QR Code Use Cases: 17 Top Applications for Business, Marketing, and More

QR codes have found applications in all industries, and everyone from startups and small businesses to global brands is using them. However, QR codes remain an underutilized asset, mainly because of a lack of awareness. 

Even though QR codes have been around for about three decades, many brands are unaware of their true potential. 

If you’re wondering how to implement QR codes in your business, keep reading. Here are 17 useful QR code use cases in business, marketing, and customer engagement.

1. Bring offline users to your website and landing pages

A digital presence is no longer optional for businesses. In this internet-enabled, highly connected world, your business needs a website, even if you sell offline. A website informs people about your business, builds meaningful relationships, collects first-party data, and more. In fact, over 70% of small businesses have a website. 

QR codes help you bring offline users to your website. You can create a URL QR code for your website and put it on your print ads, billboards, product packaging, etc. Consumers can scan it to visit your website. 

Similarly, you can create a marketing QR code for your landing page and generate more leads. With QRCodeChimp, you can also create a marketing QR code for a landing page HTML code. 

2. Share your contact information

Sales and marketing reps and service providers like insurance agents, realtors, etc., must continuously expand their network and connect with potential consumers. Most professionals use business cards to share their contact details and build connections. 

While business cards are a time-tested networking tool, they have drawbacks. People need to manually enter your details on their phones to save your contact. It’s time-consuming and prone to error, and hence, 88% of them are tossed away. Also, business cards have limited space, and if you want to change some information, you’ll need to reprint them.

QR code business cards are a modern and effective alternative to standard business cards. You can print a vCard Plus QR code on your business card, redirecting people to your vCard Plus profile page. The vCard Plus page acts as your digital business card, containing your contact details and professional information.

QR code business cards offer several benefits over standard business cards, such as: 

• Share contact details instantly.
• Share in-depth information.
• Update your information without reprinting the QR code or business card.
• Build more connections and expand your network.

3. Inform and educate users

Empowering your consumers with free and helpful information is the best way to build trust and loyalty. Sharing PDFs, PPTs, images, videos, and other multimedia is the best way to educate your consumers and help them make informed decisions. 

You can leverage QR codes to share valuable information with offline users. For example, you can print a PDF QR code on a product’s packaging to share information about the product. Similarly, you can share presentations, tutorial videos, and other helpful material. 

4. Create ID tags for pets

One in three pets get lost, and most lost pets are never found. Hence, pet owners have started using QR code dog collars to find their pets quickly if they get lost. 

A QR code dog collar contains a QR code that redirects people to a display page containing information about the pet and its owner. If someone finds a lost pet, they can scan the QR code and inform the pet owner. 

If you’re a pet shop owner or pet accessories seller, you can sell smart pet collars with QR code pet tags. QRCodeChimp lets you create merchandise QR codes, which essentially are empty QR codes that other users can claim. You can sell pet collars with QR codes printed on them. People who buy the collar can claim the QR code and add their information. 

5. QR code menus in restaurants

QR code menus are gaining popularity among restaurants as people want to minimize human contact. Physical menus are shared between hundreds of consumers daily, and they can be a potential carrier of germs and diseases.

You can use QR code menus to minimize human contact. Create menu QR codes and print them on each guest table. Guests can scan the QR code and view your digital menu on their phones. They can check the available items and order food. 

Apart from offering a contactless experience to guests, QR code menus also benefit restaurant owners. The cost of printing QR codes is negligible, so you can drastically reduce your menu printing costs. Moreover, you can edit the contents of your digital menu without reprinting your menu QR code. 

6. Increase mobile app downloads

The mobile app economy is booming. There are over 4.8 million apps available for download on various app stores, and mobile apps are anticipated to generate over $935 billion in revenue by 2023. 

With mobile adoption and usage snowballing, mobile apps are one of the most effective channels to engage an audience, build loyalty, and drive revenue. But with so many apps in the market, app owners need a robust strategy to promote app downloads.

QR codes can help you increase app downloads. You can create an App Download QR code, which brings users to a display page containing download links for the app’s iOS and Android versions. You need just one QR code for all your app download links. 

Print your App Download QR code on your print ads, billboards, signage, product packaging, etc., to increase downloads. 

7. Promote your social media profiles

Around 4 billion people use social media, and 73% of marketers consider social media marketing effective for their business. Social media is vital in building brand awareness, increasing customer engagement, and cultivating loyalty. Therefore, brands across industries must prioritize social media marketing. 

Once you’re active on social media, you can use QR codes to promote your social media profiles. You can create a Social Media QR code to bring people to a display page containing all your social media links. Hence, you can have one QR code for all your social media profiles.

You can print social media QR codes inside your store/restaurant or on print ads, product packaging, etc. 

8. Share your business information

QR codes enable you to share in-depth information about your business. You can create a Business QR code, which redirects people to a display page containing all the details about your business. This includes the location, contact information, operating hours, website, and other details. 

You can put Business QR codes outside your forefront or on your print ads and billboards to educate people about your business. 

9. Share map locations

Location QR codes help you share the Google Maps location of your business and help people easily find you. A location QR code redirects people to the Google Maps app on their phones, with the destination location already entered. They just need to follow the directions.

