How You Should Use QR Codes Again

If you currently live in Malaysia, when was the last time you used or scanned a QR code? Chances are that you’ve scanned one as recent as yesterday or in the last week. But if I were to ask you the same question 6 months ago, you’d probably say not in the last month or not in a while. QR codes or Quick Response codes have been around since the 1990s, yet the culture of scanning QR codes never quite took off in Malaysia, until lately.

Malaysians never had the need to scan QR codes as it requires an additional step of downloading QR code scanners into their devices as most phones don’t come pre-installed with one. Unlike countries like China, where QR codes are used for almost everything, QR codes in Malaysia are mainly used for e-wallet transactions in the past 2 years, and even that, most Malaysians prefer using cash at point-of-sale especially people of the older demographic.

However, I foresee that trend changing in the next 6 months to 1 year. This is because, post lockdown in Malaysia, most businesses require you to scan one before you can enter their premise as it’s a mandatory requirement by the Malaysian government in order to do contact tracing of everyone who has visited a certain premise. Sure, there are still those who choose to use a traditional pen and paper to record their whereabouts, but over time, I would think those who do will eventually switch to scanning a QR code to leave their contact details as it is not only time saving, but it’s also more hygienic (you don’t know who has touched that pen previously). To sort of validate this theory, I try to look at how many people left their contact details on the book provided at the supermarket entrance where I make my weekly grocery runs. I noticed that the list gets shorter each week I go. I don’t think this is caused by lower traffic volume to the supermarket, because I go to the same supermarket each week at approximately the same time, and the queue is roughly the same each week I go there. ­­This could mean that lesser people are leaving their contact details on the book and more of them are scanning the QR code at the entrance.

Another data point is when I did a Google Trend search on QR code scanners, and no surprises that you see a huge uptick of searches during and post lockdown periods.

Google Trends showing searches for qr code scanners

So, how and what can use QR codes for? While there are a ton of usage for QR codes, here are some I find relevant to Malaysia.

Digital Payments

Payment options available via QR codes

E-wallets are set to accelerate in the coming years in Malaysia. In its effort to make Malaysia a cashless nation, the government has launched e-Tunai Rakyat (People’s e-Money) initiative back in January 2020, which saw a disbursement of RM450mil to qualified citizens to boost e-wallet usage. This saw the government pre-loading a small sum of digital cash into an e-wallet of choice to citizens for free. Think of it as a free e-wallet starter kit. With the increased number of new users on e-wallets, the usage of QR codes are also set to increase.

Tracking of Product Information

Ever picked up a packaged product and noticed a QR code on the packaging? I bet not many would know that there are QR codes on consumer products as well. It has always been there, but not many of Malaysians know of its existence to begin with. Again, this goes back to the lack of a scanning culture here in Malaysia. Some of these codes will lead you to pages to know more about a certain product, some just directs you to the brand’s website.

Product information after scanning of QR code

At Abbott for example, we use QR codes on our packaging for 2 reasons; the first allows consumers to check and track the authenticity of our products, from batch number, manufacturing date, date of arrival in Malaysia, source of milk and expiry date. The second usage would be to reward our consumers with loyalty points through Abbott’s loyalty program. We’ve been having these QR codes since late last year and now we see scan rates being up due to the QR code scanning trend being on the rise as well.

e-Brochures / e-Catalogues

Again, with more and more people opting for lesser face-to-face interactions, it would be hard for brands to or businesses to promote their products in stores. Brochures and catalogues are mainly used as a sales tool by promoters to aid selling. As many businesses are cutting back on cost as well as staff in light of Covid-19, paying for promoters to be in the store as well as paying for printed brochures and catalogues are becoming somewhat a luxury. However, brochures and catalogues can still play a part in stores, just that it has become digital. I recently went to a pharmacy that used to hand out single page promotional catalogues of their on-sale items. Instead, they now recommend you to scan a QR code to get the promotion catalogue of the month. I see this becoming more apparent in coming months as brands and businesses cut back on printing cost. It could be that the next time you visit places like Ikea or a car showroom, you can no longer get a printed catalogue.

Tracking Media Effectiveness and Traffic

It has always been a pain to justify the effectiveness when it comes to out-of-home and point-of-sale media. But if you have unique QR codes that are tagged to locations and medium, you can measure scan rates or number of scans to see how effective your advertising is in those locations. Of course, for your ads to be effective in this, there needs to be a call-to-action on your ad itself to get viewers to scan. You can then analyze which ads and locations are more effective in driving actions for your brand, which then enables you to make decisions to optimize on which location you would put your next advertising dollar on.

App to Web Authentication

If your brand has a mobile app, and also has a website that requires a login, one of the ways to skip the login process (without you needing to remember and re-keying in the username and password) is to have QR code authentications. Online banking providers such as Citi now encourages you to download their app to use it as an authentication to login to their website. This somewhat offers the customer the convenience of not forgetting their username and password. Apps like Whatsapp also require you to also scan a QR code as a form of authentication in order to use the web version.

