Every political campaign manager wants to understand people better—to know how to capture their attention, what’s on their minds, and how to engage them again in the future.
For centuries, the only way to do that was by talking to voters in person. New technologies started to open things up by enabling canvassers to record data digitally, pollsters to speak on the phone, and direct mail to do some of the talking.
QR Codes streamline election campaigns even more. Almost everyone carries a smartphone in their pocket—which means that almost everyone can respond to political advertising instantly.
Let’s explore how QR Codes can enhance voter engagement across fast-moving campaigns.
Why you should use QR Codes in political campaign ads
QR Codes were invented in 1994 to solve a logistics problem, but it would take another 20 years before they broke into the mainstream, where they transformed advertising—including within politics.
If you haven’t incorporated them into your political campaign materials yet, here are five reasons it’s time to consider it.
Instant access to information
The “QR” in QR Codes stands for “quick response.” The format was designed to get immediate sign-ups, donations, or website visits from anyone who saw an ad.
Voters can access a wealth of information about a campaign instantly through QR Codes, including candidate biographies, policies, and ways to help or donate.
In a blog post for Beekeeper Group, a communications agency that works with American nonprofits and corporations, a former shadow representative for the District of Columbia recalled his first experience of using QR Codes in a political campaign:
“What’s great about using them in a political campaign is that it gives people who are waiting for a bus or standing on a corner waiting for the light to change a chance to connect more deeply with your themes and messages than they ever could by looking at a sign.”
Voters might only glance at a billboard for a few seconds, but QR Codes give them the opportunity to spend more time with your campaign when they’re ready.
Ability to measure engagement
QR Codes for marketers have already enabled consumer brands to run huge campaigns for brand visibility and loyalty. For political campaigns, they can help you to measure and understand voter engagement—not just from the first tap but for long afterward.
You can share any link via QR Codes. In many cases, that link might lead to a landing page. But voters could also be directed to interactive content via URL such as videos, surveys, and social media platforms.
Every interaction that follows is a potential source of information about your target audience.
QR Codes offer a positive experience from the viewer’s side, too. Interactive ads are widely thought to be more engaging, shareable, and memorable. And let’s face it: When election day is coming up, making a candidate’s name stick in voters’ minds is a top priority.
Efficient tracking and analytics
You can collect valuable campaign insight from QR Codes. When you create QR Codes with Bitly, you can access the following scan data:
- Scans over time
- Scans by referrer
- Top performing by scans
- Scans by location
However, you can also incorporate insights from other third-party analytics tools (like Google Analytics) to get even more granular data. You can learn valuable information, like how many people scanned a political ad, which times of day get the most engagement, whether one print ad or billboard outperforms another, and even whether specific locations get more attention than others.
With QR Code tracking, you can feed all of that data back into a political campaign strategy. Tracking empowers campaign managers to adapt their strategies and focus on the media which gets the best returns.
Cost-effective tool
You can create QR Codes for a minimal cost with a reliable QR Code generator. Once you create the graphic, you can easily add it to other marketing materials, such as flyers, posters, billboards, yard signs, social media images, TV ads, and digital ads.
While QR Codes can dramatically increase the reach and impact of political advertising, they’ve remained a cost-effective option for almost any campaign. And, by reducing the need for printed materials, QR Codes can result in a lower carbon footprint, too.
Simplifies voter outreach
QR Codes make it easier for the electorate to get involved. By scanning the code with their mobile device, each person can find valuable information via URL, including registration sites, voting locations, and any other information that they might need to vote.
Sharing information like this might seem unfamiliar if you’ve been managing political campaigns without them. But ever since the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of QR Codes, people are used to scanning them for everything from healthcare forms to restaurant orders. Registering a postal vote or checking where to find a polling station via QR Code won’t be a stretch.
What would QR Codes in political ads look like? Real-life examples
These days, QR Codes appear in every aspect of the political process, from electoral campaign teams to pressure groups and get-out-the-vote (GOTV )initiatives. Let’s look at just a few practical real-life applications.
Note: These examples were found during our online research for this article.
Voter registration
In the United Kingdom, the non-partisan political resource Voting Counts sells posters with a unique QR Code that leads people directly to a voter registration page. Vote.org, a similar organization in the United States, sells a handy pack of QR Code voter registration stickers so that campaigners can leave a QR Code everywhere they go.
Recruiting volunteers online and offline
A 2020 campaign from Reclaim Our Vote, a grassroots campaign to increase voter turnout in underrepresented demographics, ran a billboard campaign with QR Codes.
When potential voters scanned the QR Code, three things happened: their contact information was collected; they were offered information about becoming a poll worker; and they were invited to join a social media campaign and share their experience of voting.
User experiences like this one, which combine mobile accessibility with online activations, can be a powerful way to get voters on board.
Petitions and letter-writing campaigns
In other cases, corporations or charities have used QR Codes to campaign on specific issues. In 2023, the prominent eco-products brand Lush united with LGBTQ+ rights charity Galop on a campaign to outlaw conversion therapy. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, they invited customers to scan a QR Code which would then send an e-card about the issue to their local MP.
