How Does It Work?

When creating your new link in Capture, simply use the format “tel:1-512-555-1212″ (or your international phone number format) rather than the traditional http:// format.  When your link is shortened, you will receive the standard short URL to use.  Easy, right?  Then, when your advertisement, web page, etc. is presented and you display your button or phone with the short URL linked, any taps will immediately trigger a transaction to Capture.  You will see the same type of traffic analytics as before (IP address, timestamp, geography, etc.).

Possible Uses

Chances are, there are a dozen ways we haven’t yet thought about, but here are a few that come to mind.

• Tap-to-Call Mobile Ads – Operators standing by?  One-tap to make it happen!
• SMS reminders – need to change your appointment?  Tap the link below and talk to our staff immediately!
• Time-Shift Options – combine your tap-to-call with a time-based campaign to route your calls to the call center when they are open, but a “call me back” form when they are not.
• Geographic Routing – have different phone numbers for locations?  Combine tap-to-call with our geographic routing to connect your customers with their local store.

No matter how you’d like to use our new tap-to-call functionality, we’re sure you’ll find the ability to track every single phone call even more empowering.  Curious to see how it works for yourself?  Simply scan the QR code or tap this link and you’ll have the option of calling 44Doors.  Give us a ring and tell us you’re just kicking the tires on our technology.  We’d love to hear from you!

As with many things, dynamic redirects (bounces) are fine, when used in moderation.  The Capture platform supports dynamic redirects, however we do things a bit differently to avoid SEO confusion.  Our system takes a single URL and allows you to specify the final landing page based on a number of requirements.  You can also specify a “default” rule that will be seen by search engine spiders.  This avoids redirect confusion because spiders will only see one route rather than multiple.

The ideal way to handle redirects is to ensure that your visitor is dropped off at the closest point possible (ideally, the final point).  It is common to set up a placeholder redirect, but then rely on a number of other landing pages to tag and push the visitor down the road.  This lets various organizations “see” the traffic, but they don’t actually show any content to the visitor.  Instead, consider giving access to this redirect (or series of redirects) to each of the marketers involved in the campaign.  This will allow them to see the traffic without having to touch it.  It makes it easier for you, cleaner for the visitor, and the search engines will be happier.

Please keep in mind that this is really only critical for web-based content that is actively indexed by a search engine.  If you are creating landing page content, offline calls-to-action, or short-term “noindex, nofollow” content, then you shouldn’t worry about it.  Making sure your web links are clean, have seo-optimized content and routing, and that your team is working with a seamless set of analytics will go miles in campaign simplicity and data integrity.

Capture allows you to set a campaign type to dynamically route your links based on the type of device being used.  This is incredibly handy when you have different app downloads or unique experiences for phone, tablet, and desktop.  Sure, this can be done by a programmer, but they have more important things to do and keeping up with the latest device detection is not one of them.  Even better, going back to update legacy code when you release your Windows Mobile version is a pain.  Now, with just a few clicks, you can properly route your audience to the exact destination – without adding another button.

This feature is also useful when you wish to change the routing for mobile vs. desktop.  The same routing can be used to exclude all desktop traffic or force a mobile experience.  Handy, eh?  This feature is used by some of our largest clients and has successfully increased conversion to app downloads and minimized app-store confusion for hundreds of thousands of consumers.  Visit the Campaign section of Capture today and check it out.

During a recent trip through the Phoenix airport, I was quite surprised and impressed to see the airport embracing them throughout their complex.  Everything from airport directories, downloading airport apps, to requesting maintenance for a specific  restroom.  Each sign had a clear call-to-action and offered additional options, such as SMS or website links.  A truly functional, and successful, campaign.

Since our flagship product, Capture, generates QR codes for a variety of clients in various industries, we are often asked for guidelines when using QR codes in unique situations.  Our clients have put them to use in numerous ways so we thought it would be helpful to share both the common and the lesser-known guidelines when using QR codes.