Hence, people don’t need to open the Google Maps app and manually search for your location. They can scan the QR code and start the navigation. Print ads, billboards, and brochures/flyers are the best places to share location QR codes. 

10. Smart product packaging

Customers are smarter than ever, and they want to know everything about a product before buying it. However, product packaging has limited space, and you can’t share all the necessary information. 

Here’s where QR codes come to the rescue. You can print a QR code on product packaging to share detailed information about the product. For example, you can share a PDF document containing all the product’s details or a video showing the product’s manufacturing process. 

The QR code labels market is projected to reach $1.26 billion by 2026. Leading brands like Nestle, Hershey’s, and Pepsi have implemented smart packaging with QR codes. 

11. Share discount coupons

Discount coupons are one of the best ways to attract customers and boost sales. Over 70% of consumers love receiving coupons, and 68% consider it a key to brand loyalty. 

However, if you sell offline, distributing discount coupons and encouraging consumers to use them can be challenging. 

You can use coupon QR codes to share discount coupons and provide an effortless claiming process to customers. A QR code coupon redirects users to a coupon display page containing details like coupon validity, T&C, etc. You can also include a button to allow users to claim the discount coupon directly from the page. 

QR code coupons are gaining massive popularity. Over 5 billion QR code coupons were claimed in 2019, and this figure will only multiply in future years. 

12. Collect feedback and reviews

Every business needs a strategy to collect customer feedback. Only one out of 26 customers bring up their complaints; the rest go to your competitors. Collecting feedback and acting upon it can help you retain customers and build loyalty.

You can use a feedback QR code to collect feedback in a hassle-free way. Users can scan the QR code to reach a feedback form and submit their feedback. Restaurants, hotels, and retail stores can put up QR codes on the billing counter to collect feedback from guests when they check out. If you have a physical product, you can put feedback QR codes on product packaging.

13. Share calendar events and meeting URLs

Virtual meetings are the norm in the corporate world. 79% of working professionals consider virtual meetings equally productive as in-person meetings. Furthermore, virtual meetings have enabled 47% of companies to reduce business travel.

However, low participation is a common issue with virtual meetings. And QR codes help you overcome this hurdle. You can create a meeting QR code to share the meeting URL across channels. Users can scan the QR code to reach the meeting and join it. 

QRCodeChimp’s meeting QR code solution allows you to create a QR code for all the major meeting platforms, including Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, MS Teams, etc.

14. Enable digital payments

Global QR code payments were valued at $2.2 trillion in 2021 and are expected to reach $2.7 trillion by 2025. QR codes enable digital payments in brick-and-mortar stores, and small businesses worldwide are accepting QR code payments.

Setting up QR code payments is quick and easy. The setup costs are negligible, and you don’t need high-end tech infrastructure or expensive equipment. All you need to do is create a payment QR code and put it up in your store, restaurant, hotel, etc. 

QR code payments are also convenient for consumers. They can pay digitally in physical stores by simply scanning a QR code and confirming the transaction. There’s no need to carry loose cash or swipe cards. 

15. Facilitate WiFi authentication

People nowadays expect a free WiFi connection in every supermarket, hotel, or restaurant. While most businesses provide WiFi, they’re not much effective at sharing the WiFi credentials. Many stores and restaurants print the WiFi username and password on their walls or billing counter. 

Doing so has two drawbacks:

• People have to type the password, increasing the risk of errors. 
• People not buying from you can also get access to the internet. 

QR codes address both of these challenges. You can create a WiFi QR code to share WiFi credentials with your consumers. They can scan the QR code to obtain the credentials and connect to the WiFi network.

16. Connect with users on SMS, email, and WhatsApp

QR codes help brands connect with their customers across channels. 

For instance, if you want to connect with your consumers on SMS, you can create an SMS QR code with the message and your phone number already entered. Upon scanning it, users will get redirected to their default messaging app, with the phone number and message already entered. They just need to press the send button.

Similarly, you can create an email QR code with a prefilled recipient email ID and message or a WhatsApp QR code with a prefilled phone number and text message. 

17. Optimize your offline marketing campaigns

While digital media is taking over the advertising space, traditional advertising still has a place. Prominent global brands rely on conventional advertising, such as billboards, print ads, TV ads, etc., to build awareness and reach a broader audience. 

QR codes can optimize offline marketing campaigns by adding digital capabilities to them. You can put a QR code on your billboards, print ads, etc., to redirect users to your website and generate leads and sales. You can also use QR codes to increase app downloads, promote your social media profiles, etc.

In all, QR codes bridge the gap between online and offline channels and make your offline advertising campaigns more actionable. Additionally, you can track the scans on your QR codes to evaluate the performance of your advertising campaigns. 

Final thoughts

The many use cases of QR codes have made them an effective marketing and customer engagement tool for brands across all industries. Their ease of use and low setup cost make them ideal for businesses of all sizes, from startups to global brands. 

If you want to leverage QR codes but are not sure where to begin, use the QR code use cases discussed above as a stepping stone. 

QRCodeChimp is a QR code management platform that helps you run profitable QR code campaigns. Sign up for QRCodeChimp to kickstart your QR code campaign for free.

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