Using QR Codes in Property Development Marketing

Author | Paul Skuse, Oakfield Design & Creation

It’s been a slow take-up for QR codes, but they’re beginning to gain traction.

Originating in Japan in 1994, Quick Response (QR) codes have finally crossed over into our everyday lives. We’re getting used to seeing them on business cards, they are now the image on our airline boarding passes and train travel tickets, and they’re used to gain access to the cinema or events. As we become ever more tied to our phones, these strange-looking squares have become increasingly commonplace on our screens and in our lives.

But what are the merits of incorporating them into our property development site branding and hoardings?  

As with most things in this day and age, it all comes down to speed and convenience. We’ve found that adding a QR code as part of the call-to-action on site hoardings has increased engagement with prospective buyers. Using QR codes is a great way to streamline the user experience and ensure prospects can access information about the scheme as quickly and efficiently as possible.  

QR Codes can easily fit with the site branding style and colour palette

They direct potential customers to exactly where we want to take them, to the scheme’s landing page rather than the developer’s website home page. 

They allow the potential buyer to interact with the development instantly and easily.  

By scanning a QR code, customers can bypass home pages and laborious click throughs and go straight to the scheme’s landing page, the sales agent’s development page or direct to the development’s WebBrochure.  

Accuracy is also vitally important. Customers are likely to make errors while typing, especially on a phone. Compared to this, scanning a QR code is a much faster and error-free process. If the prospect has only a short time window, passing in the car for instance, then a quick scan has the landing page ready and waiting for a later read. The sales journey begins.  

Now we know they are, let’s face it, not very attractive. They won’t be winning any design awards or beauty contests anytime soon. They look like a bar code, because – well, that’s exactly what they are. But they can be improved by using the development’s branding style and colour palette. Bold or sophisticated colours can be a great addition to their blocky design. As long as there is a strong contrast between the background and the pixel-style scanning area, then the phone can still easily read the code. The image at the top of this article illustrates just this.  

Depending on your buyer’s demographic – not all potential buyer categories are tech-savvy so may need a nudge in the right direction – we advise adding a small instruction that nudges people to take the required action. Something along the lines of ‘Scan here to view the website’ or ‘Scan here to view the development’ is a straightforward pointer.  

In this digital era of business and marketing where everything is done through our smartphones, we’re now able to follow potential buyers as they travel along each scheme’s defined sales journey. QR codes enable us to track and measure engagement alongside other analytics, allowing us to improve and enhance our marketing strategies to drive enquiries and ultimately, accelerate off-plan sales.  

It’s time to embrace and take advantage of these odd-looking but impactful tools. We are seeing ways in which we can evolve their designs, but in some shape or form, we believe these genuinely useful sales assets are here to stay.