Martin and Daniel Naef already used QR Codes for their Scavenger Hunt and now QR Code Scavenger Hunts seem to be quite popular in the US.
That's why we tried to figure out how one can combine it with DokoDare to make it easier to set up. The second advantage is - in case you are setting up DokoDare for your town -, people get introduced to QR Codes via game play.
SCANvenger with DokoDare
DokoDare offers geolocalised places with a check in function as well as the possibility to leave short messages, so called Kaykus (which can also be retweeted). Next to that, DokoDare also offers a News Section which is ideal for announcing the next task or destination or explaining what to do at a certain place.
Having scanned the QR Code, you can now follow the instructions in the News section (white background)
Translation:
SCANvenger Hunt Zug:
1) Scan the Scanvenger QR code in our office.
2) Log in in the top right
3) Now click CHECK IN
4) Write START in the Kayku field and Update
5) Go to the first destination: http://bit.ly/aK6Mq7
Note: Overview Map
One could also give out maps with all destinations marked with a QR Code. Here is an example how this could be presented online. On the right you could see all the SCANvenger destinations. However you wouldn't know the order in which to go to them.
SPECIFIC SCANVENGER CHECK-IN/KAYKU CODES FOR PLACES
Once you arrive at #wunderbox-zug, you are looking for the SCANVENGER CODE.
In this example, you will find the Scanvenger QR Code once you enter the shop:
SCANVENGER QR CODE
QUESTION
Wunderbox is a Shop. But it is also something else. What?
Follow the instructions after scanning the code.
In the News section, one could read:
SCANvenger Hunt Zug #1
a) Check In
b) Write your answer (Hint: One word is suffient). And Update!
c) Go to the destination #2: http://bit.ly/bp1xOC
Here are two iPhone screens showing what to do in the above example:
SCORE
At the end of the SCANvenger Hunt, every participant can be evaluated individually by looking at his Check In's and his Kayku answers with Timestamp.
The winner is the participant who finished first by checking in at all destinations following the right order and by answering all/most questions correctly.
Additional Ideas
We recommend to always publish the questions with the specific SCANvenger QR Code, so that you have to be at the place, to be able to answer it.
If you want to make it more adventurous, you can hide the SCANvenger QR Code (use the News section to prepare the participants for it).
And you can use multiple choice questions, so that the participant has only to write A, B,C or D as an answer.
You can also use photos in this SCANvenger Hunt, as you can with every opened ID also publish photos to http://photo.kaywa.com. Upload by MMS (via email) would probably make most sense.
Recently Roger Smolski from 2d code published the Verizon/ScanLife QR Code Case Study (PDF) on his blog.
The number of scans within 3 months was 150'000, and 87% came from Android alone.
150'000 - that's a fine number for a new technology as QR Code and shows that the US is not only leading in mobile smartphones now (iPhone, Android), but is also rapidly adopting QR Codes.
As we have this number, I tried to find out what one QR Code Ad at qrcode.kaywa.com could have added to the campaign. Keep in mind that I take global numbers (US alone makes about 1/6 of clicks and 1/3 of scans).
I quickly estimated what one QR-Ad (in second position) at qrcode.kaywa.com could have added to the campaign.
The results are quite interesting. In three months one QR-Ad makes:
- 18'620 Clicks
- 7'230 Scans
- 25'850 (Clicks+Scans) = Scan2Click Ratio: 0.39
This is a whopping 17.23% (of 150'000) Clicks and Scans combined, Scans still at 4.82%.
Currently we have about 610'000-650'000 Page Impressions per month on qrcode.kaywa.com, so for 3 months it’s getting near the 2 Mio Mark. (End of January 2010 we were still at 450'000 PI’s, so growth over 4 months was 45%)
For clicks it is roughly 1% CTR (Click Through Rate) and 0.38% SCR (Scan Through Rate). Scans+Clicks Trough Rate together: 1.38%
To get an idea about locations, check our bit.ly stats:
QR codes have been one of the most overrated hypes the passed years. Concept is nice, and in Japan you can find them on everything from milk to bars of soap, but as long as my direct friends have never heard of them or started to use/implement them it remains a #fail for me.
