In this article we look at NFC Marketing opportunities and how NFC chips can be used to merge online and offline marketing campaigns.
- Introduction To NFC Technology
- How To Write A NFC Chip Using Your Phone
- 8 NFC Marketing Examples
- Conclusion & The Future Of NFC Marketing
Introduction To NFC Technology
NFC stands for near field communication. You may have seen people using their phones to make contactless payments, this uses NFC technology to communicate between the phone and terminal.
There are over 2 billion NFC enabled devices around the world and it’s become a standard in all modern smart phones. It works in a similar way to a QR code except there’s no need to fire up the camera app. You just hold your phone near a QR label and it will read the data and potentially launch a browser or app with the encoded URL.
This opens up a lot of opportunities for businesses to bridge the gaps between online and offline marketing efforts.
How To Write A NFC Chip Using Your Phone
An NFC chip can be written to using a mobile phone using free apps. Go to the play store or app store and search “nfc”. On Android there’s an app called NFC Tools by wakdev which I recommend.
So all you do is select what type of data you want to write to the chip. Then enter the data and click upload. Tap the top of your phone on the chip in the same way you would for a contactless payment and it’ll confirm it’s been written.
NFC Business Cards
It makes sense that every business card should have NFC technology. Just hold your phone over someones card and it opens up their website or even an email contact form.
It’s easy to just put a sticker on the back of an existing card or there are now companies producing pre-made NFC business cards.
NFC cards are going to have a novelty period where first movers can make an impression before it becomes an industry standard.
NFC Billboards
NFC “Scan Me” labels on billboards can engage offline consumers with online content.
They have the added benefit of being able to provide some measurable analytics data for modern performance marketers.
This will only work in places where the consumer has time and adequate access to get close enough to scan the code.
Anywhere where there are people waiting around such as public transport stations should work well.
An example of how this can be put in to practice is to advertise an app and then use a NFC chip to link to the download page on the app store. This reduces the conversion friction from viewer to user.
NFC Point of Sale Data
NFC marketing technology has huge applications in point of sale environments.
NFC chips can be used to provide distribution and supply chain data for environmentally friendly products.
Authentication verification chips can be used on luxury goods to provide peace of mind that an item is genuine.
Sale and discount labels can be used to redeem vouchers and codes.
Items can be viewed in store and then ordered online with customization or in different sizes/colors than are available in-store.
Live price comparison data could be accessed to stores that want to prove they are the most competitive.
The marketing opportunities for NFC technology is endless and we are only just starting to see this implemented at leading retailers.
NFC Stickers & Labels
NFC tags are available cheaply built in to stickers and labels which can be used for a multitude of marketing purposes.
Labels can be placed on brochures for “more information” or to “buy now”.
Flyers and handouts will likely have NFC chips once costs come down to a price point that makes this viable.
Stickers can be placed on names badges at conferences to provide a link to that persons LinkedIn. Scan the badge and you are connected with that person.
There’s a lot of potential to link offline products to online data by using stickers. A coffee shop could write information about the beans they are currently brewing with in a blog post and then put a NFC Link sticker on each coffee cup.
NFC Treasure Hunt
One NFC marketing opportunity is to create a treasure hunt using NFC chips to link to online prizes.
The NFC chip could contain a cryptocurrency address or simply a link to a form to confirm delivery of a prize.
Maps can be placed online and NFC stickers can make it easy for treasure hunters to engage with online clues or prizes.
NFC Order Form
NFC chips can be used as conversion events in their own right. A display item or product trial/test drive could have a NFC sticker on it to “Order Yours Today”.
Many consumers prefer automated systems to dealing with pushy salespeople. This is a way to smooth over the path to purchase.
A simple order form can be setup on the merchants website or even Google Forms and then a link can be written to an NFC sticker.
This could also work well with job application advertising and recruitment.
NFC Data Analytics
One of the key benefits of NFC marketing campaigns is that you can track offline data. Because the user doesn’t need to enter the link manually you can add all kinds of tracking variables in the URL.
So using the billboard example you could track the location, the ad creative and the ad size for example. This could be added to the Tracking URL as query parameters.
https://jamesbachini.com/?c1=LondonTube395&c2=Billboard4&c3=300×100
This can then be tracked using standard tracking systems to provide insights into offline marketing methods.
Want to know which brochures are most effective? This can now be tracked and optimized through NFT click throughs.
NFC Physical Confirmations
NFT tags can be used to confirm the physical location of a customer. Scanning a NFT link can provide web apps with the preset location of the NFT tag.
From a marketing perspective this can be used to provide in-store discounts. An example might be on the exit door of a shop. You could include a coupon for their next visit or to use online.
This will likely have an influence on the logistics sector as well. Customers could potentially scan a NFT sticker to confirm delivery before getting redirected to a “thank you for ordering” or upsell/rebuy page.
Conclusion & The Future Of NFC Marketing
NFC technology provides a bridge between online and offline marketing.
There is now a way to direct potential customers to web properties while interacting in the offline world. This combined with the added benefits of greater ability for tracking and analytics makes NFC technology a big opportunity for marketers.
NFC chips are still in the early stages of mainstream adoption. The simplicity of their use, even compared to QR codes, means they are likely to be widely recognized and understood in the future. Apple, Samsung & Google are all including the tech in their smartphones for the foreseeable future due to the NFC payments system.
It’s a technology that is here to stay and there is an opportunity for early adopters to come up with innovative marketing campaigns using NFC tags.
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