Product QR Codes – Enhance the Customer Experience with Value-Added Information
Too much information to print on your product packaging? Balancing your sustainability responsibilities to keep packaging to a minimum, with your regulatory or moral duty to include certain facts, can be a challenge. But there is a solution.
By using QR packaging codes, you can replace a lot of the text you need to include on your product packaging or leaflet inserts with a digital code. So instead of struggling to read the tiny small print, your customers can simply take out their smartphones and use their camera to scan the QR code. And there, right on their screens, appears all the information they need to know.
Naturally, legally required information will need to be accessible to all, including those without smartphones or internet/data connections. So you’ll always need to include the necessary core basics in your printed text, as well as in Braille where regulations dictate. But for everything else, you can use a QR code. Product details of any type or length can be shared via the code, from ingredients to food miles, and from benefits to warnings, and plenty more besides. Here are a few creative ideas to make the best use of product QR codes.
Using a QR code on food packaging
There are so many ways you can use a QR code on food packaging. With a simple scan of the code, customers can see…
The necessaries:
- Ingredients
- Nutrition information
- Allergen warnings
- Storage instructions
- Cooking instructions
- Net weight and serving size
- Manufacturer or importer details
- Best before or use by date
Valued-added helpful extras:
- Interactive recipe ideas
- Serving suggestions
- Food miles and production ethics
QR packaging for healthcare and medicine products
The necessaries:
- Product name and purpose
- Ingredients
- Dosage and use instructions
- Warnings and precautions
- Expiry date
- Batch number
- Storage instructions
- Manufacturer or distributor details
- Legal status of the medicine
Valued-added helpful extras:
- Healthcare tips and resources
- Links to useful related products, e.g. pill organisers
QR code product details for cosmetic and beauty products
The necessaries:
- Responsible person name and address
- Ingredients
- Quantity declaration
- Period after opening or minimum durability date
- Warnings and precautions
- Batch number
- Product function
- Country of origin
Valued-added helpful extras:
- Beauty regime tips and resources
- ‘Get the look’ application ideas
- ‘Use with…’ complimentary product and accessory suggestions
Why use a QR code for product information?
Product QR codes offer numerous benefits. They:
Are dynamic – you can update the information behind them any time. So if something changes, you can make your amendments, without having to shoulder the costs of a huge re-print run.
Reduce packaging – by switching some of the information from your product packaging to a QR code, you can reduce the amount of print and packaging required. This is good news for the environment, and your bottom line. What’s more, you get to share a whole lot more information than you ever could on packaging alone.
Are multilingual – it’s all very well ticking the regulatory box and delivering your vital product information in English. But that’s not hugely helpful to the thousands of people in the UK who do not have English as a first language, or who are visiting from a foreign country. The great thing about QR codes is that they automatically detect the smartphone’s language settings, and deliver the information in the user’s native tongue.
Are easier to read… there are no set requirements for font size on cosmetics labels, although it is recommended for legibility to go no smaller than 4pt. FOUR POINT! That’s tiny. And the guidelines for font size on medical packaging aren’t much bigger. So whilst you are required to provide certain information by law, there is no guarantee that everyone is actually going to be able to read it. Even if they do go to Specsavers. But with QR packaging codes, because the information is digital, it can be zoomed to suit individual needs.
Product QR codes also offer excellent marketing possibilities, including:
- Promoting complementary products
- Sharing links to social media platforms
- Collecting product reviews
- Offering promotional codes or discount vouchers
- Sharing videos, audio and images – QR code content doesn’t have to be just text
Ready to add value to your packaging with product QR codes?
Ban.gl QR packaging codes offer a host of benefits, from reducing printing costs to adding value to the customer experience.