The Christmas Gala is around the corner.
It is that time of the year when everyone shops around, and surprises loved ones with gifts and whatnot!
After all, gifts are one of the best ways to express love and gratitude towards your loved ones.
Many business owners eagerly look forward to this time of the year to boost their sales. And you want to do it too. But this time, you want to leverage QR Codes to up your Christmas campaigns.
Let’s dive deep into how Christmas QR codes can elevate seasonal sales.
A. Quick bits on QR Code for Christmas
Christmas festivals are all about surprising each other with fun and interactive gifts.
These days, businesses are surprising their audience in creative ways.
Some turn their outlet into red and white. Some update their website or mobile app theme. Some host Christmas events and some announce exciting Christmas offers.
Unique business brings up their uniqueness in their own way.
Many global brands are using Dynamic QR Codes in their Christmas marketing as they are helping them add a modern touch to the phygital world.
Want to know how?
We will understand this with some famous real-life Christmas QR Code campaigns from across the globe.
B. Real-life Christmas QR Code campaign examples
1. Fun rewards by Coca-Cola
In 2022, the renowned soft drink manufacturer—Coca-Cola added QR Codes to its Christmas festive packs
The QR Code came with the caption Win £200 towards your festive feast.
Scanning the QR Code helped the buyers get the chance to win cash or seasonal prizes.
Campaign Insights:
Part of personal celebration: Became a part of their Christmas celebration by turning their packaging into red-white and using a gift box frame around a QR Code
Growth in sales during holidays: Leveraging custom packaging and surprising users with an add-on incentive resulted in increased seasonal sale
2. Christmas fun riddle QR Code campaign
In Dec 2022, Discover North East Lincolnshire partnered with High Street Safari for the—Hunt for the Lost Toys campaign in England.
As per the event’s storyline, ten presents that need to be found have gone missing.
People need to solve riddles and release the Christmas imps to find these gifts.
To help them do it, participants need to scan Christmas QR Codes across ten locations in the town.
Scanning these QR Codes will evoke augmented reality on the end users’ phones.
Once someone finds all ten QR Codes, they get a free digital fun pack.
Campaign Insights:
Promote tourism and attraction: Added QR Codes to the town’s attraction places, consequently helping them promote tourism
Improved community engagement: Encouraged audience to spend more outdoor time together and offered an interactive experience with AR and fun riddles
Increase in footfall for local businesses: As QR Codes were placed around the town, it naturally helped the nearby local businesses increase footfall
3. La Salle University’s gift drive
Philadelphia’s La Salle University is known for giving gifts rather than receiving them.
That’s why they organized an annual drive to support kids at The Church of New Hope and Faith.
To facilitate the same, in 2022, they added Christmas tree QR Codes across the campus.
Image Source: La Salle University
Each of these QR Codes was placed strategically in areas with high footfall.
Scanning the QR Code took people to the wishlist on Amazon curated for the gift and toy drive.
Campaign Insights:
Connect wider audience: QR Codes being accessible to everyone on the campus, encouraged users to share them with the broader audience (outside the campus as well)
Simplify donation process: Streamlined the donation process by taking users directly to the Amazon wish list and letting them make a purchase
4. Run location-based offers
In Convent Garden (UK), the Yard launched an impressive Christmas QR campaign—12 Drops of Christmas.
They gave exclusive location-based offers by getting the audience to scan a QR Code in their area.
Scanning it took them to the destination on their phone’s maps application.
The Yards have several unique offers that visitors only see after they visit the destination.
Some of these include a £500 discount at Clarendon Fine Art and a £150 Hawksmoor gift card.
Campaign Insights:
Boost in sales: Christmas deal offers helped them connect with non-members and nudged them to make a purchase
Improve in foot traffic: QR Codes created a treasure-hunt experience for the users in the Yard. This resulted in physical participation and increased footfall
Set a difference in marketing: In an era when people prefer online shopping, Covent Garden chose to attract shoppers offline by creating a unique-in-person experience
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5. Color changing can by Corona
In 2023, Corona onboarded fashion designer Talia Coles to redesign their Corona Cans packaging.