Fundraising
QR Codes have also been used by nonprofits to boost fundraising efforts. The Susan G. Komen organization, which fundraises research and advocates for public policy on behalf of people with breast cancer, used QR Codes in a print magazine campaign.
As part of their Passionately Pink for the Cure campaign, they included QR Codes in adverts placed in Marie Claire magazine. The codes led to a page where people watched a video about the organization, were asked to donate, and were even offered support to run a fundraiser event in their own community.
Creative ideas for incorporating QR Codes into your political advertising strategy
It’s easy to create QR Codes. Finding engaging ways to share them and make use of the data they collect is the hard part.
Here, we’ve suggested a few ideas to get your campaign strategy with QR Codes started.
Campaign or fundraising pages
QR Codes can be shown on anything from flyers to billboards, campaign signs, social media images, TV spots, and digital ads. Every scrap of political advertising that you create can become a portal for fundraising or recruiting campaign volunteers.
When a QR Code is combined with a specific call to action, it should lead directly to a page where people can take that action. QR Codes could link straight to a donation page or sign-up form, for example. If the campaign website is optimized for mobile users, then the process is even easier.
This makes it easy and fast for people to get involved with the political campaign. The more frictionless the process is, the more chance you have of gaining spontaneous donations and enthusiastic volunteers.
Sharing contact information or bank details means that people need to feel confident using a QR Code. Services to create QR Codes are increasingly focused on trust and safety, meaning that you can rely on a secure connection.
Video messages from the political candidate
QR Codes can also strengthen your message by leading from one ad to another. For example, a potential voter might see a flyer, then scan the QR Code to watch a video from the political candidate.
Video is a flexible, immersive format with unstoppable online growth. Whether the candidate talks about their campaign promises, policy ideas, or personal backstory, the same video can be shared through QR Codes, on social media, and on the candidate’s website.
Because video is such a popular and viral form, your strategy for sharing it should be bold and creative. QR Codes could be placed anywhere from direct mail and public transit ads to event tickets, campaign t-shirts, business cards, and stickers.
Detailed policy outlines
It’s impossible to fit every single policy, with all its nuances and background, onto a single billboard or campaign flyer. However, a unique QR Code can help you share in-depth information from a small space.
Giving voters detailed material means that they can make informed choices and feel proud of their electoral decisions.
This kind of information doesn’t make sense for first-touch political ads, where the goal is to build visibility or ask for donations. However, it can be highly effective when it’s shared in the right place.
QR Codes can work well as a way of extending the information on offer in brochures, campaign literature, and even some outdoor advertising.
How to create effective QR Codes for political advertising
Like any marketing strategy, there’s a lot more to using QR Codes than simply printing one. You’ll need to set objectives, monitor performance, and update your campaigns as the data comes in.
Define your goals
Before you create a QR Code, you should know exactly what it’s for. Do you want constituents to learn, donate, participate, vote, share, or something else? Depending on whether you’re fundraising, educating voters, promoting an event, or something else, your strategy will be different.
Use a high-quality QR Code generator
It’s easy to create a free QR Code in seconds. However, for a political ad campaign, there are real benefits to using a high-quality QR Code generator that offers extra features.
You can use Bitly to create Dynamic QR Codes with additional features such as different color schemes and tracking. If you’ve never used it before, you can learn how to make a QR Code almost instantly.
All you need is a target link. The generator will guide you through generating the code, customizing how it looks, and downloading it in different image formats.
Focus on placement and promotion
To get the most interactions with a QR Code, you’ll need to find the right placement for different ad formats. For example, a QR Code might be front and center on a flyer, but work better in the corner of a billboard.
For each format, the QR Code must be:
- Clearly visible
- Large enough to scan easily
- Signposted so that people know where it leads
Engage voters beyond the QR Code scan
When someone scans a QR Code, it should be the first contact in a long series of interactions—not just a one-off.
Every destination link from a QR Code should offer a way to maintain voter engagement. That could be anything from an email sign-up form to social links or interactive content.
Track, analyze, and update your QR Code content
You can collect plenty of insightful data through QR Codes, from performance data to first-party information such as phone numbers.
You can integrate Dynamic QR Codes with other marketing software such as Google Analytics, Zapier, or HubSpot. Performance data can help you understand which ad formats, placements, and even times of day are most effective for engaging potential voters.
All of that data can feed back into ongoing political campaigns to make them more effective and engaging.
It’s also important to update the information at QR Code links for accuracy and helpfulness. For example, if you find that people are often bouncing away from an information page, it might be missing something that they want to know.
Connect with voters through the new frontier of political ads
QR Codes are a flexible and accessible way to reach more people and share more information. Their ability to scale, engage, and track data makes them invaluable to political campaigns.
Bitly’s QR Code generator is designed for large-scale campaigns across multiple platforms. Get started for free to see how we can help you build more engaging campaigns.