Reusable QR Codes - Best Practices with QR Codes and Real Estate

So you are thinking about getting started with QR codes on your real estate signs.   Awesome, you are ahead of the curve.  This post will talk about best practices when using QR codes for real estate.

First and foremost we need to decide where we want to put these QR codes.  There are a few common places, and others that you may think of.  Be creative and put them where you think they will benefit you the most.

Places to put your QR codes
-On your RE sign in front of the house
-On your business card
-On your property flyer in front of a house
-On your property flyer not in front of a house (at a different open house, at your office, etc.)
-In a newspaper ad


For each of the possibilities above, and for others not listed, you need to put yourself in the shoes of a would be scanner to think of what you would want when you scan the code.


For this post we are going to focus on a QR code for your real estate sign.


Lets put ourselves in the shoes of someone that may scan our QR code on our real estate sign.  They are already in front of the house.  They already have a mild interest or they wouldn't be standing in front of your sign thinking about scanning your QR code.  What do they need, and what do they want?


Should I put instructions on how to download an app to scan the QR code?


QR codes are becoming quite popular (especially in the RE industry), but they are still new.  Many people have never seen one of these codes before.  You may be as detailed or ambiguous in your instructions on how to scan the code. 


Some agents do not put any instructions, just the code.  Others put some steps to scan the code. We suggest, at this point (April 2011), to put some instructions and call to action on what to do.  Tell them to scan the code and give them a few steps.  Once the QR code market is very active then you will not need to put any instructions.


I want to have instructions, what should I put?


We have found that if you are going to put any instructions on your sign, then you need to be detailed and specific.  Here are two examples of instructions, which do you like?


-Download a free scanner on your phone and scan the code!


-Search in your app store (iPhone) / market place (Android) for "Universal Property Code" and tap to download the free scanning app.  Once installed open the application and it will open your camera on your phone.  Aim your camera at the QR code and it will automatically scan the code and display this properties information!

If a potential buyer has actually taken the time to stop in front of your listing and download an app to scan your code, tell them what to look for.  There is nothing more disappointing then having them search for "real estate code scanner" and not figuring out what to download.  Pick your favorite free scanner and have them download it!  Universal Property Code is a free scanning app that will automatically capture the code and link them to any website without them having to look at ads or click a bunch of buttons.


Yes, they scanned my code, what should I show them?


Your potential buyer has stopped in front of your sign...pulled out their phone...downloaded and opened their scanning app...scanned your code... and now you need to reward them.  


What do they want?  
They don't want to go to a Realtors website & dig through to get more info.
They don't want to only get a Realtors contact info.
They don't want to have to sign up on a website to get more info.
They don't want to call to get more info.
They don't want to text to get more info.
They don't want to see a tiny website that's not optimized for their mobile device.


They want more information about the house in front of them.  They want the price.  They want the bed/baths and square footage.  They want to see pictures.  They want to send info about the house to a friend/spouse.  They want all this information, and they want it right away.


Give it to them. Give them what they want.  Display the properties information on a mobile enabled web page or use a system like http://universalpropertycode.com that has all of the features built in.  Above all else, make sure that if you were the one scanning the code, you would be satisfied with what you got when you scanned the code.








http://universalpropertycode.com has created an easy to use QR system for real estate.  They will provide reusable QR codes (once you sell a house just move your sign to the next listing) for $1 per code per month. To waive the sign up fee and receive half off for 4 months enter the coupon code BLOGGER (all caps) at checkout.

Blackberry is failing

It's survival of the fittest and Blackberry has not evolved or adapted.  They continue to fail at every turn.  For the last several years I had the mindset that they would get their stuff together and continue to be the largest mobile phone company out there.  They have not, and are poised to fail spectacularly.


Yesterday I was at a real estate conference in Mesa Arizona focused on Real Estate technology.  Our company offers a reusable qr code service for the real estate industry.  As part of our service we created a free app for iPhone and Android.  We have been debating for the last 6 months whether or not to create a Blackberry app.  We had real estate agents of all ages coming to our booth to download our app and try scanning some QR codes.  

