QR Codes that don’t link to mobile-friendly web pages #fail

We found this ad inside the Heart & Stroke Foundation’s Healthy Living calendar.

What They Did Right:

• The ad is clean and simple; aside from the small-print there is very little text, this means that…
• The main point, “Win one of 10 Slow Cookers”, is very prominent
• The Call to Action is short and to the point: “Enter at…or scan this code now!”
• The reader expects that scanning the code will take them to a contest entry page – and it does.   They didn’t use a Naked QR Code.

Where they Failed: 

Upon scanning their QR code with a smart phone, you’re taken to a regular web page.

The page is not optimized for viewing on a phone’s small screen. This is what it looks like:

As you can see, the entire width of the page doesn’t fit on the screen because the screen is 240 pixels wide and the contest entry page is 600 pixels wide.

Yes, you can zoom out on the page so it “fits”….but this generates text so small it’s hard to read.

Or, I could flip my phone on its side for a better fit. BUT, that doesn’t help someone using a Blackberry.

Key Point: Anytime you create a QR Code that opens a web page, that web page must be mobile-friendly. Always remember that people aren’t scanning QR Codes with a desktop PC…if you want to keep them happy you need a mobile-friendly landing page!