I ran across this today at a Maverik convenience store. As always, I was excited to see a QR Code in a mainstream, high-traffic place. The card caught my attention as I waited for my change and receipt.

I sat in my car and scanned the code. Found a decently designed mobile web page and links to their Android and iOS app. Cool.

Then I realized that, following the 5-step instructions on the card, I just ran in a circle. The instructions have you go to the app store of your respective mobile phone and search for a QR Code scanner app. Then you download the app, open it, scan the QR Code on the card which launches the previously mentioned, decently designed, mobile page just to click a link, taking you back to the mobile app store to download the Maverik app.

As much as I love QR Codes, this was almost a complete waste. The card could have made it much easier for the user by having only one step to the instructions.

  1. From your mobile App Store, search for ‘Maverik’. Done.

The one good thing that may come of this is that more users might have QR Scanners installed on their mobile devices due to running across this card. If they HAD to use a QR Code, they could have created two QR Codes. One that linked directly to their app on the iOS Store and another that linked directly to the Android Marketplace.

Side note: I PROMISE to find an awesome use of QR Codes in my wanderings.