With the help of Coles, they used thermochromic ink to reveal imagery as the temperature changed, adding a fun visual element.
Additionally, they added a QR Code at the back of the Can.
On scanning, it took users to the Corona Holiday Sweepstakes website.
What’s inside for the audience?
A chance to win a Feliz Navi-Drip” robe.
Campaign Insights:
Enhance Engagement: QR Codes and color-changing theme helped to increase the engagement
Attracted Scans: The digital element (QR Code) created suspense for the audience and, thus, helped them see an increase in QR scans
6. National food relief campaign by OzHarvest
OzHarvest partnered with BioPak in 2024 for a National food relief campaign—Limited Edition Cup with QR Codes.
They made their limited-edition OzHarvest coffee cups available to Australians. Additionally, added a QR code to them.
Once scanned, it made the users donate to the “Unite to Feed Australia” initiative.
They highlighted the calculation—$5= 10 Meals to attract the scanners.
What is the purpose of highlighting a donation amount?
To inform the audience of the value of their contribution and provide 5 million meals.
Campaign Insights:
Raise awareness: Help them raise awareness about food insecurity in Australia through QR Codes
Streamline donation process: OzHarvest eases out the donation collection process by allowing them to donate directly with a single scan
C. Other creative ways how QR Codes can be used in Christmas
1. Take people directly to your website
Say you are planning to run print media promotions for Christmas-themed gifts.
And you have a website for the same. Now, you should direct your target audience to your website.
Traditionally, you’d add the required link to your promotional creatives to get people to visit your website.
But here’s the problem—people must pull out their smartphones, open the browser, tediously type the link, and finally visit your website.
You know that it is a long and tedious process. While some people may do it, others simply won’t.
But a Website URL QR Code has got you covered.
When scanned, it redirects your audience to your website.
You can also use this QR Code to push your festival-themed promotional video to your target audience.
Thus, you will see an increase in the response rate of your marketing campaign.
In addition, you will even be able to track the performance of your print media campaign using the QR Code scan tracking feature.
Scanova Insights: From FY 2021-24, our Website URL QR category has attracted 16,506,633 scans.
2. Boost your app downloads
If you have a mobile app for your business, you’d need people to download it.
Your business could be using it to offer Christmas festival-themed items.
But getting people to download your mobile app can be quite a task.
However, an App Store QR Code can help you simplify this process.
People will be redirected to your app on the required app store based on their mobile’s OS as soon as they scan it.
They can then simply download the app and start their purchasing journey.
You make your app installation relatively easy.
Moreover, you can also direct them to visit a particular page within your app via an App Deep Link QR Code.
Scanova Insights: From FY 2021-24, our Website URL QR category has attracted 732,628 scans.
3. Share product information
You know how important it is to offer your customers a genuine product, especially during the festive season when the rate of scams is relatively high.
Thus, you need to ensure your customers’ complete product transparency.
But it’s easier said than done. That’s because, with limited product packaging space, it becomes challenging.
However, this is where a Product QR Code comes to your rescue.
It allows you to add product details, such as images, descriptions, website links, and social media sharing buttons.
You just need to ensure you have added a suitable CTA. It could be anything such as—Scan here for detailed product information.
This small text will help the customers understand what they need to do. Easy.
Scanova Insights: Scanova users attracted 502.24 scans per Product QR Code from FY 2021-24.
4. Share a Christmas-themed music
If you have an audio guide or a Christmas-themed song, you’d like your audience to listen to it.
Audio QR Codes are here to help you do the same.
Your audience just needs to scan the QR Code to enjoy the Christmas music.
This will leave a lasting impression on their minds and thus fetch your desired results.
5. Giveaway Christmas gifts and coupons
It is common in business to give out coupons and discounts. This is especially true during the festive season.
After all, at that time, business competition was cut-throat.
Coupons and discounts can attract customers and keep them coming back.
