If you’ve ever seen a pianist in performance, there is a unique art to managing the paper on the music stand. There is the challenge of turning a page while both hands are supposed to be busy making music. While some of us from Blue ID attended a Classical Revolution concert on the weekend, we noticed that pianist Lara Downes not only mesmerized the audience with her music but also her unique approach to managing paper. All the music for the hour-long performance was on her iPad, with the page turns controlled by a wireless foot pedal. Wow! What an innovative way to solve this age-old dilemma. It changed the entire experience – for the musician and the audience.
We are all trying to reduce paper. It’s clear that statements are delivered quicker and cheaper when everyone chooses to go paperless. So why don’t they? There’s a dependance on paper, and a process that each of us has making that envelope in the mail a trigger for a number of activities. While the reasons to switch are obvious, many organizations forget to look at the customer’s experience. For Lara, it would be like putting her music on her iPad, but leaving out the foot pedal. It would remove the clutter and make the traveling life of a musician easier, but when it comes down to the performance, she’d still be swiping at the iPad in between page turns.
Most paperless communications programs are missing the foot pedal – a natural connector between the physical and the digital world. For several years, marketers around the world have been anxiously waiting for QR code technology to be that foot pedal for changing the way we interact with transactional documents and marketing messages. We’re getting close. A recently published study by Chadwick Martin Bailey showed that while 21% of US Internet Users had heard of QR codes, 81% knew what they were when they saw one.
We are seeing the QR code almost everywhere, from magazines to billboards to t-shirts. For now, 41% of scans are out of curiosity. If it doesn’t go somewhere meaningful and usable, that curiosity will die down soon. If the page of music only flipped 9 out of 10 times Lara tapped her foot pedal, she wouldn’t be using it. But, with a consistent and relevant experience, the QR code could be our foot pedal to our e-migration dreams.
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