QR Codes: Adoption for Direct Mail

To Use or Not to Use QR Codes: That Has Been the Question

Has 2020 Brought About the Tipping Point with QR Codes?

12 months ago, our team recommended short URLs to the direct mail teams we work with to provide a quick way for prospective donors to be able to visit a landing page online if they want to give digitally. Back then, QR codes were common but nearly always a broken experience.

The pandemic has introduced new ways for us all to embrace technology, which has now become common adoption in some cases. One of those concepts is the QR code and its use across places like restaurants. Another is around mobile payments as the world moves to a less cash-centric society.

Innovating Your Direct Mail and Digital Integration for End of Year

Strategies are already in place across most organizations for everything included in end of year appeals. But if you have not yet included a mobile strategy which includes QR codes, you may be missing out on an easy opportunity.

Elements to Consider for 2020 End of Year Campaigns

Direct Mail-Specific Landing Page & Donation Form
Homepage Hero Banners
Dynamic Content
Supplemental Web & Social Ads
QR Codes Within Direct Mail Appeal

Strategies around providing a good experience online which matches up with direct mail is nothing new. Every year, our team works across clients to ensure that every digital touchpoint works with the direct mail messaging they have going out.

This includes everything from pushing web and social media ads to those receiving direct mail messaging, to lightboxes on the their site that make the messaging prominent, to donation forms using the same giving arrays and messaging within that page. And then of course, emails which hit the week before and after a piece lands in mailboxes across the world.

QR Codes Create the Quickest Response Mechanism Available

We’ve always encouraged the use of short URLs to allow those ready to give through direct mail to be able to give right then through digital. But developing a placement for a QR code alongside a callout to give now within the direct mail piece is something you’d be missing out on this year if you overlook it. With people across the globe using them to find what they want to eat and other things, and with the functionality now built into most smartphones directly from the cameras, the user experience is much better than ever before.

Optimize Your Entire Digital Integration with Direct Mail

If you already sent it to the printer and must miss out on this concept, bookmark it for next year! In the interim, be sure your entire digital experience after they visit the URL is streamlined. Create a direct-mail specific donation form. That form should include only the giving form. They’ve already seen all of your messaging and are only using digital as a response mechanism. Shorten their experience!

If they abandon, hit them with web and social ads. Maximize your reach as much as you can. If they abandon, send many of them an email one hour after they abandon, encouraging them to make a gift today.

givingMD is Here to Help

Does all of the above sound confusing, complex or anxiety-inducing? Not to worry! givingMD is here to help. Because our integrated campaigns use a unique approach to fundraising with Moneyball mindsets, no direct mail integration or digital campaign is ever templated from another. We’re ready to help you.

Need a treatment plan for your next 30, 60, 90 days? We’re here to help. Reach out to us or check out our case studies.