A Coupon QR Code can help you do it smoothly. It serves two benefits:
- In pandemic times, people like to avoid physical contact with objects. QR Codes make it a reality by offering them a contactless experience.
- Customers don’t have to carry the coupon or remember the code. Easy, right?
They just need to scan the QR Code and click the Redeem button to make the offer available.
6. Attract leads for the next campaign
Do your promotional campaigns aim to generate leads and ultimately convert them into sales?
QR Codes are up for the game.
They offer the lead generation feature.
When your audience scans the QR Code, they get prompted to fill out the lead generation form.
Once they do it, they can see the content encoded in the QR Code.
7. Help people know your business’s exact location
Say you have decorated your brick-and-mortar store for Christmas and are ready for the business.
Now you want people to visit your store and enjoy the view while shopping.
To do so, add your store/office address to the promotional material.
But what if there is a much simpler way to help people reach you seamlessly?
You can use a Google Maps QR Code.
Your customers can scan it to view the encoded location on the maps application on their smartphone.
They do not need to manually type your address into the app to locate your business.
8. Gain social media followers
It’s common for businesses to build a solid social media presence.
And festival time is one of the best times to do it.
After all, this is when people look for trendy collections and the businesses offering them.
Hence, you’d want the relevant audience to follow you online.
But simply printing the links to your social media accounts and hoping people would follow you is futile.
Why? Because manually locating your profile requires a lot of time and effort.
People usually don’t bother to do it.
So, you must offer an easy way for your audience to follow you online. And a Social Media QR Code has got you covered.
Scanning shows a custom page containing buttons with links to all your social media accounts.
People can then select their favorite one to follow you online.
9. Sharing your contact information
As a business person, you know how important networking at the right time is important.
This is especially true for seasonal businesses. Thus, you need to share your contact details with people.
You should use a paper-based business card to do it.
But after receiving the card, recipients have to open the Contacts app on their phones, fill in their details, and save you as the contact.
This is a tedious and time-consuming process.
Thus, various business cards are in the trash rather than the recipient’s contacts.
But the VCard QR Code is here to save the day.
Just place it on your business cards. When scanned, recipients can see your contact details and can add you as a contact.
C. How can I use QR codes to enhance my Christmas marketing strategy?
Say you’re launching a marketing campaign this Christmas.
Your marketing campaign goal must be to provide enchanting offers, boost traffic, or offer a value proposition.
Besides offering an easy user journey, QR Codes offer many other benefits. Here are some of them:
1. Update Christmas QR Code details
Say you created a QR Code to provide Christmas offers.
And after some time, you’ve decided to scrap that coupon and incorporate a new one.
Thus, you need to put this information out.
Here, dynamic QR Codes can help you do it. They allow you to edit the encoded content anytime you want.
That means there is no need to create a new QR Code every time you make a change.
Scanova Insights: Nearly 98% of QR Codes created are dynamic QR Codes, highlighting the growing trend towards flexibility and real-time tracking
2. Measure your Christmas QR campaign performance
Picture this—you’ve launched a Christmas marketing campaign. But you would want to track how it is performing.
Marketing is all about measuring your campaign’s success. QR Code also allows you to monitor its scanning activity.
For example, how many people have scanned the QR Code, where they scanned it, when, and which device they used to monitor it.
This tracking helps you better optimize your campaigns.
In addition, you can also see how your end-users interact with the encoded content in your QR Code.
This encoded content can be anything like a sign-up or register button.
A feature called Event Tracking helps you monitor it.
3. Bring a Christmas vibe to your QR Code
QR Codes are customizable. That means you can personalize the design of a QR Code with your business’s colors.
You can add a logo, color, or background image.
It is a fact that custom QR Codes attract 50%-200% more scans than basic black-and-white ones.
Thus, if your use case is promotional, you’d want to attract as many scans as possible. Hence, consider adding a design to your QR Codes.
Scanova Insights: In FY 2023-24, users who enabled the Custom QR feature attracted 6,037,931 scans.
4. Make your Christmas QR Code scannable even after distortion
Picture this—you’re running a Christmas QR Code campaign for your clothing store.
