How to use QR codes safely and effectively

Use the tips below to check whether your QR code is useful, accessible and secure.

Check whether a QR code is the right tool

Think in advance about the purpose, target audience, attractiveness and payment model of your QR code.

Purpose

Determine whether a QR code is the right tool to achieve your goal. If your goal is to drive as many visitors from your shop to your website as possible, you can stick a QR code on your shop door. Ask yourself if that will get the most visitors. A link to your website on the receipt might be more successful.

Target group

Describe your target group. For whom will you use the QR code? Where are these customers located and what needs do they have? With a QR code on a poster on the street, you reach a different target group than with a QR code on the wall of a toilet in a club or cafe.

Attractiveness

Make it attractive for customers to scan your QR code. State clearly what scanning the code will give them. "Scan the QR code to view our website" is not enough. Say what benefit it provides, for example, "Visit our website for current discount offers."

Payment model

Check whether the QR code is valid indefinitely and whether there is a cost to you. Sometimes a code expires after a certain period of time and then no longer works. Sometimes only the first few scans are free and after that you have to pay a fee per scan.

Make your QR code accessible

Make your QR code accessible to all devices and any audience. If a QR code links to a website that does not load on a mobile phone, your visitor will leave. So, always check:

• Whether your website is readable on a mobile phone or tablet. Bear in mind that QR codes are usually scanned from a smartphone.
• Whether the contrast between the QR code and the background is sufficient. If there is too little contrast, the QR code will not work. With some colour combinations, your QR code will not be visible to people who are colour-blind.

Check the security of your QR-code

Prevent fraud with QR codes and pay attention to the following:

• Do not stick QR codes in places where others can easily stick a code over them. Security expert Jeroen Klaver explains what the risks are: "Fraudsters can misuse your QR codes. If you have a QR code hanging in your shop or on your terrace, someone can stick a sticker with a different code over it. Then your customers will end up in an unsafe online place after scanning. So, check regularly that no sticker has been pasted over your QR code."
• Do you scan a QR code yourself? Always check the link you see. Does it not match what you were expecting? Then do not click through.