QR Codes and Cupboards

Back in May, Bob Borson posted a very informative piece on his blog, Life of an Architect, about the use of QR codes in daily life. Partly inspired by seeing them all over and then pushed over the edge by Bob's post, Cupboards now has QR codes coming out of its ears! 

Want the link to Bob's awesome post?

for the smart phone-less here.

QR Codes, for those of you that may not be familiar with them, are geographic representations of data. QR stands for quick response and offers users a way to access information(large or small) in a relatively quick amount of time. I'm sure that you've seen them on products at the grocery store, billboards and even real estate signs.

QR codes are trademarked by Denso Wave and has a great website full of info about QR codes. 

Because QR codes have no tangible expiration date and smart phone usage is on track to completely eliminate "old-school" cells altogether, I knew there would be ways that we could use QR codes in our business.

Here's what happened:

Most semi-custom cabinet companies leave an information trail about the group of cabinets a homeowner could purchase. Usually that information takes shape as a vague set of numbers and characters on the inside of the sink base door. Why is this information necessary? Warranties, typically. The unfortunate part is that even though a homeowner might purchase cabinets from us, there is no permanent indication that we(Cupboards) was involved on the project at all. If the purchasing homeowner moves and new homeowner wants to add to their project, finding us could be a bit difficult.

Not anymore.

This code is on a display in our showroom but gives some of the information that would be on a job in some one's home. Besides the information about the specific cabinet door style, color, etc., the code also includes Cupboards contact information, original purchase order information and the install date.

Want to add something later and have questions about color/style/age? Here's the quick answer.

My least favorite part of getting a new business card is importing the info to my phone. Whether I'm syncing from my computer address book or just programming straight to my phone, it's just a pain.

Pain no more.

I put a QR code with a vcard right on my business card. All you have to do is scan that puppy and ALL the information you could ever want goes right in to your phone. Magic!

There are lots of QR code generators out on the web. Search around and find the one that best suits you and get coding!

Are you using QR codes? Let us know how!