QR Codes: You Don’t Need An Elephant To Tie Your Shoes
I still have kids young enough to enjoy Raffi. It’s the bain of my existence, but they love it. The other night, while listening to the following lyrics, I couldn’t help but think about QR codes.
Oh me, oh my! What’ll I do?
I can’t find an elephant to tie my shoe.
But I know what, and so do you,
I don’t need an elephant to tie my shoe.
No, you don’t need an elephant to tie your shoe.
I’ve tried to stay away from writing about QR codes. I’ve done thismainly because I just don’t care about them, but somewhat out of fear that I’ll simply add to the already ridiculous level of hype. There is a special level of hype around QR codes in the real estate industry. Realtors® wishing to be perceived as “tech savvy” are plastering them on everything they can, but rarely doing anything more than linking back to a website that would be just as easily, and more broadly, reached via a shortened URL.
There are certainly going to be some unique uses for QR codes, but using them as a replacement for a URL is not one of them. It’s like looking for an elephant to tie your shoes. Or a lumberjack to pour your milk.
Oh me, oh my! What’ll I do?
I can’t find a lumberjack to pour my milk.
But I know what, and so do you,
I don’t need a lumberjack to pour my milk.
No, I don’t need a lumberjack to pour my milk.
Or a cowboy to saddle my horse.
Applying new tools to old strategies does not equal new strategies.
Dang. I wish I would have said that.
I keep finding QR codes on computer screens. Anyone who sees the code is already on the screen. I was going to go into great detail and explain but that would be a waste of 1′s and 0′s and bandwidth.
I may starting sticking my QR codes on screens at Apple Stores.
Thank you for writing this so I don’t have to.
Yeah, but you might have written it better.
I’m putting a QR code on all of my underwear, instead of a sharpee.
But seriously, saw an ad on TV with a QR code at the bottom – my wife said “what’s that” I said “oh, that, it is a QR code – you shoot it with your phone and it sends you to a website” I then proceeded to try it from my couch 8 ft away with a 54inch tv…it didn’t recognize it. Hmm…so I have to pause the commercial, get up and walk to the tv and snap it…no thanks.
Saw a billboard with a QR code…so what – slow down, snap a photo, car wreck etc…
I’m with you Jeff – I’m not a hater – just not a lover. (except I love what happens when I snap the QR code on this post)
My point exactly, Mike. It’s not the QR code that’s the problem. QR codes are cool. It’s how they’re being used.
Now, a QR code tattoo is an excellent idea.
I’m an innovator Jeff!
I’m having deja vu
Everyone’s blogging about QR codes now!
Now? I held off as long as I could
Well said. It sounds cool but maybe adoption is still down the road from me. I tried a “text for more info” rider on my signs 2 years ago and no one did it. I think text adoption rates are way higher (esp now) than QR codes. I would be more inclined to try another text for more info push than I would QR codes.
By the way, Jeff – nice appearance on TV the other day. Hope to see you again at #RETSO in 2011.
Great, I’m trying to watch The Sing-Off and I keep hearing ‘The Lumberjack Song’ in the background. I’m surprised no cutting-edge agent hasn’t changed their profile pic to a QR code yet.
There are a few, John.
Amen, brutha! I was at the #smmoc meeting a few weeks back when the subject of QR codes came up. I’ve seen’em but NEVER used’em. And I’m a wee bit more “wired” that Joe Public. And yet… when I asked the room who had ever used QR codes, EVERYONE in the room raised their hand (except me).
Now, it could be a case of not wanting to be the one who tells the emperor that his new threads are, well, threadless. Or it could be some strange viral disease that has infected that group (which also happens to be heavily-slanted toward real estate-ies). I don’t know, and don’t care.
I concede that there are probably a few good applications for them, but they taste suspiciously like the flavor of the month.
I think I’d rather be associated with my fairly easy to remember url than what my customers perceive as “goobly goo.” Wouldn’t make me cool in Waxhaw. At all.
Nice post. I had to put down my laptop and go on the hunt for my cell phone just so I could try to scan that QR Code above. Then I realized that I had deleted my scanning program because it was too slow. So I had to go find another program, yada, yada, yada. I felt sure I was about to get Rick Rolled
Over the past 10 years working with real estate agents I’ve come to learn that many simply jump at anything free that will either make them look more tech savvy or be perceived as potentially making them more money without taking the time to do the necessary research. The weakest link to using QR codes is where you point it to. If a website or landing page is not optimized for mobile viewing it may do more harm than good. (ever try to read a full website on a mobile phone screen?)