Anyways, ignore this fact as I saw the following QR-code generator spread through different channels. Easy to use, as after choosing what you want to embed into the code – SMS text, a URL, telephone number, or simple text – select what size QR code you prefer, and it’s ready to go.
The QR-Ad, a new way of banner advertising
«Double Your Audience. Talk mobile & web!»
The QR-Ad is a new way of banner advertising, that addresses at the same time a web and a mobile audience. The results of our research show a significant increase of engagement.
The QR-Ad uses the banner format in two ways
a) as a normal banner to click, to go to a web destination page
b) as a support for a QR Code which can be scanned with a mobile phone equipped with a QR Code scanner.
The QR-Ad's hybrid usage makes the ad more valuable
We believe that the quality of a scan is more valuable than a click, as the mobile phone is first a more intimate setting and second it's viewer has made a bigger effort to access your page. There are also no competing windows/tabs open to divert the viewer of your message.
With an 75–80% scan2click rate (=on 100 clicks, there are 75–80 scans), you address a highly mobile audience.
The percentage of people who respond to common "banner ads," the ubiquitous interactive posters that run in fixed places on sites, is shrinking steadily. The so-called click-through rate for those ads on major Web destinations such as Yahoo! (YHOO ), Microsoft (MSFT ), and AOL (TWX ) declined from 0.75% to 0.27% during 2006, according to Eyeblaster, a New York-based online ad serving and monitoring firm. It says that last March the average click rate on standard banner ads across the whole Web was 0.2%. This reflects a surge in new ads and Web pages, fueled by the rise in social networks.
DoubleClick published an interesting report about CTR benchmarks. You can download it here as PDF. It shows that 0.2% today is already a high CTR.
» QR-Ad: In comparison, we got a 0.39% click-through rate (CTR) on our first QR Ad, and a significant 0.31% scan rate (SCR). Combined this brings us to 0.7%.
Update: With the current QR Ad we currently have an incredible CTR of 1.33% and a SCR of 0.47%, combined this brings us to 1.8%!
On other sites, you can also use a more classic format (300x250).
QR-AD PRICING AND STATISTICS ON QRCODE.KAYWA.COM
Position
Duration
Price
Page Impressions*
Clicks*
Scans*
Top
1 Month
Euro 7000.–
450'000-0.5 Mio
2000
1400-1600
Top
2 Weeks
Euro 4000.–
225'000-0.25 Mio
1000
700-800
Second
1 Month
Euro 4500.–
450'000-0.5 Mio
1500
1000
Second
2 Weeks
Euro 2500.–
225'000-0.25 Mio
750
500
* Page Impressions, Clicks and Scans are projections based on statistics gathered during the period of December 11, 2009 till February 9, 2010. Update: The lastet numbers show an extraordinary increase regarding clicks (6000 instead of 2000 on Top Ad).
QR-AD HOW-TO
We need from you the following:
Mobile Destination Page URL
Banner (Supersize Format: 840x180px)
Web Destination Page
Tell us for how long and in what position (top, second top), you want to run the QR-AD. Period always start 1st of month or 16th of month. Minimum duration is 2 weeks, or 1st-15th, 16th-end of month.
We create the QR Code, which you later can track
Integrate the QR Code in your banner design (840 x 180px)
Send us the banner ad
+ mobile destination address (URL)
+ traditional web destination address (URL)
We send you back the statistics access for web (PI's, Clicks) and QR Code (Scans).
Once your QR-AD is live, you can verify your statistics anytime.
SPECIAL OFFER!
For clients starting an annual contract (PUA1Y) on our QR Code Management solution, we offer two weeks for free in second position.
See pricing of the PUA1Y in the QR CODE Pricing Powerpoint. Dowload it here.
