2D Mobile Barcodes Spur High Response from 3.2 Million Austrian Direct Mailing

October 27, 2010 By Laura Marriott And Thorin McGee

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In July 2010, the Austrian Postal Service launched an online and mobile postcard service that enables consumers to create postcards with personalized images and text from an application on their mobile phones. Looking for a campaign to promote the online and mobile service, and to encourage consumers to download the relevant application to their phones, the Austrian Postal Service partnered with mobile barcode solutions provider NeoMedia Technologies and mobile marketing agency IQ mobile.

A multichannel advertising campaign followed, spanning broadcast, print media and online, and coupled with an aggressive direct mail promotion sent to 3.2 million households. By embedding both a 2D barcode (QR codes are a type of 2D code, this mailing used a similar barcode-based technology) and SMS shortcode in all creative elements, consumers were able to access and download the application needed to create the e-postcards simply by scanning the code with a smartphone camera or texting the SMS service number.

The Austrian Postal Service realized Austria's largest ever 2D code campaign, achieving a substantial response rate of one in every 1,000. The mobile call to action brought an element of interactivity to the more static channels that enabled consumers to act at the point of impulse, and it paid huge dividends.

"The response rate, especially from the 2D codes in the direct mail promotion, ... was tremendous," said Harald Winkelhofer, Founder and CEO of IQ mobile. "This was the first campaign where we had more responsiveness from users via 2D codes than SMS. [With] more than 10,000 scans in the first few weeks it was the best result we've seen from a 2D code campaign in Central and Eastern Europe."

What led to that success? Here are the multichannel best practices for using 2D barcodes that NeoMedia applied to the campaign:

1. Integrate 2D Barcodes into Existing Digital and Traditional Media
2D codes are most successful when they are an integral part of the overall campaign—included in both digital and traditional communication channels as a significant element.

2. Focus on Consumer Education
Given the 2D barcode's relatively recent entry into the consumer domain, consumer education needs to be paramount. Present clear instructions on how to scan 2D codes and what kind of information will be received as a result—otherwise consumers may be hesitant to participate.

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