QR codes are effective ONLY if applied the right way. It’s simply one more tool for reaching a growing audience of mobile shoppers, nothing more.
You’re all having such a lovely roast of QR codes containing URLs that I am little sorry to detract from it. I like the idea of buyers standing in front of a house and viewing a website about it. Usually they can’t go inside without an appointment and a web site can provide more information than a flyer.
As many have stated, a URL could be put on the sign, but I know I would rarely type URLs into a phone. QR codes are a quick and easy way to get to more information – using a URL.
I am actually shocked at yet another so called “creative” who cannot see the benefits of having a fast track method of linking off-line with on-line. The only reason QR Codes are taking so long to go main stream is the creatives are letting their clients down by being lazy and linking the qr codes to boring non-mobile optimised websites.
Any decent designer would be jumping for joy knowing that within seconds they can be delivering a “Blow ya socks off” experience via QR & Mobile technology.
Anyone who has scanned a well thoughout/designed QR code journey will be 100% impressed…as consumers we need to give these designers a kick up the bum to get their creative juices flowing or just move to another agency…
I’ll agree with that.
Ann…I couldn’t agree more! After 10 years in the real estate publishing business, QR codes have been a revitalization of print by making it interactive…only so many agents wanting to pretend they are tech savvy blindly used them without fully understanding HOW they are to be used. As a result, they have turned of a lot of consumers and shown just how UN-savvy they are in the process.
Pardon me for being blunt…but people can simply be downright lazy at times by not doing their homework. And now that they have done their damage, they have moved on saying that QR codes are dead, Twitter is the new thing. That’s crap! Consumers who know the advantages of QR codes still use them as a means of finding information fast. Those people who REALLY understand what a ‘mobile-optimized’ website is, nd how to effectively use QR codes, still use them effectively, whether it be to show photos, provide discount coupons, point consumers to a location map, or to a video presentation.
As a publisher, it is also our responsibility to educate our clients on the use of QR codes to create interactive ads and not use the almighty dollar as the bottom line to simply do whatever their client wants, regardless of how ineffective it may be. If clients don’t use the QR code right…tell them, teach them. After all, it’s going to be a direct reflection of how good YOUR publication/flyer/brochure/postcard/business card/whatever really is.
Jim, I do hope both you and Ann don’t think I’m maligning QR codes in general. My point was to attack those “wanting to pretend they are tech savvy” who blindly used them without fully understanding HOW they should be used. QR codes aren’t dead, but I am thankful the ridiculous hype over using them as a replacement for a simple link to a website it dead. And I hope I played some small role in killing it. Now we can all get down to understanding how to use them to do something truly creative. See: I Don’t Hate QR Codes and There Is A Difference Between Different And Differentiation.
Jeff…my apologies for sounding a bit overzealous with my opinion. You were absolutely right in bringing up the point of misusing QR codes and making what is meant to be simple, ineffective. And I agree with you that we all tend to add too much hype to new technology at times.
Another solution to using a QR code may be to add the short URL below the QR code for those who don’t have a mobile phone handy but don’t want to type in a long URL to the landing page.
Please…keep up the good work you’re doing with your blog. So many of us enjoy enjoy reading it.
I also like your article “There is a difference between…”. For an agent to really differentiate themselves by using QR codes begins by having them point to an actual mobile optimized site, landing page, document, or even better, a video presentation…ANYTHING that offers value to the consumer other than a simple home page of a website that forces mobile users to enlarge the screen to read it and enlarge it even more to get our fat fingers on the right link, only to have to do it all over again on the next screen.
If an agent REALLY wants to differentiate themselves, they would create a video campaign offering valuable information, whether it be tips on moving with kids or pets, simple tips on home staging that you can do for free, a series of neighborhood videos, or a walk-through of a special new development (just as a few ideas).
Marketing ones self is, as Steve jobs says, ” a matter of creating value”. Agents need to provide value with what CONSUMERS are interested in, not what agents WANT consumers to be interested in.
It’s not difficult to differentiate yourself from other agents at all…it simply takes a little thought, a little time, and a little creativity…NONE of which cost them money.