QuickMark Blog

As we approach the new year, we thought it might be interesting to look back on 2011 and see which were the most popular QR Codes among our users this year. 

If you have been using our QuickMark for iPhone, Android, or Windows Phone 7 versions, you probably have noticed that whenever you scan a barcode that contains an URL, the Preview function displays a thumbnail image and short description from the destination site, as well as how many times other users have scanned and clicked on the same barcode. 

Since these URLs and QR Codes are intended to everyone to use, the original idea of collecting this data was to 1) let marketers get a quick idea of how their QR Code campaigns are doing and 2) let our end users know that you are not the only ones scanning QR Codes, there really are others scanning them as well!

Some notes about this top 10 list. It is global data aggregated from QuickMark users with an app version released this year and on the aforementioned platforms. Stats are as of 2011-12-28.

Rank: #10
Number of Scans: 5207
Click-Through-Rate: 67.33%
Owner: 7-Mobile (Taiwan)
Purpose: Promotion of a new iPhone app.

Comments: 7 Eleven has the largest convenience store chain in Taiwan and is constantly trying to expand to new market segments. In this particular campaign, they were promoting their food products with a new iPhone app that allows end users to scan the product barcodes and check its nutrition facts. 


Rank: #9
Number of Scans: 5262
Click-Through-Rate: 104.24%
Owner: Ichiban Kuji (Japan)
Purpose: Membership sign up.

Rank: #8
Number of Scans: 5663
Click-Through-Rate: 23.15%
Owner: BBC (UK)
Purpose: Access BBC programmes from your mobile phone.

Rank: #7
Number of Scans: 6005
Click-Through-Rate: 71.11%
Owner: FamilyMart (Taiwan)
Purpose: Information on promotional campaign.

Comments: Being the second largest convenience store chain in Taiwan, FamilyMart has also begun using QR Codes on a lot of its marketing materials this year. We’re guessing that this particular barcode was especially popular because it was associated with the popular Astro Boy character.


Rank: #6
Number of Scans: 6240
Click-Through-Rate: 67.44%
Owner: Philip Morris (USA)
Purpose: Sign up or login to Marlboro.com Mobile.

Rank: #5
Number of Scans: 8232
Click-Through-Rate: 99.36%
Owner: Japan Post
Purpose: Postal delivery request form.

Comments: Like Ichiban Kuji in rank #9, this QR Code from Japan also has a near perfect click-through-rate. Could it be that Japanese users’ familiarity with scanning barcodes make them more comfortable in following through with the link? In any case, a clear call-to-action from a trusted source should always be helpful in QR Code campaigns.


Rank: #4
Number of Scans: 10805
Click-Through-Rate: 73.87%
Owner: Carrefour (Taiwan)
Purpose: Promote use of online coupons.

Comments: This is one that could potentially be very useful if they allow customers to redeem coupons using just their mobile. Currently it asks the user to print out the coupon before use…


Rank: #3
Number of Scans: 12778
Click-Through-Rate: 94.07%
Owner: Applanet
Purpose: Direct download of its Android app

Rank: #2
Number of Scans: 14258
Click-Through-Rate: 40.92%
Owner: Heinz (US)
Purpose: Sweepstakes promotion campaign.

Comment: Yup, we can imagine ourselves scanning ketchup bottles while waiting to be be served at a diner.



Rank: #1
Number of Scans: 15574
Click-Through-Rate: 52.33%
Owner: VEVO
Purpose: iPhone app download.

Comment: What can we say? QR Codes are great for downloading apps!


======== Extras ======== 

Rank: Wildcard (#1)
Number of Scans: 16631
Click-Through-Rate: 44.70%
Owner: PepsiCo?
Purpose: Event promotional campaign?

Comment: This is actually the real top scanned barcode of the year. But it is also a bit.ly short URL that currently points to an inactive website, thus it lost its number 1 status from our list. 

Rank: Honorable Mention (#12)
Number of Scans: 5101
Click-Through-Rate: 128.96%
Owner: SharpDaily (HK)
Purpose: Viewing of an accompanying video from a news article.

Comment: Nextmedia started printing QR Codes on its newspapers 2 years ago in Taiwan and seems to have started doing this for their Hong Kong publications as well. The barcodes usually link to 3D animated short videos that they produced in-house for their publications’ news stories. We thought we’d include this barcode on this list because it has such a high Click-Through-Rate, but be warned that the video it links to is actually a bit scary and viewer discretion is advised… 

With that we wrap up our list, what do you think? Have you scanned any of these barcodes? 

An update (v1.2) to our QuickMark Chrome Extension has been updated today and here is what’s new.

QR Codes For App Downloads

If you’ve ever been directed to an iTunes app download page before, you would know that it will try to launch iTunes and you would have to download the app first to your desktop and have it sync to your mobile.

Now if you have QuickMark’s Chrome Extension installed for your Chrome browser, it will automatically place a QR Code that resolves to the app download URL when you visit iTunes.

Simply scan the QR Code with a QR Code reader app like QuickMark and you’ll get to access iTunes directly from your iPhone for a direct download to your mobile.