You placed a QR Code on a cloth tag.
Now, imagine the QR Code gets smudged or ripped.
You may assume it will not work. However, if you choose a QR Code provider that lets you enable the Error Correction function,
You must be thinking about what an Error Correction is.
Well, the Error correction feature ensures that QR Codes are scannable even after getting damaged, distorted, or dirty.
D. How to create a Christmas QR Code for your campaigns
Well, Christmas is not a season only for shopping. But businesses can use this season to make a big impact.
It can be for your business or the society and you would want to do the same for your unique case.
For those interested in making a big impact with minimal effort (embedding QR technology), Here’s a quick walk-through for you:
1. Go to Scanova
2. Say, from the various QR Code categories available, you want to create a Website QR Code to raise a charity fund
3. Now, you can copy-paste the link
4. On the next page, give your QR Code a name to avoid any confusion
5. After that, you’ll see a pop-up asking you to customize your QR Code. You can use this option to customize your Christmas QR Code
Pro tip: Update the QR Code design with custom elements like logo, background, or frame to bring a Christmas vibe to your QR Code
6. Once you’ve finalized the design, click on Update Changes and then Download
7. Now, a pop-up will prompt you to sign up for a 14-day free trial. (Don’t panic; no card details are needed) You can now download your QR code
8. In the final step, choose your QR Code resolutions and click Export. Voila, you’re ready to share your Merry Christmas QR Code.
E. FAQ: Christmas QR Codes
1. Why should you use QR Codes for Christmas?
Christmas is a festival celebrated all over the world. It reunites you with your loved ones and helps you make new memories.
Thus, QR Codes help brands build an emotional connection and offer a memorable user experience.
They allow you to effortlessly share heartfelt Christmas messages or share an enticing gift card.
According to Statista, users begin their Christmas shopping in early December.
Say you’re a business that wants to maximize its Christmas season sales; you should start strategizing it in October.
Put your research into action starting in November and turning the tables around in December.
2. How do you put a QR Code on a Christmas card?
Imagine making a Christmas card for a loved one or a customer.
You would want to make it special.
There’s a famous saying— sometimes small little actions can brighten someone’s day.
You can do it, too, by making your Christmas card digital.
Yes, you heard it right. You can embed your content and share it surprisingly with the help of a QR Code.
Use the free Scanova QR Code Generator tool, which abides by international data privacy and security standards like GDPR, SOC2, and ISO 27001:2022.
3. Can QR Codes help track customer engagement during Christmas?
As a marketer, the critical parameters must be to track QR scans, date, time, device, clicks, location, etc. Right?
After all, these metrics help you understand user behavior and measure campaign success.
You can track them by switching your QR category from Static to Dynamic.
4. How can I use QR Codes to create a sense of urgency for Christmas sales?
Christmas is a festive season. The offers announced on Christmas won’t be relevant on Halloween or for a Black Friday campaign.
Hence, you’d need to create an urgency factor to make your marketing campaign sale seasonal exclusive.
You can do it using a Dynamic QR Code. Dynamic QR Codes can be reused in the future.
Of course, it will save you the time and effort of creating a new QR from scratch!
To make it Christmas-specific, you can add a custom call to action. This will help you nudge users to act before the QR code expires.
5. Can QR Codes encourage repeat purchases during Christmas?
Yes, QR Codes can bring your loyal customers back to your store.
Want to know?
You can reward your loyal customers with bonus points. They can redeem them during the Christmas sale.
Now, you must wonder how to slide loyal bonus points into their inbox.
You can run a QR-based email marketing campaign.
Surprise them with a Merry Christmas Coupon QR Code with detailed offer details.
This way, they’ll be notified about the Christmas offers and create an urgency factor.
As a result, it can help you nurture a bond between your user and your brand and boost offline store visits.
Final Conclusion
To wrap this up, QR Codes used strategically can make your Christmas memorable and bring a smile to your loved one’s face this festive season.
If you’ve read this far, you’ve mastered the key areas for creating your Christmas QR Code and measuring your campaign success.
