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Six steps to cashing in on QR codes and mobile apps
By Glen Bowker
November 17, 2011
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 Angela is 17 years old and she is on her high-school spare. She has an iPhone, sends an average of 2,300 text messages per month, has 1,585 friends on Facebook, 402 followers on Twitter, and loves to play foursquare.
No, not the foursquare we used to play in school with a ball, but rather the application that today has 10 million subscribers posting their GPS locations 24/7 from their mobile phones. Angela is in that massive new market segment that includes Gen X, Gen Y, and the Millennials. And one thing is certain: Angela and her mobile compatriots experience more of the world through their cell phones.
So how do you appeal to Angela? How do you bring Angela, and everyone else between the ages of 12 and 32 into your stores to spend all that discretionary income? This is the challenge of today, but also represents a most delicious and irresistible opportunity for sales growth and loyalty.
QR Codes
Android Market, Apple iTunes, and Blackberry App World have all created new portals for us to reach our customers. By publishing QR (quick response) codes on our menus, store doors and packaging, people like Angela will scan them, which uploads store applications to our customer’s mobile phones from these portals. These applications can do all kinds of things like incent them to dine more often, increase spend per visit, streamline ordering and payment processes, while inviting all their friends to come along with them too.
Consider the implications of having your applications on customers’ phones. Certainly nutritional information, video links to your latest advertisements, and GPS store locators all have a cool factor, but they do little more than inform customers. Useful apps drive sales, minimize costs, and enhance the service experience.
Start by putting your menu on the phone so Angela can create her “regular” order, which she shows you as a 2D barcode on her phone display. This fantastic application made by MobilizeyourEnterprise.com allows people to flash their phone in front of a scanner plugged into your POS or drive-through. Orders are instantly entered into your system without error, leaving you all that time to up-sell.
For QSRs who measure order fulfillment in half seconds and strive to eliminate visible drive-through lines, this technology is an outright service revolution. No more yelling at a faceless speaker system over the noise of cars. And Angela loves the fact that she can keep texting her friends while ordering because she avoids the inconvenience of having to talk to someone.
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Spreading the word
When Angela gets her wrap and juice, you publish a loyalty QR code coupon on her receipt. She is a captive audience while eating in the store, and so she scans it with her phone. That scan retires the unique QR code so it can’t be used again and puts a point in her loyalty program. Better than that, the scan automatically tweets 402 of her followers. They instantly receive an electronic QR code coupon of their own, that when redeemed gives them each a free small french-fry when they order a burger and drink. Not only is Angela couponing her followers for you, but her message also includes an invitation to join her for lunch with a map link to your location. Three other classmates come over for lunch because they also share the same spare. Cha-ching. Cha-Ching. Cha…
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But wait, maybe there is no cha-ching. In fact there is no sound of money exchanging hands at all. That is because Angela and her three mobile peers all pay with their cell phone. Near field communications (NFC) is a small chipset being embedded in mobile phones, allowing commercial transactions to occur through the phone bill of the wireless carrier. The phone is now a mobile wallet and credit card. And if their phones don’t have an embedded NFC chip, they might pay with a great new app called Aislebuyer, designed to allow for payment from phone to POS in real-time.
Are you ready to have an extra 24.7 million free POS systems that you don’t have to pay for?
Gaining ground
Now you may be thinking: not everyone has a smart phone. The fact is that almost 80 per cent of Canadians have a mobile phone (24.7 million people according to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association) and they upgrade to a new, smarter phone on average every 16-18 months. If they don’t have one today, give it a year. Are you ready to have an extra 24.7 million free POS systems that you don’t have to pay for?
The key to mobilizing your enterprise on your customers’ devices is to ensure your applications serve the success metrics of your business. Simple QR codes for nutritional info or store information are all nice, but applications with social media hooks and commerce uses will drive your sales, increase loyalty, reduce errors, and speed up the transaction process. These applications will tap you into the new generation of customers who experience the world through mobile technology.
Aim to make your business run better. Mobilize your enterprise in the hands of your customers.
How to get started: It’s simple!
- Ask yourself: What are the current business success metrics I really want to drive?
- Survey Angela – she is probably sitting in your store texting right now, LOL. Ask her what kind of app she thinks would be “sick” enough to bring her back into the store.
- Consider scalability: Beyond survey results, there may be other aspects of your business to inter-twine in your apps. Do you have a loyalty program? Do you run game promotions or contests that you might want to tie into the app later? Think for today and tomorrow.
- Choose a partner who knows the space: The key is to choose a partner that can publish your apps quickly, deliver the same user experience across iOS, Blackberry, and Android, and grow with you in the future.
- Be unique but don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. If there are already apps pre-baked, seriously consider using them. Simple cookie cutting and rebranding of pre-baked code will save you money and time to market without re-inventing the wheel.
- For franchisees: Talk to corporate IT first. Franchisor agreements may prohibit you from making an app on your own. Chances are that HQ is trying to formulate a national strategy now. If they aren’t, your request may help to inform their decision-making.
See also:
About the author
Glen Bowker has a passion for applying the latest enterprise mobility technology to optimize business results. His career includes experience with wireless carriers, wireless application providers, mobility hardware manufacturers, and wireless internet portals. He welcomes comments, dialogue, and questions at: GlenBowker123@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter @moblhospitality
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