How the Physical Therapist Can Utilize QR Codes

By now, you’ve probably seen plenty of square barcodes like the one pictured here. They will leap out at you from so many places because they are everywhere: Magazines, advertisements, websites, TV, even the back of cereal packets.

You might have just noticed them recently, or if you are an avid smartphone user, you may be quite familiar with them.

It’s called a QR code and while you may have seen these around, you may not know exactly how it can help you or your practice.

This article will explain why:

What are QR CODES?

QR codes are enhanced barcodes. Data is embedded within these codes and accessed by a user scanning the QR code with their mobile phone. This is very similar to the way an item is scanned at a grocier or department store.

The smartphone user simply points their phone to the QR code and then is instantly taken to the web site page of the company on whose advertisement it is on. Normally this is a specially designed page featuring a special offer or more information about the product they have seen advertised.

How can Physical Therapists use QR codes as part of their mobile marketing campaign

There are so many advantages to using QR codes in marketing your clinic or services. Here are some ideas that you can use to leverage the power of QR codes in your own practice:

Enhance Customer Excitement

Including QR codes as part of your overall marketing will add a new layer of excitement for your patients. They will want to scan your image to see what you have on offer for them. It might be a link to your mobile website, a link that resolves to their home program login page, an electronic business card, information about an upcoming special event, or it could be a special offer on a particular cash-based service.

Marketing company MGH monitored the users of smartphones and discovered that almost half of the smartphone owners who saw a QR code scanned it. When asked what they were hoping to see as a result of scanning the code, they said that they were hoping to see a special deal, coupon or more information.

So if you are planning on using QR codes, it is important to keep in mind what the patient’s motivation might be when they scan the code.

In addition, QR codes can be extremely helpful in obtaining patient feedback about your product or service. Imagine a patient scanning your QR code and it takes them to your patient survey? There are all kinds of uses for QR codes. Remember, it’s just data stored in a two dimensional graphic.

Instant Delivery

The most amazing thing about these “quick” codes is that they offer instant delivery of information. You will be striking while the iron is hot. It means that the patient no longer has to wait until they are at home to turn on their computer etc. in order to research your services, contact you, or log in to their home program. They simply point and click and all of the information that they need is right at their fingertips in a matter of seconds. Naturally, this works best if your website is mobilize optimized. In fact, QR codes are becoming an essential addition to any mobile marketing campaign.

Save on Printing

If you are a Physical Therapist or clinic that spends a fair amount of money and time on printing, QR codes could benefit you by minimizing your printing investment in a new promotion or campaign. Your customers could simply point and scan the QR code and immediately go to the source and for the most current information.
Remove Barriers

One last thought about QR codes. Driving patients to your Yelp, Google, or Facebook page is often a challenge. Once the patient leaves the office, their interest in doing extra work to “Like” you on Facebook or review you Google greatly diminishes. Using a QR code in combination with the patient’s mobile phone can remove barriers from patients taking action.

Where Can You Get a QR Code?

QR codes are a commodity. You can get them for free at www.qrstuff.com. You can even get them in colors or embed your logo too.

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1. If you have a smartphone, and haven’t already…give it a try. Snap a shot of a QR code to see how it works.
2. Consumers the world over recognize QR codes. They are using then whenever they see them in magazines, brochures and on websites. Consider adding a QR code to your site to generate patient excitement.
3. If your patients seem to want a quicker flow of information, this may be just the answer!
4. Make sure your QR codes points to a mobile-optimized landing pages.
5. Create QR codes at qrstuff.com and point them to your Facebook page and Yelp business page to encourage Likes and Reviews.
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