Last month we learned about QR codes and asked for your thoughts. Despite being the latest and greatest tech, a majority could care less.
A combined 59% were either indifferent (37%) or dubbed QR codes ‘lame’ (22%). Another 6% were clueless.
Only 35% declared QR codes ‘so cool,’ which is a sizable number of early adopters (to put a positive spin on it).
If your church has had experience with QR codes, share your story in the comments.
Will
September 13, 2011
I used a QR code on an event poster we did, but it didn’t get much usage. Then again, we don’t have an extremely technologically-savvy church either. I’m not going to invest any more energy into it until it becomes more mainstream.
Jon Allen
September 14, 2011
We are preparing for a series called “People’s Choice” in which we are allowing our community to vote for the sermon topics of their choice. We gave our church a text link to the online voting form, but also provided a QR code to the site. I know we had people taking the code to work and school, asking people to scan the code with their phone readers, allowing them to vote. Much easier than giving them a URL to enter. We ended up with over 2,000 individuals voting. Very effective for us. The hope is that once we announce the winning sermons they will go back and invite those who voted to attend.
Paige Taylor
September 14, 2011
My church recently used a QR code as a part of promoting our pastor’s new book. Unfortunately, the QR was too small and completely un-readable. More than that, there were no instructions (verbal or printed) to say what it is or how to use it. I recently saw an updated, larger version, but I’m not so sure that people actually know how to use it. From what I see, a large portion of our church members have iPads and smart phones – so it’s not that the church doesn’t have the means, they just need the instruction. I would be very curious to see what the results are of the new QR code.
David Heys
September 16, 2011
Earlier this year we had four days of special events and for the first time decided to use a QR code on the promotional material as an experiment to see what the take up would be like.
We are a town centre church near large university accommodation and many students pass our doors daily. We had a big peak of 30 or so ‘uses’ of the QR code during the month of the event.
We used a goo.gl address in the code so that we could measure the impact of the code itself as opposed to the full web address as printed/publicised elsewhere. Also, goo.gl generates the QR code for you which is useful.
Result here: http://i.imgur.com/a8oUF.png
We’re exploring the other uses of QR codes (SMS, maps, calendar dates, contact details and WiFi access details) in light of our increasing student population (more accommodation was built this year). Having a tech-savvy audience is useful.
Cliff Seal
September 16, 2011
We’ve used them in multiple places to get folks used to seeing them. The most useful instances have been using them on print materials that are outside the church (posters for our Habitat Road Race, for instance) and on the cover of the bulletin on Sundays. It gave folks a way to engage prior to and after the service.
Kellen
September 16, 2011
I think they’re a neat tool, but they are something that needs explained at first, and the amount of people with the phone/tablet to access the code needs to be enough to make it worth it. Might be helpful in a public poster, maybe not so much in a church where the members know what’s going on already.
PatrickC
October 3, 2011
Before promoting the QR codes, a quick reminder to download a QR code reader would be good. Before I knew what it was, I thought that smartphones just automatically came with a QR reader and/or I had to pay for a reader. When I was taught that it was a simple free app, I downloaded it and now use it frequently.
David Turner
February 9, 2012
We just started using QR codes so people can download our bulletin and sermon notes onto their phones as they enter the sanctuary. It took me about 15 minutes and NO money to setup a system for doing it in our church. I made a quick “how to” video on how to do it yourself. Here’s the link… http://youtu.be/iFtRkgyxObY