Last night’s Evening Standard had an ad in it for Fidelity International’s ISA products. Unusually, the ad also included a QR code that people could scan for “help choosing your ISA”. Scanning the code opens the phone’s browser and displays Fidelity’s standard website.
Presumably, Fidelity international are assuming that their target audience all have smartphones with QR code readers, as they haven’t included any instructions on what a QR code is or how to scan one. It’s admirable that the traditionally reserved financial services industry is starting to use QR codes but I can’t help thinking that they would have a better response if they had included some explanation and an SMS call to action alongside the QR code. Linking through to a mobile optimised site would also improve their conversions on the back end. As it stands, I doubt many people will scan the code (at least outside of the mobile obsessed like yours truly!) and those that do make the effort will almost certainly drop out as soon as they hit the standard website.
The Fidelity ad
The QR code and call to action
The end result
10 out of 10 for effort, but only a 5 for implementation.