1. Size Matters – Modern phones and QR scanners are becoming more accurate every day.  While the recommended minimum size is often cited as 1.25″x1.25″ – I have scanned codes easily and quickly at .25″x.25″ without issue.  These are best-case scenarios and you have to keep in mind not only minimum technical sizes, but also the proper size for the job at hand.  If your use-case is a marketing promotion, a tiny code won’t draw enough attention, even if it is scanable.  Some codes are too large and don’t easily fit into the screen of a phone.  Keep in mind the distance the audience will be from the code.  If it is on a large banner, can the audience get close enough for the camera to see it without distortion?
2. Protect Your Quiet-Zone – Your code should have a quiet-zone (the space that borders the code itself) equivalent to 4 times the size of the individual squares that make up your QR code.
3. Contrast & Printing Types – Not all surfaces are created equal.  Newspaper print, on small codes, can smudge or bleed, making scanning impossible.  An easily-scanned QR code will have clear contrast with the background.  When printing, make sure you have a clean surface that offers plenty of contrast around your code.  Putting the code on a noisy background can make scanning difficult or impossible.
4. Angle of Scan – I have seen many codes placed at nearly floor level as a “footer” to a promotion, or placed up high as a banner to the signage.  In both cases, the angle of the audience is dramatic and requires them to back up from the signage to try and scan the code.  This often makes the code too small to scan effectively.  Keep your angles of engagement realistic to ensure easy scanning.
5. Time to Engage – Many QR codes are placed in areas where the audience passes them too quickly to effectively scan the code.  A good size and memorable alternative call-to-action is helpful in these cases.  Rather than popping up a QR code at the end of a commercial without warning, either include it in the footer throughout or give a verbal queue to alert the audience.
6. Surface Reflection – Some surfaces are very reflective and can cause poor scanning.  When printing on a reflective surface, make sure you use the best contrasting colors or sizing to ensure proper scanning from the appropriate distances.  In some cases, smaller codes are more effective when using highly reflective surfaces as the amount of reflective space is minimized.
7. Distortion Options – QR codes allow a range of 10-30% of the pixels to be distorted while still conveying the proper payload.  Make sure you know what distortion levels you are using before you begin distorting your codes (ie, logo overlay, changing shape, masking codes, etc.)
8. Payload Options – There are a number of options when using QR codes from links, SMS messages, addresses, iCal invites, and more.  Depending on your use-case, you may wish to use a method that fosters measurement (ie, links), if measurement is important.  In any case, evaluate your options and ensure you are using the proper mechanism to facilitate the best use-case for your audience.

No matter your use-case, QR codes have intrinsic value to your audience-on-the-go.  A few key insights can save big mis-steps when designing for massive print or packaging jobs.  As always, nothing beats testing your campaign and using multiple phone types and scanners will give you the greatest insight into real-world performance.

Using SMS, QR codes and a URL takes up very little room and covers all your bases.  Everyone knows what a URL looks like and how to use them.  That’s your baseline.  SMS messages are nearly as ubiquitous and work on every type of phone (assuming your campaign is ready for all phones), and QR codes are very eye-grabbing (note: you can debate QR code value depending on your camp, but I can assure you, there are marketers out there that are knocking it out of the park with QR codes).  When you sacrifice just a bit of space, you can easily and elegantly weave all 3 of these options into a nicely packaged call-to-action and ensure 100% of your audience will know how to engage with you if you’ve done your job well.

Are you mobilizing your calls to action properly?  Are you using a unique URL for each of these options to track which one is most popular and has the highest conversion?  Capture puts this all under a single roof to let you manage your QR codes, URLs, and SMS with one analytical view of your campaign performance.  If you’d like us to take a look at your call to action, send us a picture and we’ll be happy to share our thoughts.

More and more, our clients are beginning to approach us with challenges around eliminating paper through the use of mobile data capture. Fortunately, we have a great solution. You may not realize it, however Capture now supports digital signatures. In other words, if you have a document that requires a signature (opt-in form, regulatory compliance, etc.), Capture allows you to integrate a signature line into your landing pages. This quick and easy feature allows your customers and prospects to write their signature directly onto a mobile device where it is captured, stored, and available to you at any time. Better yet, it is as easy to add as the click of a mouse. Check a single box and the signature field is immediately available to you.

This has been a complete game-changer for many of our clients who are used to collecting signatures for petitions, Do-Not-Call compliance, and release forms. It is fast and easy. Instead of spending thousands of dollars each month with FedEx and UPS, our clients are collecting this information through mobile devices and pumping it into their CRM systems through our API in real-time. This saves both time and money (and a lot of both).

So the next time you are staring at a stack of paper forms collected from your trade show, conference, or event, consider what it would be like to have that information already digitized and in your database.

Imagine you are running a campaign that uses Google Adwords, mobile banner ads, and YouTube ads. Each of these solutions includes a dynamic tracking system to tell you how it performs. Unfortunately, they are all different. By running them all through Capture, you can watch your traffic in real time, identify which one is garnering the greatest activity, and even modify the destination if you determine that an alternative location would be more effective. Complete control and insight in a single view. Tracking is especially important when doing focused, niche campaigns such as SMS or focus ad placements. So often, marketers use standard website links and fail to integrate any form of tracking. Using your Capture account is ideal for measuring participation and activation at each step of the funnel.