Virtual Retail

This was a smart store in a South Korean subway station that featured a large digital screen of products by Tesco. Using an app, people would scan what they would like to purchase and add to their shopping cart on their app. Just like how you would if you go to an actual supermarket. Once they have completed selecting the products, they can then checkout those items and get them delivered to their homes. It’s a time saver especially for people on the go who do not have time to purchase essential items or groceries. Imagine the same execution being applied to fashion and the F&B industries. Believe it or not, this was done in 2011. But in a time where social distancing is highly encouraged, and face-to-face contact is to be limited, having such an execution isn’t too farfetched. 

In summary, if you’re a brand or business, start to consider integrating QR codes as part of your products and services. If you’re still skeptical on whether or not enough people will scan QR codes, the above examples clearly shows that there is an increase in trend and application in Malaysia. And with more people aware of how to scan QR codes and how they work, you will definitely see a scanning culture becoming a norm in the coming future.

5 Things to Consider for Your Brand During the Lock-down Period

We are definitely facing unprecedented times with the current Covid-19 pandemic where across the globe, we have restricted travel and movement between countries, and in some cases, even a lock-down is implemented within the country itself in attempts to contain the deadly corona virus. The issue with it being an unprecedented event is that there is neither a fix protocol nor playbook to actually that tells us what to do in situations like this. For us marketers, there is a constant debate on whether or not do we continue to spend marketing and advertising dollars in a time like this. To me, the matter is quite subjective. I would say it really depends on the type of product or service that you are offering. Some businesses could still thrive in times like this. 

Make your brand messages relevant

You should consider changing your brand messages to be relevant. The last thing you want to be doing now are having messages that are insensitive and lack empathy towards the situation. For example, if you’re an airline or from the hospitality industry, it’s probably not a good time to be having promotions on your services. Instead, change your messages to give assurance to your customers on what the brand is doing in these trying times.

If you’re in the digital space, it would be relatively easy for you to tweak messages on your ad copies on banner ads and search results so that it can be more relatable to current situation. Also consider changing your imagery on your display ads to suit your ad copy. Avoid using images of crowds, groups or people touching for this current period, just so that your brand is sensitive to current situations.

Use this time to build brand equity

Unless your product or services are deemed essentials, most people during this time are not exactly in the mood to make purchases, especially of high valued items and services. People will tend to prioritize what are “must haves” and what are “nice to haves”. If you have an e-commerce store, great! But be mindful of what you are actually offering to your customers. Do they need it now? Can they live without it? Not to say that if you are not providing essential products and services it will mean all doom and gloom, but instead, take the time to build brand awareness and brand equity. Instead of focusing advertising budgets on campaigns that was meant to drive conversions and sale numbers, which everyone know will take a hit in these times, why not use this time to actually talk about the brand?

Take the airline example above. The brand can highlight on ground stories of their staff and crew, how the brand is doing humanitarian work to help people, what extra safety measures are taken during these time. All these do not directly lead to someone into purchasing a flight ticket straight away, but instead, it builds affinity and love for the brand with your customers. Once the lock-down is over, people will have stronger confidence toward your brand.

Make everything virtual

Given the situation, majority of events or transactions that require physical intervention has been cancelled or postponed. Again, all is not doom and gloom. While it might be weird to have meetings and presentations online, we might be forced to recognize that this will be the new norm post lock-down. Schools, gym classes and church services are good examples of how something that traditionally requires you to be physically present are now online. Yes, it’s not the same, but at the same time, it forces one to innovate and venture into the online space.

For car brands, why not create a virtual showroom with virtual cars and virtual sales assistant? For FMCG brands, why not create a virtual mall, with virtual promoters (or via online chat) to talk about the product as well as to give product demos online? Can’t smell or taste the product before purchase? No problem, get your customers to fill out a form and send them samples! You’re indirectly collecting leads at this point as well. The sky’s the limit actually. It all depends on how innovative a brand can be and what they can do during this period that would make them continue to grow post lock-down. 

Change your digital marketing strategy

If your brand has presence in the online space that uses contextual targeting, please “negative match” anything that has got to do with the pandemic situation if possible. There is a saying, “leave if you’re not here to help me!”. In this case, if your brand cannot offer a solution (like essential products or services) it would be best to avoid showing your ads in those spaces. The counter argument is that there is no need for such an action as it is still creating brand awareness in the minds of consumers, right? Well, while that is true, awareness is one thing, but brand affinity and relevance is another. You would be wasting your ad spends and impressions where your ads become a blind spot in the online space, just because you’re not relevant to the user.

Don’t make fun of the situation

Finally, if you absolutely need to run promotions for your brand, please avoid having headlines like “Special Covid-19 Promotion”, “Corona Sales!” or “Beat the Covid-19 Deals”. Yes, it may sound elementary, but you have no idea how I have across some cringing promo and headlines that brands are using in hopes to capitalize on the situation, but are instead damaging the reputation of the brand. Major fail here.