. Although 14 million is a large number, it is only a small portion of total smartphone users in the U.S., which was up to 78.5 million in June (as seen in another comScore study) and steadily growing. There is a much higher number of visitors who have the technology available to them to use QR codes, but are not for one reason or another. (See Part Two of this series for more on that.)
But in all these statistics and numbers, one thing that hasn't yet been mentioned are those who do not have access to a smartphone. It's easy to get caught up in the "ooh shiny" excitement of any new technology, but it is important to remember that the technology is just the vehicle for delivery of the message. This is doubly important when relying on visitor-provided technology to access the content. Museums have long tried to refute the perception that they are only for the upper-class, the rich, and educated.... even though smartphones are becoming more common, an over-reliance on smartphone technology to deliver content could lead those who don't have smartphones to feel excluded and unwelcome.
When considering accessibility, often the solution is to provide alternate or additional means of communicating the message. For example, in the case of QR codes, one high-tech solution is to also provide video screens or displays that can access the material linked to in the QR code--a simpler, lower-tech solution is to provide take-away materials with the QR coded links so that someone could access that information on their own time.
In part two of this series, we are going to explore this question further by looking at some approaches that can help your audience (whether they are QR savvy or not) get past some of the barriers to using QR codes that I mentioned earlier in this post. In the meantime, though, I urge you to consider your audience before jumping on any new technology bandwagon--is the technology going to help, or hinder, your message?
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| From the QR Designs exhibit at Artisphere. |
Museums are starting to get into the mix as well, and more and more, I'm seeing QR codes on labels or other museum displays. But are they effective? The downside of QR codes is that the barrier to entrance for the end-user is comparatively high. In order to take advantage of a QR code, the visitor has to a) know what it is, b) have a smartphone, c) download or install a QR reader on said smartphone, and most importantly, d) be motivated to do so.
This series of posts is going to tackle two issues. In this first part, who among your visitors are using QR codes… and who aren't?
A comScore study published in August 2011 concluded that 14 million Americans scanned QR codes during the month of June. This population tended to be younger, with 53% between the ages of 18 and 34, largely male (60.5%), and comparatively wealthy, with over 36% having an annual household income of $100K or greater. (Though I highly recommend checking out the entire study if you have any interest in using QR codes at all.)
Looking at these numbers, it is clear that if your audience fits this demographic, QR codes have the potential to be a very useful tool in your toolbox. Other metrics might also be useful in determining if your audience is likely to be familiar with QR codes: if you have analytics tools (such as VisiStat or Google Analytics) for your website, how much of your website traffic from mobile browsers? If you go into the galleries, do you see people in front of your displays with their smartphones in hand? Depending on your answers to these questions, you may find that your audience is already comfortable using QR codes.
But what about everyone else? Are the rest of us doomed to be left out of the QR craze? Not necessarily. Although 14 million is a large number, it is only a small portion of total smartphone users in the U.S., which was up to 78.5 million in June (as seen in another comScore study) and steadily growing. There is a much higher number of visitors who have the technology available to them to use QR codes, but are not for one reason or another. (See Part Two of this series for more on that.)
But in all these statistics and numbers, one thing that hasn't yet been mentioned are those who do not have access to a smartphone. It's easy to get caught up in the "ooh shiny" excitement of any new technology, but it is important to remember that the technology is just the vehicle for delivery of the message. This is doubly important when relying on visitor-provided technology to access the content. Museums have long tried to refute the perception that they are only for the upper-class, the rich, and educated.... even though smartphones are becoming more common, an over-reliance on smartphone technology to deliver content could lead those who don't have smartphones to feel excluded and unwelcome.
When considering accessibility, often the solution is to provide alternate or additional means of communicating the message. For example, in the case of QR codes, one high-tech solution is to also provide video screens or displays that can access the material linked to in the QR code--a simpler, lower-tech solution is to provide take-away materials with the QR coded links so that someone could access that information on their own time.
In part two of this series, we are going to explore this question further by looking at some approaches that can help your audience (whether they are QR savvy or not) get past some of the barriers to using QR codes that I mentioned earlier in this post. In the meantime, though, I urge you to consider your audience before jumping on any new technology bandwagon--is the technology going to help, or hinder, your message?
Here, Here, Here!!! As a unsmart phone user I generally do feel left out when I see a QR code. I think it's a great way to embrace the tech savvy community but also alienating for those who are tech savvy but can't afford to participate. Have any museums actually installed video screens that access the same information?
ReplyDeleteInteresting article! Blackberrys come with QR Readers already installed, eliminating that roadblock for me, but even so I don't think I've ever really taken the time to scan them in museums, which just goes to show, as you say, that even if people have the technology, they might not feel inclined to take that extra step and use them. That being said, they are better than things where you dial in with your cellphone for information if one does have a smartphone in that they don't cost money/minutes...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dawn! (See my comment on part 2).
ReplyDelete