Cnoté and Cave Giroud bring QR Codes to wines. And with the QR Code a direct access to more information about the wine as well as the possibility to order it directly.
Here is the Moscato QR Code to try it out:
En première Suisse, la Cave Giroud Vins SA à Sion et l’Agence de Communication Cnoté Mobile Solutions SA à Martigny présenteront
une innovation mobile dans le domaine du Vin et des Nouvelles Technologies.
Avec un code-barres à 2 dimensions, les bouteilles de vin de la Cave Giroud sont pourvues d’une intelligence intégrée et n’auront plus de secret pour les consommateurs...
Tout est dans la poche !
PS: Cave Giroud and Cnoté use Kaywa's QR Code solution. As for the readers we currently recommend:
On Symbian and Java: Kaywa Reader
On the iPhone: Lynkee (App Store)
On Windows Mobile: Quickmark
Update (25.1.10): I changed some names, notions that were not used in the right way.
I also changed the usage of SCR (Scan Rate) and made it the equivalent of CTR.
CTR = Clicks/Page Impressions (PI)
SCR = Scans/Page Impressions (PI)
SCR Web Example:
Top-Ad projection per month on http://qrcode.kaywa.com:
441'750 PI's
1'910 Clicks
1'401 Scans
Therefore: CTR 0.4% (0.004) and SCR: 0.3% (0.003), Scan2Click: 0.73
SCR Print Example (open for discussion):
193'601 Print Circulation of a sunday paper in Switzerland
520'000 People read it
950 Scans (first day)
SCR (Circulation): = 0.5% (0.0049)
SCR (Readers): = 0.18% (0.0018)
Update finished (25.1.10):
***
On December 14, 2009, I wrote the post Clicks versus QR Code Scans which I have updated with the latest figures since then.
Here is the short analysis of the two QR Code ads at qrcode.kaywa.com for approximately the last 20 days. Let's first start with the facts (as of today, 13:00 UTC)
Since 11.12.09 on top place, since 18.12.09 on second place
Clicks for Shui Tang Ad: 1'411 – 67 (earlier than 11th) = 1'344*
Scans for Shui Tang Mobile Site (http://m.shuitang.ch/...): 664 – 35 (earlier than 11th) = 629
Ratio Scans/Clicks for #shuitang: 629/1344 = 0.47
Since 18.12.09 on first place
Clicks for #leshalles: 892
Scans for #leshalles Mobile Site: 656
Ratio Scans/Clicks for #leshalles: 656/892 = 0.74
Ratio Scans/Clicks overall: 1285/2236 = 0.57
*If we would be very precise we should only count 1164, as the referrers from bit.ly show that only 1164 came directly via the ad which would give us 629/1164 = 0.54 and overall 0.63. But as we have also published the Shui Tang QR Code on mobile.kaywa.com, we leave it that way.
The #leshalles QR Code therefore is certainly the better example.
Conclusion
Both examples prove and especially the overall result proves, that you can get at least half of the number of clicks with scans – on the Web!
Maybe one can understand now better why Google is so interested in this market. Clicks are there daily bread, Scans will soon become it.
First, there are some people that I would like to follow some of the time, like if we’re all in a different city at a conference together.
On DokoDare, we created Events for this, so that you can follow an event, but you don't have to follow everybody - you even don't have to follow anybody - at the conference. Here is an illustration:
And even if you would follow everybody during the event, you can - by going on the web, easily unfollow them afterwards (see Follow / Remove under the QR Code).
One other advantage of this is, that you can share relevant information for a special occasion. In the case of the conference this might be exchanging your contact information.
Here is a screenshot from the iPhone how my ID would look like for a conference attendee:
For somebody who isn't an attendee however, the business contact information would never appear (see screenshot):
Checkin / Following
We do not annouce checkins (for the people you follow) by themselves. As we think, that checkin is the one thing that will create a lot of noise when used extensively. We figured that only, when you write, this is relevant to the user and then it will appear under the ME Tab/Following also indicating the place from where it was written.
