Trying to determine how to boost online sales? The first step is improving your website’s user experience. Modern shoppers want a seamless, hassle-free shopping experience that’s pleasant and intuitive from start to finish—and that’s where QR Codes come in.
Quick Response (QR) Codes can help your brand simplify transactions and boost user engagement, which leads to a better user experience and increased sales. Keep reading to learn how to leverage QR Codes to transform your e-commerce store into an online success.
How QR Codes play a role in modern e-commerce
A QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode that features a unique matrix pattern. Smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices can scan this pattern and read the data embedded in it.
Not only is it easy to create, scan, and manage QR Codes—they also offer a wide range of advantages for e-commerce brands.
- QR Codes can lead to nearly any destination via URL, from PDFs to landing pages. Online stores can use QR Codes to instantly lead prospective customers to essential webpages and resources.
- Online stores can use QR Codes to accelerate the checkout process. Amazon frequently uses QR Codes on product packaging to make it easy for customers to reorder. By scanning the code, shoppers can go straight to the product page and checkout.
- Rewards programs, promotions, and coupons can utilize QR Codes to help customers effortlessly earn and redeem their rewards points and discounts.
QR Codes aren’t just popular with online store owners. In fact, 82% of U.S. consumers prefer QR Code options and are willing to continue using them going forward.
Exploring the benefits of using QR Codes in e-commerce: Use cases and examples
Did you know the average person only spends about 54 seconds on a webpage? This means you don’t have much time to impress your website visitors and convince them to buy your products. But the more you can engage users, the longer they’ll stay and the more likely they are to purchase.
The good news is that QR Codes are ideal for increasing engagement, so let’s explore the most common use cases for QR Codes in the e-commerce industry.
Simplifying the purchase process
The most common use of QR technology is to make the buying process more efficient and less time-consuming for shoppers. Complicated and tedious purchasing can lead to consumer frustration and more abandoned carts.
Luckily, online stores can use QR Codes to streamline shopping experiences, from product discovery to checkout. For example, online stores can distribute printed promotional materials with QR Codes to bring offline shoppers online. If the printed ad catches the customer’s eye, they can scan the QR Code to go straight to the product page.
Tracking and analytics for informed decisions
Free digital marketing tools like QR Code generators allow users to create Dynamic QR Codes and track their engagement. QR Code tracking can provide valuable data for refining and optimizing your marketing strategies.
For example, if you’re targeting prospects in a specific location, you can check the location data in your analytics dashboard to see where most of your scans are coming from. Then, you can make an informed decision on whether to revise your marketing strategy or double down.
Personalized shopping experiences
QR Codes can help you deliver more customized and personalized online shopping experiences. The more you tailor your content to individual audience segments, the more effective you’ll be at converting them into loyal customers.
Let’s say you want to send an abandoned cart email to convince a prospect to return and shop. You could include a Dynamic QR Code that the shopper can scan to instantly access their abandoned cart and complete their purchase.
Integrating with social media platforms
Bringing more exposure to your online store means connecting all your marketing channels into a singular marketing strategy. This is called omnichannel marketing, and it’s an effective way to direct prospects from all your marketing channels back to your store.
QR technology can make omnichannel marketing easier, especially on your social media pages. For example, since Instagram doesn’t allow links, you can use QR Codes in your promotional content to give your audience a convenient route to your online store via URL.
Enabling contactless transactions
Contactless payment options are quickly growing in popularity in the United States. In fact, 87% of consumers prefer using contactless payment options over traditional ones.
With the use of QR Codes, you give your customers secure access to convenient payment portals. The easier you make the checkout process for your shoppers, the more likely they are to return and buy again.
In addition, contactless transactions can help with fraud prevention. By avoiding manually entering payment details, customers (and store owners) can better protect themselves from online fraud.
Enhancing brand loyalty programs
QR Codes are a great addition to loyalty programs, fostering customer retention and brand loyalty, and they’re also an effective way to gather customer feedback. For example, you can include a QR Code on your product packaging that takes customers to a review page where they can leave a review and earn reward points.
With QR Codes, online brands can even display important product authenticity information to provide customers transparency before signing up for a loyalty program. Specifically, a customer can scan a QR Code to verify the authenticity of a product instead of using a long serial number.
Offering immersive product demonstrations
For some products, elaborate product demonstrations are necessary for shoppers to visualize what it would be like to use the product. QR Codes can link to videos or augmented reality experiences for a more immersive product showcase.
For example, you can include QR Codes on the product pages of your e-commerce website. Whenever someone visits the page, they can scan the QR Code and view a real-life representation of your product in use.
If you’re selling niche or high-ticket items, this may be the wow factor that drives online sales and increases conversion rates.
Driving campaign engagement
Above all else, QR Codes can maximize customer engagement in your marketing efforts. This technology requires people to actively engage by scanning the codes with their mobile devices.
The more your target audience can interact with your campaign, the more user behavior data you can collect. These insights are crucial for adapting your marketing strategy and improving brand awareness.
Tips on how to implement and use QR Codes effectively in an online store
If you plan on using QR Codes in your digital marketing strategy, here are some effective tips to help you get started.
Define clear objectives
The first step in using QR Codes in your online store is determining why you want to use them in the first place. This will help you define clear objectives to begin implementation on your website and marketing materials.
What is your ultimate goal? Increasing conversions? Bringing offline traffic online? Boosting customer loyalty?
By determining the purpose of the QR Codes first, you’ll be able to tailor your QR Code strategy to align with your goals.
Create mobile-friendly landing pages
Implementing QR Codes means prospects and customers will use mobile devices to access your website. So you’ll need a mobile-friendly website to deliver a seamless user experience.
The good news is that it’s simple to determine if your landing pages are mobile-friendly. Bing offers a free mobile-friendly reporting tool. With this tool, you can check the mobile responsiveness of your landing pages and view recommendations to make adjustments.
Ultimately, mobile landing pages should include:
- Compressed images for fast loading.
- Scrollable and convenient website navigation.
- Auto-rotate settings.
Following these tips should help you create mobile-friendly landing pages so your QR efforts aren’t in vain.
Integrate the QR Codes into marketing campaigns
Once you’ve set up your QR Codes, it’s time to start tracking their performance. Bitly’s QR Code generator offers a built-in analytics dashboard so you can build QR Codes and track their results in a single platform.
Bitly provides detailed analytics on QR Code scans, including time, location, and device information, helping e-commerce retailers understand user engagement and campaign performance.
How to leverage Bitly’s QR Code solutions in e-commerce
Bitly’s QR Code generator makes it easy for online and hybrid retail brands to create, customize, and manage QR Codes. Users can create branded QR Codes with Bitly that feature their brand logo, colors, and more, reinforcing brand identity and improving the aesthetic appeal of marketing materials.
But it’s not just about looks—Bitly Analytics also allows businesses to analyze customer interactions with QR Codes, delivering valuable insights into consumer behavior.
In addition, Bitly’s QR Code solutions prioritize data security to increase online safety for both shoppers and store owners, encrypting QR Codes with HTTPS. Plus, they’re compatible with nearly all e-commerce platforms, making integration a breeze.
Build more e-commerce success with QR Codes
E-commerce is a highly competitive industry, and the online stores that build reputable, profitable brands do so by delivering world-class experiences to their customers. With the help of QR technology, you can do the same for your shoppers.
QR Codes can seamlessly lead your audience to your marketing materials, product pages, and checkout. With an effective QR Code strategy, you can elevate your customer experience and generate repeat customers.
Ready to transform your customer experience? Find your perfect Bitly plan to start creating custom QR Codes today!