You finally talked the marketing powers that be into letting you try out these newfangled QR Codes, though they are not really new at all, on some type of printed marketing material, but hold up partner, have you tested it? Failure to test QR Codes is unfortunately very common and to be honest, I made the mistake on a set of business cards once too. If the code fails to scan after being printed, well…let’s just avoid that issue shall we?
Here are some tips for testing QR codes for scan-ability before releasing them into the wild.
Quick QR code scan-ability checklist:
- Check scanning of the QR code in poor lighting conditions.
- Make sure the QR code can be scanned with older phones.
- Scan the QR code with multiple scanner applications.
- Check scanning on an old phone, with the worst QR code app, in poor lighting conditions.
- Request a final proof, if possible, from the printer to ensure color and contrast accuracy.
- Scan recognition should not require significant wait or distance adjustment.
- The QR Code should successfully scan at the distance people will normally be from it. (i.e. billboard effect)
Here we see an example of a QR Code, at a major retailer, that has insufficient contrast to scan from the distance the display was set at. I am pretty certain they had very little success from this implementation.
Android applications to test against: i-nigma, Barcode Scanner, QR Droid, Scanlife, At&t Code, Google Goggles, BeeTagg, and others.
iPhone applications to test with: Redlaser, Scan by QR Code City, and others.
In a future post we will discuss optimal ways to create and track QR codes. Find out how we create winning NetCentered marketing solutions.
Great tips Kevin. I specially appreciate you listing the which apps to test with. Just added a link to this from my post on creating QR Codes http://bit.ly/nbPE76
Kevin, this is one thing many small businesses do not think about or know to ask about when they hire someone to create QR code solutions for them. I will pass this on.
Thanks Michele for helping us spread the word. We hope to education businesses in order to mitigate marketing dollar loss do to lack of testing.
[...] code on as many devices and code readers as you can. For better advice than I can give, check out “Testing QR Codes for Scan-ability” by Kevin Mullett at Cirrus [...]
Okay…now obvious question. What type of USB setup should you buy that scans the QR, tests it and tells you how reliable it is. UPC test scanners do this and give you a grade back A, B ,C etc… better than buying 20 phones and 4 apps to test a QR
You certainly could do that Dave, but given that USB scanners are not exactly cheap, I don’t think there would be real savings. In fact, we haven’t had to buy any phones to test with, as we have plenty of people with varied phones in the office and/or via friends if needed. None of the QR Code reader apps we test with cost anything either. As far as grading, a few of the QR Code generators attempt to verify scan-ability as well, but they have not proven reliable. I still prefer to use what the consumer will use, in the type of environment they will use it.