3 Ways to Boost Customer Reach and Retention with Website Barcode Scanning

By Nick Bareham, Sales Director UK & Ireland, Scandit

Keeping ahead of the competition is getting more and more challenging. But whatever industry you are in, one thing remains true: as long as your B2B customers are happy, you can expect a good share of recurring revenues. However, while 48% of companies purchase products online once a week, over 35% of B2B buyers list their purchasing experiences as average to poor. Effectively exploiting your mobile and eCommerce digital channels to reach, engage with and retain these customers will help you to stand apart from your rivals. Barcode scanning is already an essential tool which helps businesses deliver speedy, simplified interactions within mobile apps. Here we’ll discuss three reasons why allowing people to scan barcodes on your existing website anywhere, from any mobile or web browser, helps engage with the widest possible customer base and keeps them coming back for more.

1. Barcode scanning speeds up business – no need to download an app

The customer experience across digital touchpoints has undergone a rapid revolution. B2C and B2B buyers alike are deluged with discounts and promotions across emails, banners, interactive apps, websites and flyers. Native mobile apps help businesses to collect huge amounts of insight which enable the delivery of slick, highly personalized experiences. But people are increasingly reluctant to download yet another mobile app, and are likely to uninstall an app within 10 days on average. It’s critical to find the balance between delivering customized messaging, using app user data insights and features like push notifications, and reaching the widest possible audience. Previously, high performance barcode scanning was only available for customers using native apps, but Scandit’s innovative technology now enables businesses to offer scanning directly from their eCommerce websites.

Deploying barcode scanning and mobile data capture software to your website unlocks a wide range of use cases. Imagine a B2B customer re-ordering products from their desk or out on the road on their smartphone a few times a month while browsing your product catalogue, they are unlikely to want to download a dedicated app. Businesses can go the extra-mile and really encourage consumers to interact with their brand in instances in which they don’t want to download or use a mobile app (or are restricted from doing so on a corporate owned device) – barcode scanning directly from the browser gives them an edge.

Barcode scanning is often overlooked, as it’s just one small part of any customer interaction and can be even considered a hygiene factor for some. However, the ability of reliable barcode scanning to simplify and enhance a range of otherwise laborious processes while offering new ways to interact with physical objects adds a huge amount of value. Consider the B2B buyer above: now they can simply scan a barcode in your catalogue or on a box, using a mobile or laptop browser, and be taken directly to the product page on your website. Whether they want to check prices, availability, reorder or add to a shopping cart, it can be done with a click – in seconds, not minutes.

For the customer, there is no need to download an app, no need to key in lengthy product ID numbers or names, no need to look up the product specs to check it’s the right model. For the business, it creates more efficient processes and make it simple and easy for customers to do business with you. It is also easier to deploy and maintain than a native app, as it works on any browser and doesn’t require users to install updates. You can build on your existing website investment, drive more organic traffic to your site and offer scanning to all web visitors, not just your app users.

2. Barcodes don’t make mistakes, they enhance user experiences

You might need to enable your customers to experience first-hand the benefits of barcode scanning before they are willing to download a native app. It’s another reason why offering barcode scanning directly via your website can really support two goals at once: reach and retention. You can offer new experiences such as enabling customers to build a smart shopping list in store with self-scanning then pay via cashierless checkout, a process that can build loyalty but isn’t limited to customers already using your native app.

Of course, scanning needs to be effective and effortless if it’s going to optimize customer experiences and ultimately enhance engagement. Enterprise-grade scanning is essential to make any interaction as frictionless as possible. If a customer is trying to reorder a product by scanning an old box with a damaged barcode, walking around your store rapidly scanning items to build a shopping list or needs to scan a barcode awkwardly positioned on the back of a washing machine to register it online – the scan performance must be reliable and speed up whatever task the customer is trying to achieve.

When customers scan barcodes with your website or web app using Scandit’s powerful data capture engine, you can be sure that highly accurate data is entered into the system. Whether scanning a loyalty card, a QR code with a special offer or any product barcode, Scandit technology helps save time and reduce human error. With scanning accuracy of 99.8%, customers don’t experience any slowdown or frustration, and you don’t have to deal with failed scans that result in purchase abandonment or false-positives that create issues with order accuracy that must be dealt with down the line, costing you further time and money.

3. Barcode scanning is quick to integrate, with no disruption

Integrating barcode scanning into your website or web app couldn’t be more simple. So if you don’t have a mobile app (or the budget to develop one), want to drive more traffic to your existing eCommerce site or just want to simplify customers’ lives by delivering the same scanning experience across multiple channels – you can do so quickly and seamlessly, while reaching the widest possible customer base.

With Scandit SDK for the Web, it’s possible to add enterprise-grade barcode scanning functionality to your website or web apps by configuring and integrating a few lines of code to your site. You download the file, host it on your server, configure it and you are ready to scan. Our enterprise-grade computer vision technology works with any existing infrastructure and camera-enabled smart device, is designed for large-scale implementations and comes with specialist technical support.

When you’ve already done the hard work building an online site to make it as easy as possible for your B2B customers to find out about and order your products – enhancing the site further with barcode scanning is a straightforward process. Unlike a native app, you don’t have to worry about developing and maintaining it to work across multiple platforms.

Getting started with web-based barcode scanning

Make it possible for customers to create smart shopping lists, reorder products or lookup product information on your website, using Scandit barcode scanning functionality to facilitate the process. It really is “low-hanging fruit” for any business looking to differentiate themselves and build relationships with B2B or B2C customers. Scandit offers a choice of integration points where businesses can bring barcode scanning into the process. There is really no barrier to using it.

For specific information on how Scandit mobile computer vision software can help you transform your enterprise with barcode scanning from any browser, be sure to contact us.