Nearly half of the people visiting our booth had brand new Android phones (literally looked like they just came out of the box).  I asked each one, "What phone did you switch from?".  The answer for every single one was Blackberry.  I asked if they had any regrets and they all said no.  Some even laughed at how long it took them to switch over.


iPhone and Android phones dominated this real estate conference.  The real estate industry has been holding on to their blackberries, refusing to switch, for years now.  It seems that the holdout is over.  Real estate agents are switching over to iPhone and Android at an incredible rate.


People have figured out that Blackberry is dying! 


Even now, when Blackberry is sinking like a boat with no bottom, they continue to make blunders.  They are launching a tablet to battle iPad that has no software development kit, no native mail, no messaging, and no contact management app.  


They may as well stop all research and development, fire everyone not essential to keeping their current customers active, stockpile as much money as possible, and let their customers cancel their service one after another until they can finally shut down their service once and for all.


Okay the last paragraph is a bit overkill but you get the picture.  They must change or they will not  survive this ultra competitive marketplace.  Only time will tell if they fail spectacularly. 

Reusable QR Codes - Avoiding a QR code disaster - Best practices with QR codes

As we all have been learning over the past year, QR codes are a great way to market, especially in real estate.  Nothing, however, is more disappointing and negative to QR codes than creating a dud of a QR code that points to nothing, or something as good as nothing.

Your QR code campaign must be enticing and give satisfaction to those who scan it.  That is the whole purpose of creating a QR code campaign.  People want satisfaction when they scan a QR code.  You must do everything in your power to avoid being the person that doesn't get the details right in a QR code.  Don't be this person to the right.  They made a mistake in their QR code.  They entered in "URL:http://" when they should have just entered "http://".  This means that the moment they created their QR code it was completely useless.  They furthered the blunder by actually putting the QR code into an article.  Curious readers (like myself) scanning this QR code will be completely dissatisfied that nothing whatsoever happens when you scan the code.


People have a insatiable appetite to be satisfied, and that is what you MUST do when you are creating a QR code campaign.  Your QR code must be fully tested and ready to go as soon as it is created.  Give people a coupon, information, cool videos, great pictures, useful contact information, but whatever you do, do not give them nothing!


Steps to avoiding a QR code disaster


There are several key pitfalls that must be avoided.


You must control the destination content of the QR code.  If your QR code goes to a YouTube video or a website then you must have access to the video or website.  Never create a QR code that points to someone else's content.  If they change it or put something vulgar up, you will have a disaster.


You must scan the code yourself.  If you do not try the campaign out yourself then you are being foolhardy and deserve your disaster.


Use a QR code that you can change after publishing.  Having the ability to change the destination URL at anytime (even after creation) is an extremely effective tool for avoiding QR code disasters.  If you use a company like http://UniversalPropertyCode.com then you get the opportunity to correct QR code mistakes after creation. At http://UniversalPropertyCode.com you can change where a code points to at anytime.  Their codes are reusable.


Make certain the code is large enough to scan.  You must scan your code on the media that you are marketing in.  If you are putting a QR code in the paper, make sure it is large enough to scan.  If it is on your business card, try it out.  Prototype QR codes often work great, then when it comes to the real marketing, a little more testing would go a long way.

Reusable QR Codes - Is QR code awareness a bunch of bull?

I was reading this morning about a recent survey of smart phone users done by MGH.  They were surveying to find out the awareness of QR codes and why people would most like to use them.  In the survey most people were likely to scan a QR code to get a discount or coupon of some sort.

I think people want to scan one to get more information and see what the code does.  Some take you to amazing videos while others take you to websites, and still others pull content from the cloud right to your phone.  It feels a bit like a game.  Each person has this "decoder" in their pocket that turns these funky looking black squares instantly into fantastic digital content.

