Another case for using The Oklahoman’s ‘Go Code’

Eddie Roach came to my desk Tuesday morning.

A customer says she can’t vote in the daily poll anymore, he said. She voted every day on the daily poll question that’s published in the newspaper. She used her phone and voted. But now she can’t.

Eddie’s one of the most interesting men in our company. As he puts it, he knows where many of the bodies are buried here at The Oklahoman Media Company. He worked in The Oklahoman’s newsroom in the late 1970s and has filled many roles at the company off and on since. Currently, he manages projects, studies analytics and is often a source for the customer support team -- because he's the guy who can answer a lot of questions customers might have.

But he couldn’t answer this question. What is she talking about, he wondered? What would she have been doing before that she can’t do now?

Ahhh. The QR code. She was probably using that. And as I reported two weeks ago, we stopped using the QR codes in the newspaper. Instead we’ve started making it easier for newspaper readers to access our videos, galleries and podcasts through ‘Go Codes’ on Oklahoman.com.

Well, we didn’t put a ‘Go Code’ with the daily poll. And that’s why our devoted reader and poll voter was disappointed.

On Tuesday morning, I told Eddie that she can go to NewsOK.com’s home page and vote instead of using the QR code. And that we would look at how to add a ‘Go Code’ for the poll in the newspaper.

Then I heard from the reader who noticed the change.

She told me, “I never go to my computer. I only use my iPhone.”

I love that quote. That’s exactly who we’re trying to serve, and she represents readers of all ages. Why get up and go to a computer when her phone is right there in her hand? She can vote in a poll she’s reading in the newspaper or she can watch a video on the story she’s reading.

There’s no reason for her to get up.

We moved a little faster. By Thursday’s newspaper, the ‘Go Code’ was placed next to the poll.