When designing a label, you always need to find a balance among brand elements, attractive design features, pertinent product information, and (for some products) details required by regulation. With a limited amount of space, sometimes including everything you need can be a tall order. One popular solution Dion Label Printing offers to solve spatial limitations on labels are extended content labels (ECLs), and you can learn more about those here. Today we are going to focus on a creative solution to finite label real estate that more and more brands have turned to over the last decade: QR codes.

QR Codes to Meet Consumer Demands for Transparent Information

Consumers have nearly unlimited access to information and are using it to educate themselves about their product choices more and more often. They are frequently searching to connect more meaningfully with the products they are purchasing as well. Using a QR code directly on your label enables you to share ingredient and brand information with a customer up front, fostering a relationship of trust and honesty that will create brand loyalists and enable you to reach a wider audience. 

Custom QR codes on your labels are a fantastic way in which you can communicate quickly and honestly with customers and potential buyers. You can use QR codes to allow someone to scan your product and immediately access the information they require about your brand or anything else you’d like to share. An added benefit to QR codes is that once a customer has landed on your website or other resource, the opportunity exists for them to engage on an even deeper level with your brand or purchase more products.

QR Codes for Extended Ingredient, Dosage, Instructions, or Other Information

In some industries like OTC pharmaceuticals, cannabis, and industrial products, there are regulations that require ingredient, dosage, warning, and other information be printed directly on a label. For many product types, however, using a QR code is an economical and efficacious way to share some of those details about your product that are not required on the label but are beneficial to put at a customer’s fingertip (or phone screen). Some common elements that we see customers using QR codes to link to include:

• Extended ingredient or facility details
• Instructions in multiple languages
• Extended product benefit lists
• Related products and other brand information

Whatever you choose to share via a QR code on your label, you can reap some of the benefits of an extended content label without the added cost. If your product is in an industry that faces regulatory requirements though, don’t worry! We have extended content label solutions to fit every brand and budget: find yours here.

QR Codes to Save Space for Design & Branding

One of the best features of QR codes is that they don’t take up much real estate, so your design doesn’t suffer as a result of using one. An overly busy product label with tons of information crammed into a small space will likely serve to hamper sales rather than help them. By using a QR code, you can free up label space for high-impact design elements like informative graphics and save text-heavy information for a landing page from a QR scan. 

As a leader in both digital and flexographic printing, Dion can print QR codes on any type of label, and your customers can have the quick and easy access to information about your product they have come to expect. We guarantee the scanability of all our barcodes, whether they are QR codes or regular UPC barcodes. To effectively communicate your product information and brand values to customers, you need labels that are printed with the utmost quality, clarity, and color. Request a free sample packet here if you’d like to see examples of our amazing print work and contact us if you’d like to discuss the many ways Dion will support you in all your efforts.