I saw how big this post was AFTER I hit post - sorry, I had four cups of coffee this morning.
I remember a service reminder program from the early to mid 90's where an option for switching from the then standard Snail-Mail to FAX, Pager or Email was offered to over 3 million owners. After a year or so, the database contained less than 1000 entries for those who had opted for alternative notifications. 1000 "mavericks" in the database was good for those days but really a small number compared to the more than 3 million customers in total. Back then, these modes of communication were considered a "novelty" for service reminders. The "sign-ups" were so low in number that very few saw value in offering them as anything other than a simple courtesy. The low number of consumers with a FAX, Pager or Email available and/or the lack of understanding of how to use these technologies to simplify the service experience was mostly to blame.
Sound familiar? QR codes require a smart phone and even though studies indicate that (I think I read that) half of all Americans may have one in the next year, only a small fraction of owners will actually scan our codes with them. I agree. However, there may be another angle from which we can view this.
More of the service reminder story from above is that after another year, we saw that for those customers that chose any alternative method of notification, the response rates for maintenance offerings were well above 85%, a whole order of magnitude on the measly 8% (10% on a good day) for the Snail-Mail reminders with basically the same content on paper. I also remember that the "eMinder" response rates were notably higher for customers who had contacted the dealership to correct (or even complain) about the accuracy of data and/or spelling on communications.
To me, "eMinders" from the 90's and QR codes from today have something in common - they require more customer participation in the process. To no surprise, these customers should be more responsive to our offering.
If the past is any indication of the future, QR codes should have at-least one positive effect on our business by identifying for us, those more responsive, tech-savvy and open-minded customers with the gumpsion to whip out their smart phone, load up the scanning app, point it at a car and wait for it to tell them what to do next. Isn't this customer moving themselves forward in the process?
Putting the codes on window stickers should be a pretty simple process. Sure, they're no FaceBook or Twitter when it comes to exposure, but if you could identify 3 to 10 of your customers each month which are likely to be much more responsive to your communications, what have you got to loose? Toner is not that expensive.
Last edited:
