What Exhibitors Need to Know About QR codes or NFC (near field communication)

Imagine coming back from one of the most important conventions or tradeshows in your industry, you had a successful run and are eagerly waiting for leads. You open up your leads file and find out that even your hottest leads are missing phone numbers and email addresses. This may sound like a nightmare, but with QR codes and NFC, it can be a reality.

Even though larger companies will allow you to retrieve all of the visitor’s registration information from a cloud server, you have to remember that these companies also use an ‘offline mode’. They use this method in case the tablet or smartphone does not have good connection at the location of the show. This offline mode is only going to register the name and company inside of the QR code, the rest of the data is going to be synched later. If you do not get the data in real-time, the chance increases that the quality of contact information becomes lessened and far less reliable.

If you have ever used a QR code yourself, you know that the big question is - ‘how am I going to fit all the contact information into a single tradeshow badge in QR code format. The answer is either A) It is not possible and you receive limited information, or B) the badge is so dense that your smartphone or tablet has a difficult time scanning it.

Just because QR codes are ‘hot’ right now does not mean that you are going to get all the information that you want. However, there are ways to overcome the issue with QR codes at tradeshows. Always provide a small lead form that has the name, email address, and phone number included. This is good to have in case the attendee does not have any more business cards to give out.

However, just because QR codes might not give you all the information you want does not mean that you should forgo them completely. If you have a tech-friendly audience, these tips are going to help you be more effective:

● Make sure that you make it easy to scan the QR codes on your graphics. If you are going to use your QR codes, make sure that you commit to it.

● Make sure that your attendees have a reason to scan the QR code. For example, “scan to enter contest,” “See the movie,” or “Sign up for our newsletter” are all great examples. If you do that, make sure that your website is mobile optimized.

● Do not merely have your tradeshow staff stands by as someone scans your QR code. Make sure that they engage anyone who scans your code. If someone is taking the time to scan your QR code, they are showing some form of interest. Make sure that you make the most of that.

NVP Exhibits provides a wide range of exhibition stands, ipad stands, trade show stands and display stand packages all kinds of exhibitions, expos, trade shows and conferences. We look after ongoing exhibitors with our unique modular display stand technology or exhibitors looking for one off solutions.