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QR Codes Are Dead! Long Live QR Codes! A Conversation With Scan's Founder, Garrett Gee

This article is more than 10 years old.

One of the most popular Tumblr blogs of 2012 is Pictures of People Scanning QR Codes. If you click through to the site you will see that it is empty. The joke here? No one scans QR codes (short for Quick Response code). It is obvious that QR codes have a bad rep and haven’t gained much traction on the consumer end of the equation.

Where does this stigma come from? And is any company or individual actually able to use the QR code to its advantage? In the past few years brands have flocked to QR codes as if they were the next big thing. While there isn’t one company that dictates the space, there seems to be a graveyard of companies that have given it a try.

There is, however, one company silently dominating the space, aptly named Scan. The company is 25 million downloads strong and has been growing at an insatiable pace. Last week, Scan recently released version 2.0 of their product.

This past week post-launch, I had a chance to connect with Garrett Gee, Scan’s designer and founder to discuss the QR code space, how they are attacking it, and why they think they are onto something big.

Alex Taub: Why do you think the QR code space has been written off as unsuccessful in this industry? Do you think this is a mischaracterization?

Garrett Gee: Our usage and stats within the app have definitely shown us that people all around the world actively create and scan QR codes. Nonetheless, amongst technical experts, QR codes definitely have a negative reputation. The problem isn't the technology but rather improper usage. Unfortunately, this incorrect usage has put QR code technology as a whole under a dark cloud. This has been Scan’s uphill battle from the beginning. We don't blame the people misusing the technology, but rather the QR products that encourage improper usage. As a designer, I personally believe that the responsibility lies in the hands of the craftsman to design/build products in a way that teach and encourage best practices. That is Scan’s mission: to fix the QR code.

AT: How is Scan different from other QR code companies?

GG: Most QR-code-based companies have made the mistake of "building half the table." They have an app but no business or web presence. Or conversely, they have the QR-code-generating website for businesses but no app on the consumer side of things. From the beginning, Scan has focused on delivering the full 360 loop. Having strong popular products for both businesses and consumers has enabled us to capture the most effective data possible to then learn from and deliver to our business users regarding their campaigns and strategies. Not only are we collecting data from within the Scan ecosystem, but QR codes generated on our site track analytics regardless which scanner was used. Our app can then track usage when scanning a QR code even if the code was created on a site outside of Scan. Recently Cosmopolitan ran a QR code campaign which proved to be the most scanned QR code of that month. They weren't even aware of such an accomplishment until we reached out to them on Twitter. Within minutes we were in contact with their head of marketing.

AT: You've reached 25 million downloads. What is the most interesting thing you've learned over that user growth?

GG: Scan wasn't the first to the game. There were already many apps already in existence, many of which came from big companies like AT&T and Microsoft. Nonetheless, we believed that the QR code and scanning space in general was unique in that it wasn't about being the first, it was about being there at the right time in the right way. For example, Microsoft launched (backed by millions of marketing dollars) their big push for Microsoft Tag (a QR code competing technology). It was a great technology, but the world wasn't ready for it. Not enough people had smart phones in their hands at the time. Scan came about just as the wave of smartphones began to take it's curl. As Scan continues to evolve and include other scanning technologies like NFC and image recognition, we will be sure to execute at the right time in the right way, always keeping our customers first.

AT: How hard was the first 1 million downloads compared to going from 10 million to 25 million?

GG: To date we are yet to spend $1 on marketing Scan. We began with the hopes of building a product so valuable that it would market itself. 1) because we're young, naive, and confident. 2) because we started as a young and very poor/lean team.

AT: You've seen the Pictures of People Scanning QR Codes Tumblr. What do you think about it?

GG: Love it. Very clever. But it's stuff like this that further encourages me to "stick up for the underdog" and fix the QR code. The first time I scanned a QR code was Christmas day after receiving my first smartphone. For a non-techy guy at the time, the experience was something of magic. To then later hear so much negative about the same technology that had earlier provided such a magical experience instantly made me want to stick up for the technology and help fix its reputation.

AT: Are QR Codes the end game? If not, what is?

GG: We intentionally named the company Scan (instead of "QR Code whatever") as to not pigeon hole ourselves to QR codes alone. We believe that better technologies will eventually replace QR codes and Scan will be right there leading the way. However, many people thought NFC would kill QR codes overnight. We knew this wouldn't be the case. QR codes are far too spread throughout the world and even if NFC gets to where many hope to see it, there will always be certain use cases where QR codes simply make better sense (large signs, magazines, mailers, etc). Aside of QR codes, Scan’s beta apps already have NFC, image recognition, and more in the works.

AT: What are some best practices with QR Codes? What are some of the most successful campaigns you've seen?

GG: Simplicity is king. Because there is so much potential and power behind QR codes, marketers have felt they need to push the limits with over-robusts experiences like scavenger hunt. QR codes however, were designed by nature to be a shortcut. The goal should be to scan, take a quick and valuable action, and done! Also, a few other notable points :

- Clear Call to Action : Let the user know WHY they should scan the QR code.

- Mobile-friendly experience : Scan’s QR code generator makes the actual code somewhat of an afterthought. More important is the mobile content/experience. This is huge. We recently did a QR code campaign with Lady Gaga and other artists within her management group. By focusing on a simple mobile friendly experience, that would instantly enable a follow on Twitter or a song purchase on iTunes, we were able to take an QR code industry conversion rate average of below 1% and raise that to 55%!

AT: Where should a business start first?

GG: When working with Scan and QR codes in general, it's best to start simple and work from there. When I meet with larger companies like Walmart, ESPN, and GQ Magazine, the first thing I ask them is which of their communities they are looking to grow: Twitter? Instagram? Facebook? They then use Scan’s website to easily create a QR code to enable that action and place that QR code in a central place for their audience/customers to see. Very quickly, they can see the direct success and value of such QR code campaigns and then develop their strategies from there!