By: MailerMailer

As email marketers, we all know the importance of building clean email opt-in lists. In general, this lends itself to a variety of sufficient and legitimate list building techniques. These techniques include placing a sign-up form on your home page, promoting your newsletter on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, collecting email addresses during the checkout process in a store, and encouraging subscribers to forward the message to others in an effort to grow your list.

As technology evolves, however, so do the methods used to market a company, build brand awareness, and acquire new customers. Today, many companies are using QR (Quick Response) Codes to do just that. A QR Code is a matrix barcode consisting of data which is scannable by various smartphones and essentially redirects a person to a company website. Depending on the goal of the QR Code, it may redirect someone to an offer, a coupon that they can use right away, an informational website, or an email sign up form.

Mobile + QR Codes: A Marketing No-Brainer

The rampant adoption of smartphones is already obvious. A survey by the Pew Research Center estimates that 35% of American adults own a smartphone device and that Internet access is critical to them. In fact, 87% of smartphone owners use their mobile device to access their email and about 25% go online mostly using their smartphone.

QR Codes, which have been rolled out as a marketing technique in recent years, are becoming an increasingly popular method for marketers to engage with their audience and reach new potential customers. From July to December 2010, QR Code usage increased 1,200%.

According to Forrester Research’s North American Technologies Benchmark Survey, 15% of Smartphone owners have scanned a QR Code using either the Android (23%) or the iPhone (19%).*

How to Integrate QR Codes with List Building Strategies

In addition to traditional list building methods mentioned above, mixing in QR Codes may be a great way to grow your email opt-in list and show that you’re keeping up with today’s fast-paced technology wave.

Below is a list of some creative ways that you can integrate QR Codes into your email marketing and list building techniques.

Profile:  After 13 years of email marketing...this website is my personal way of giving back to a noisy, fragmented industry driven by commoditized CPM rates. If you are a part of the email marketing industry or an email marketer by heart I invite you to participate in this project and become a contributor/author to The Email Guide Blog. Website:  http://www.theemailguide.com Twitter:   http://www.twitter.com/theemailguide LinkedIn:   http://ca.linkedin.com/in/chiefemailofficer

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