Half of marketers are already using 2D bar codes as part of their overall marketing strategy and 86 percent plan to use the technology in the future, according to a new report from Scanbuy Inc.

Over 100 marketers in industries such as healthcare, retail and entertainment indicated that a surge in code publishing and consumer scanning is encouraging them to take a chance on 2D bar codes.

“It is great to see that marketers are already integrating codes into their campaigns,” said David Javitch, vice president of marketing of Scanbuy, New York. “Fifty percent of marketers responded that are already using codes to engage consumers and 92 percent of the respondents stating that they are aware of 2D codes.

“Many of those are using a paid service to manage and track their codes, and they were 50 percent more satisfied than those using a freeware generator,” he said. “This just shows that if you think about QR Codes in a strategic way, then you will see better results and a strong ROI.”

Open source codes
The report shows Marketers are gravitating toward open source code formats with 61 percent reporting using open source code formats, including 45 percent for QR codes, 16 percent for Datamatrix, 14 percent for Microsoft Tag, 12 percent for EZcode and 11 percent for Snap Tag.

The top three content choices that the codes link to are product details, promotions and coupon offers.

The top three media placement choices are magazines and newspapers, direct mail and product packaging.

Wide compatibility was named as one of the most important factors for a successful campaign among the 50 percent of respondents currently implementing 2D barcodes. This means the code format should be compatible with the largest number of bar code scanning apps.

Access to analytics from the scans, including basic usage and user demographics, was also named as an important factor.

Additionally, marketers say they should be able to edit the code or access it at anytime from a Web-based platform.

Marketers also favor a paid 2D bar code service, with 69 percent going this route while 39 percent reported using a free service.

Scanbuy expects both the quantity and the quality of QR code marketing grow considerably in 2012.

“Marketers can improve the experience by thinking more about the user,” Mr. Javitch said. “Make the content mobile optimized and make it relevant to the user at the time a code can be scanned. 

“Track the analytics from your scans so you know what is performing, and then optimize,” he said. “Managed systems will just take all of the guesswork out of launching these campaigns so they work better and more easily.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York