Is it only some game that we are all playing?  Is this just a fad that will be gone in a few years?

I don't think so.  I think many of the nonsensical QR codes that are for fun will fade out.  The useful QR codes will remain until something can get us instant gratification faster than scanning the codes.  The codes on Home Depots flowers that tell you how much sunlight to give to the plants will remain.  The Atlantis hotel code that takes you to a video showing their amazing resort will remain.  The codes on real estate signs that give you all of the homes information on the spot will remain.

http://universalpropertycode.com  reusable QR codes.

With our reusable QR codes, the definition of insanity does not apply

Albert Einstein - Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 

You can scan one of our UPC (QR) codes 1 second and scan the exact same code a second later, and the results can be dramatically different.

UPC provides QR codes that you can have point to any URL on the web or even display robust property information with our app.  You can change the destination URL at anytime!

The most eco-friendly robust QR code solution on the market.  With one of our codes you can be sent to a youtube video one moment and then to a real estate home page the next.  Your options are unlimited!

Only $1 per month per code.  Try us out http://universalpropertycode.com/.  Follow this blog, our twitter, or like us on facebook.  Contact us through any of those social media outlets and we will send you a coupon code for unlimited free codes for 3 months.

QR Code Real Estate - We just launched the Reusable QR code!

We are incredibly pleased to announce that UPC has just launched our reusable QR code.  This is a game changer.  QR codes, to date, have been created by a user entering in a URL.  If you want your QR code to go to google then you would enter in http://google.com/ and a QR code generator would create the corresponding code that points a user to google.

Reusable QR code - Currently pointing to twitter.com

http://universalpropertycode.com/ now offers a completely new type of QR code!  A user logs into our system and they can change the URL that the QR points to at any time.  It can point to google for 1 minute, then a user can change it to point to http://yahoo.com/.

Never throw away a QR code again!

A hypothetical:  Lets say you are Levis Jeans and you put up a big QR code in Times Square that points to a video starring an actor.  That actor suddenly gets a DUI and Levis wants to drop him immediately. Rather than changing the video on the web or physically taking down the sign, with UPC you can now have the QR code navigate to Levis website immediately without changing the code itself.

UPC was designed for real estate agents and is an incredible way to display real estate information inside our free app.  Rather than navigating users to a URL we pull the data into the app.  It is some pretty advanced stuff we have been working on.  In our quest to improve our customers product we created a reusable QR code that goes to any URL. 

Click on the YouTube video below to see our reusable QR codes in action.




Our Robust QR Codes can
-navigate a person scanning to a URL on their browser
-display property information inside our app including photos, price, maps, texting, calling the agent
-display property information and include links to website or any URL to a video etc.


Check us out on the web http://universalpropertycode.com/

QR code real estate - When will the iPad be obsolete?

The iPad 2 debuted today with Steve Jobs giving the keynote.  It boasts a faster processor, 9x faster graphics display, 33% thinner, and cameras on front and back (just like the iPhone and iPod touch). 

The device is seriously advanced and makes even the slightly technical person marvel at its complexity.  I remember when I was young seeing a Star Trek episode and wondering if I would ever see some of the cool devices in my lifetime.  The iPad seems to be the first (Steve Jobs clearly must be a star trek fan).

As hard as it is to fathom people will absolutely look back at the iPad 2 and think that it is ancient technology that has been far surpassed.

It is improbable that we will ever be able to see in the future to what is going to happen with all of our technology.  Will our technology be our demise?

So what should we do in the here and now?  Embrace the technology that we have and use the technology that makes our lives easier and more productive.  There are many useless and mindless games that have come out on Apple and on Android.  On the other hand there are a plethora of useful apps that do seem to make life easier and more productive.

Use what you can and continue to incorporate technology in to your job.  More efficiency and productivity seem to be some major ingredients in success.  Don't be stubborn and fight the technology.  Use it.




Real Estate QR code technology - http://universalpropertycode.com