This smartphone friendly form of identification can help bags to be returned to their owners.
The travel industry has tried all sorts of different efforts to help to make sure that luggage that goes missing will eventually make its way back to its owner, and QR codes are the latest of these attempts, playing on the common use of smartphones and other mobile devices.
By adding these barcodes to luggage tags, someone who finds misplaced baggage can contact its owner.
This effort is being spearheaded by GoCodes, a company that will have unique QR codes generated for travelers, so that if the luggage doesn’t arrive in its intended destination, the barcode can be scanned with a smartphone to reveal the contact information of the individual that has been waiting for a long time at the baggage carousel.
In theory, an airport employee or good Samaritan will scan the QR codes so that the owner can be contacted.
From that point, arrangements can be made to ensure that the baggage with the QR codes will be returned to its owner. Through the GoCodes service, there are a number of different features available in terms of various forms of barcodes and contact options. At the ground floor, it costs approximately $10 for the most basic tag.
Many upgrades are also available in order to branch out the service to individuals other than travelers. For instance, the company also has QR codes on stickers that can be added to a smartphone, tablet, mp3 player, headphones, wallet, or virtually anything else. This can help someone with good intentions to make sure that the missing item is returned to its owner.
Though the QR codes don’t guarantee that the missing possessions will be returned to their owners – as this still relies on the concept that the item will be found, scanned, and that contact will be made – they do provide an extra means for someone who has found the item to be able to find out to whom it belongs. When it comes to having belongings go missing, every little bit can help to increase the odds that it will be found again.
Though people don’t typically like the way they look, they are still scanning them, study.
QR codes are being used on a rapidly increasing basis for mobile marketing purposes, and the results of a recently conducted study have shown that as much as people don’t find them attractive, they are still using them.
The results of this research are in direct contrast to many who doubt the effectiveness of the barcodes.
Among the various industries where there has been the highest use of QR codes by mobile marketers and yet the largest amount of controversy, is tourism. While some marketers are fully convinced that the barcodes are a cost effective marketing tool that is appealing to consumers and that produces results, others feel that they are simply a fad that is not worthy of being included in their advertising.
A recent trial program for QR codes was just implemented to help to judge their effectiveness.
In order to be able to judge the effectiveness of using QR codes, Ruidoso Tourism started to test them using two different methods. The first method was including them in print advertising in order to help to draw attention to the launch of the company’s new website. The barcodes were issued in various different publications, and depending on the publication in which they were printed, the themes of the ads themselves were different.
Some of the QR codes were linked to outdoor activities such as winter sports, trails, or attractions. For instance, the barcode that was published in Wild West magazine linked to the Lincoln County History page. Those print ads generated 1000 scans, which was well within the success bracket designated by the marketers.
The other barcodes were printed on restaurant menus. Their goal was to promote restaurants within specific areas. A page was created for a range of different restaurants at the destinations, and each one was assigned its own unique QR codes. When the barcodes were scanned, they led to reviews and images of the meals, as well as additional information about the restaurants such as their specific locations. At the high point of the marketing campaign, there were 35 restaurants included in the listings. Within the designated time period, those barcodes were scanned more than 1,500 times.