Use the Filter option to limit your results to only show specific labels.

Similar to labels in Gmail, Capture allows you to create any number of labels to categorize, organize, and filter your links.  Labels may be personal to your own individual account, or they may be global.  Global labels are shared across all accounts so that common labels may be used for campaigns, product names, or departments.  Labels may be created by anyone and used for any purpose.  The label manager indicates how many links are currently used by each label so you can easily see which labels are used most often.  You may easily create temporary labels, edit the name, or turn a private label into a global label for shared use.

Labels are incredibly useful to track where content originated, connect various links together for a shared campaign, track all activity for specific product lines, or client activity.  All search filters in Capture allow filtering by label.  This allows for quick filtering for all reports and data export.

Labels improve organization and make reporting a breeze.  When everyone in your organization is using labels together, insight and clarity into your Capture results will be smooth and easy.

Use Labels with every new link to allow for easy categorization, searching, and filtering.

Capture allows our clients to create dynamic routes for clicks and scans based on a variety of settings.  In this case, our client used the Language setting in Capture to route the visitor based on the language preference specified in the consumer’s mobile device.  This way, the consumer’s preferred language is detected during the click/scan routing process and they are taken immediately to the appropriate landing page.  No interstitial is required and only a single QR code is required in the creative.  This produces a cleaner visualization, better branding, and a smoother consumer experience.

Capture has a variety of dynamic routing variables including day, date, time, device, country, and state.  One link or QR code may be easily routed using a combination of any rules.  Existing QR codes and links may be modified or updated at any time to give you the freedom and flexibility to change a campaign even after it has been published.

Our original intent was to simplify the Net Promoter Score (NPS) concept.  NPS has been called “the ultimate question” and is used by large and small organizations around the world.  In short, a Net Promoter Score is derived by asking “How likely are you to recommend our organization to a friend” with the answer on a scale of 0 (low) to 10 (high).  The person then has the option of providing a comment in an open-ended format.

The answers are aggregated and scored by taking the percentage of promoters (9s and 10s) and subtracting the percentage of detractors (0 through 6s).  Thus arriving at your NPS rating.

While not perfect, we have long believed in the power of Net Promoter Scores and their clear alignment with customer satisfaction, innovation, and profitability.

The Problem?  Giving an NPS survey in a clear, simplistic way without disrupting the consumer journey is a real challenge.  Most survey platforms are geared for after you have paid your bill or left the premises and are complicated by confusing access codes and pin numbers.  44Doors sought to address this issue by designing an interface that delivers the impact of Net Promoter without the complication.

The 2Cents survey interface breaks down the 11-point scale into 3 simple buttons: Negative, Neutral, and Positive.  The free-text field that follows allows the consumer to quickly and easily identify key areas of interest or concern.  This simple interface, whether utilized on a mobile device, a tablet, or a desktop, gives quick insight and actionable feedback in seconds without confusion or frustration.

A quick scan of a QR code, a visit to a short, branded URL, or a text message response is all that is required to trigger a simple survey that brings voice and emotion to a customer experience.

Mobile cannot be ignored at this point in the game.  In fact, when it comes to consumer experience and engagement, mobile should be #1 on your list.  If your customer survey experience is based on someone sitting down at their desk, clicking on a link, and taking 3-5 minutes to answer your questions, be wary.  An opinion may be shared on Facebook and Twitter in seconds.  If your survey takes longer than these methods, chances are, you’ll be chasing comments rather than collecting them.

Avoiding Neutrality

While a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down will give you a positive or negative sentiment, you’re also forcing the question.  We live in a “too nice” society where social relationships are real and we do not like to step on toes.  A bad comment to a manager might get someone fired.  A busy manager doesn’t have time to listen to praise from a happy customer.  In this age, we don’t like to bother and we don’t want to be bothered.  While a customer may select a neutral rating for their experience, 44Doors uses a contextual sentiment engine to review each comment and extract the actual sentiment of the comment.  In some cases, an indicator of “neutral” by the customer was selected, however the auto-sentiment engine actually indicated a negative experience.  Upon review, the customer indicated neutral, but shared negative feedback on the experience.  In the Net Promoter Score world, this person would have been considered a “passive” by their indication, but their comments indicate a detractor.

Everyone has a unique opinion on which method is better, but have you taken the time to understand the meaning behind the indicators that drive your business decisions?  If you’d like to take ours for a spin, check out our free trial of 2Cents and let us know what you think.