And it doesn’t just work for iPhone users either, as you’ll find the same feature when you visit Android Market!

More details on our Chrome Extension can be found on the Chrome Web Store.

Best Barcode Scanner (such a creative name :P) is a dead simple mobile barcode reader app for iOS. And perhaps most importantly, it is FREE.

So download Best Barcode Scanner now and get that cute app icon onto your favorite iOS device :)

===== App Store App Summary =====

Launch app and start scanning right away.

★ Fast, fast, fast
★ Simple, minimalist interface
★ Universal app for iPhone and iPad2 
★ Scan multiple barcode formats: QR Code, Data Matrix, EAN/UPC (auto-focus devices only)

Supports following barcode actions:

✓ Phone calls
✓ Email
✓ SMS
✓ Contacts (e.g. vCard)
✓ Events
✓ Location
✓ Plain text

NOTE: This is not a price comparison app

Powered by QuickMark (naturally)

=========================

In a way, Best Barcode Scanner is a ‘Lite’ version of our QuickMark for iPhone app. So if you like the Best Barcode Scanner app and find yourself longing for more advanced features, please consider upgrading to QuickMark. Thanks!

More Create Options

More templates for creating QR Codes, including: choosing contact from local address book, contact, URL, email, phone, and SMS.

Drag-n-Drop File Decoding

Drag-n-drop barcode images into the app icon residing in the Dock for file decoding. The app can be minimized now so you can do this.

Wi-Fi Sync

QuickMark Spot functionality is now integrated into the app. This function works with both QuickMark QR Code Reader for iPhone and the Mac version’s webcam mode.

For example, after pairing up your iPhone with your Mac over local Wi-Fi, you can send whatever you scan with QuickMark for iPhone onto your Mac (wherever your mouse cursor resides at the moment of scan).

Scanning with Mac’s webcam will also have the same effect if Spot is turned on.

QuickMark QR Code Reader for Mac is available for download on the Mac App Store.

Several Android users have expressed their concerns about the increasing number of Permissions required to run our app, so we decided to give our end users a choice and released a Lite version for Android as well. 

The Lite version is virtually identical to the original except it will require less Permissions, but as a result has less features. 

How Lite differs is as follows:

1) No READ_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS Permission —> Cannot create QR Codes from bookmarks to share with friends

2) No READ_CONTACTS Permission —> Cannot create QR Codes from existing contacts to share with friends

3) No READ_PHONE_STATE Permission —> There is no difference in terms of user functionality at this time. It is currently used by ad networks that require it in the original app. The Lite version uses the AdMob ad SDK, which does not yet require this Permission. We do not know if they will require it in the future.

If you still have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.

Are you a Windows Phone 7 user? If so, what about giving our QuickMark Lite QR Code Reader app a try? It is free and can be downloaded from the Windows Marketplace. (Try searching ‘quickmark’ straight from your phone’s Marketplace.)

QuickMark Lite is a very simple app for scanning and creating QR Codes. And like our iPhone and Android versions, it also has the Preview function for checking out where URLs lead to before having to open those web pages.

P.S. Scanning currently requires manually taking a photo due to platform constraints, but we will be sure to provide auto-scanning and other advanced features for Windows Phone 7 users as the OS continues to improve and evolve.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Preview and Cloud Sync are two of the features that we are most excited about in our recent app update for iPhone. And today, they are available on our Android version as well.

Preview & Cloud Sync

Preview works pretty much in the same way as on the iPhone and you can watch a short video demo of it to get the general idea.

Cloud Sync however, would not have been complete if we do not introduce it to Android. But now that we have, it means that you can switch between Android and iPhone devices and always have access to your same Scan History. You can either sign up for a quick account or use your Facebook login to start using this feature.

In-App Purchase

Until now, QuickMark for Android has been a free app supported by ads. But with Google’s recent launch of in-app purchase, we are able to offer you the option to remove the banner ads with an in-app purchase of US$ 0.99.

When you remove the banner ads, you will also enable a new option in Settings to launch the app in camera view, so you can go straight into scanning.

We’ve also inserted a purchasable item called Support QuickMark, which as its name suggests, doesn’t add any functionality to the app but will help us continue to improve the app.

New Permission Requests

We know that some users may become a little nervous when they see the long list of permissions that our app requires, so here is a quick explanation of why and how we are using the requested Permissions.

This app update is requesting two new Permissions: your location and your device info. The location info is currently used to log where you were when you scanned a barcode and this information is displayed in your Scan History. It is optional and you can easily turn off this feature in Settings.

As you know, we are now providing the service to sync your Scan History across multiple devices, and the device info is part of the equation for us to perform this.

5/20/11 Update: Our latest v4.0.2 to the Android Market will use Read Phone State as we are experimenting with different ad networks for a 3 month period. These ad network SDKs require the stated Permission. For users who have expressed concern about this, we will also simultaneously release an update to all other download channels (our website, GetJar, Amazon, etc.)  that does not require Read Phone State. 

Get The Update

So if you would like to give our app a try, the easiest way to get it is via Android Market. Or you can head to our website and download the apk for any Android phone and install it with 3rd party app installers.

We hope you enjoy the update and let us know how you like it!