11 Uses For QR Codes Within Sporting Clubs To Engage Their Communities
As I write this in Melbourne, it’s almost impossible to go anywhere without having a QR code thrust upon you. The technology has emerged as a best practice contact tracing tool for cafes and restaurants businesses re-opening post-lockdown, and has swiftly addressed the knowledge gap that was one of the large factors limiting its public adoption to date.
With this newfound leap in accessibility, here are some ways clubs can use QR codes to engage their community moving forward.
Note: For all of the examples that follow, QR codes are best placed on a wall enlarged on an A3 page.
Contact tracing: Let’s get the obvious one out of the way to start with. QR codes are playing an important role enabling sports to manage data collection for public health contact tracing, whether related to the sport activity itself or periphery services such as food and beverage trade.
Customer feedback: QR codes can be used as an always-on suggestion box or means of capturing member feedback as they leave a venue. Aside from garnering useful insights to improve club services this could have potential to assist towards mitigating abusive behaviour at community sporting matches. Aggrieved patrons can be offered a simple means of airing grievances before it escalates (which can be actioned or binned by the club accordingly), and members have an additional means of submitting complaints about unsociable behaviour safely and with anonymity.
Promote merchandise and upcoming events: Placing a QR code around your venue which links to an e-commerce site can be a great means of taking pre-orders for merchandise, selling tickets for club events or fundraising for charities.
Club partner offers: Clubs can offer value-adds to their sponsors by providing them with low-cost options for promoting their products to your community. For example the QR code may scan through to an image serving as a discount voucher for the local burger shop, or to a sign-up form for the burger shop’s mailing list. The best part is that QR codes are highly measurable when combined with free Bitly links, allowing clubs to more robustly justify the sponsor’s return on investment.
Capture EOIs to participate: Take the example of a class instructor or tennis coach who has frequent foot traffic past their venue but is often unavailable to take queries. By linking your QR code to a simple Google Form, prospective members can request a call-back when you are not available if they like what they see but are not comfortable making the first connection themselves.
Activating venues 24/7: Leading on from #5 above, QR codes can assist in activating your venue as a customer service tool when you are not present. The fitness instructor could link their QR code to a sample online class, or the netball club could link theirs to a free training session or netball hype video. Sport clubs can also reinforce the facility as a place of belonging during school holidays, leaving codes that members can scan through to receive exclusive training content for either at-home use or in the case of clubs with public fields, using the club’s home field.
Pick the Playlist: Linking your QR Code to a collaborative Spotify playlist allows your members to contribute to the sounds of the venue (best for smaller events with someone who can monitor song choices before they go to air!)
Live Stats: Another way to enhance the game day experience is to provide easy access to your live stats page via a QR code and enable spectators to engage with the game more closely, whilst also driving increased web traffic.
Scavenger Hunt / Amazing Race: QR codes could assist with creating an ‘Amazing Race’ style team-building event for your sports community where participants scan through to a website or image providing their next clue or challenge.
Training Assessments: QR codes can enhance the depth and interactivity of formal education provided to coaches, officials, parents, and volunteers; whilst reducing assessment workload for the training provider. Attendees could be linked to a Google Drive folder upon entry to the workshop containing a quiz to assess learning on the presented content, as well as complementary video content and resources. Surveys such as Typeform also include scoring mechanisms, removing the assessor’s requirement to manually assess quiz results and all participants can leave the workshop with a more positive experience.
Athlete Management: It is becoming increasingly important for coaches at sub-elite levels to have systems in place which support the wellbeing of their athletes and limit the potential for burnout. A quick and simple athlete management system could include a QR code at the venue entry linking to a Google Form, which is automatically tabulated for the coach through Pivot Tables within Google Sheets. Questions could assist to identify athlete energy levels pre- and post-session, and trends amongst the team over the course of a season. Of course noting beats developing trust and relationships through frequent one-on-one conversations with athletes, but an athlete management system can form part of the mix as well.
What others have we missed? Get in touch with me to discuss practical sport marketing ideas for your club or organisation.
