YouTube on TV: Why QR Codes are the Key to Conversions
Have you been there?
You’ve been tasked with advertising & marketing an awesome product on Youtube through influencers and are eager to engage with as many of their viewers as possible.
Your content creators have shared their experience with the product and have called for their audience to click the link in the description to claim an offer.
But – you also know that a number of their viewers are not watching from their mobile devices and you’ve been racking your brain looking for a solution to engage those viewers in real-time.
This is a common frustration for many marketers and brand managers that are hoping to spur action with their influencer campaigns.
Whether the audience is screencasting from a device or using a SmartTV, it can drive away potential engagement from these sponsored campaigns.
And yet, there is a much-neglected hero that we’ve seen help to overcome this issue.
Allow me to introduce the hero of our story - the humble QR code.
SO, WHAT IS A QR CODE?
Remember not long ago, around the height of the pandemic when eating out felt like a distant memory only to have it transformed miraculously by technology?
One moment we're stuck at home, wondering when we'll dine out again without anxiety, and the next we’re seeing these QR codes popping up in every restaurant, bar, and drive-thru.
Instead of constantly sharing and cleaning physical menus, with a quick scan, we could now view the menu and easily order our food.
And that’s the promise of QR codes. A simple scannable “barcode” that will immediately open up the unique link that has been tied to it.
It can seamlessly take you from simply observing something to being able to interact and browse it.
And herein lies its strength.
QR CODES HELP BRIDGE THE TV AND MOBILE EXPERIENCE
The lesson here is that QR codes are suited to convert audiences passively viewing YouTube on TV into audiences actively engaging with your offer.
As more YouTube videos are being watched on TV screens (up to 45% from 30% in 2020), QR codes are the perfect way to help translate an on-screen offer to an on-phone conversion.
It adds an interactive element to the advertisement and improves the customer journey with a brand.
It invites viewers to engage with an ad immediately for a seamless mobile experience.
And if you can convert more of those viewers in that 45% segment of TV watchers into mobile phone visitors in seconds, that means more sales.
WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO INTEGRATE QR CODES?
First of all, make sure you optimize the QR code itself for display on YouTube. It should fit properly in the frame and should be large enough for easy scanning.
If you’d like, you can even add coloring for branding purposes.
Next, make sure to include a text and audio prompt in the video that inspires action.
For example, “go to website.com/code to claim the offer -- or simply scan the QR code here to claim the offer!”
Lastly, make sure you include it on the screen for at least 15 seconds to give viewers enough time to pull out their phones and scan the code.
HOW SHOULD THIS FIT INTO MY CAMPAIGN WORKFLOW?
At this point, you’re probably wondering where to work this into your process.
We’ve found that it’s best to share the QR codes with creators alongside campaign briefs and AT LEAST two weeks prior to when a creator is scheduled to go live with their video.
The QR codes themselves can easily be generated on bit.ly and flowcode.com so providing them to the creator should be straightforward.
Lastly, if you’re wondering if using a QR code that’s attached to a link with UTM parameters will harm tracking, the answer is no.
In fact, if you’re interested in seeing attribution from a YouTube offer viewed on TV, a unique QR code is a great way to do that as it can be isolated from other links that may be added in the description area or as a pinned comment.
SHOULD YOU INCLUDE QR CODES IN YOUR NEXT YOUTUBE CAMPAIGN?
At this point, you’re probably wondering if you should include a QR code in your next campaign.
Our recommendation is to test it.
At best, it could end up driving more visitors and customers to your brand.
And at the very least, it could give you some additional insights as to how much of your audience is watching your sponsored creators on their TV which could help you make smarter marketing decisions down the road.
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