This is all theoretical at the moment. I still need to test it is actually achievable.
QR Codes on advertising present a great opportunity to capture leads. The user snaps the code, you take them to a page asking them to subscribe, and then deliver whatever carrot you used to get the subscription. The problem is that forms are cumbersome to use on the small mobile devices many of us carry with us. Is there a way that we can collect an email address from a user without asking them to enter it? OpenAuth presents a possible solution, although I'm not sure how effective it will be, since I do not know if you will need to enter login details more than once (which would defeat the purpose).
As an android user, I'm going to explore this using Google's OpenAuth system, which you can get some information on here:
http://code.google.com/apis/accounts/docs/OpenID.html
A quick search has found this PHP login class that uses the Google OpenAuth system: http://andrewpeace.com/php-google-login-class.html (note, the author of this class states it was never completed and is probably broken, but it does serve as a starting point for our research)
Google's OAuth 2.0 for Devices (currently experimental) shows some great promise in being able to do what we want to achieve. http://code.google.com/apis/accounts/docs/OAuth2ForDevices.html - where once a device has been authorised it can be used to allow access to google account information.
Once the OAuth tango is complete, we can use the access to request the following information:
- country
- firstname
- language
- lastname
Collecting an Email and First Name should be adequate for our initial lead generation system.
So there you have it - most of the bits and pieces are already available to make this work. Our lead generation workflow would look something like this.
See Print Advertisement -> Scan QR Code -> Present the offer and ask for subscription -> User clicks Subscribe -> User allow's access using OAuth -> We record lead -> deliver goodies to user -> Follow up
It may seem like a lot of steps, but it is actually a simple process. (try writing a flow chart instructing someone how to fill a cup with water) The primary goal is that we have removed the pain point of entering data on the mobile device, and theoretically we should have removed this. I don't know how it will actually work in practice, but I plan to find out. I'll let you know how things go.
Please share your own thoughts and experiences with mobile subscription in the comments.
