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May 12, 2011

GetContact.Info – Better Business Cards

Traditional business cards serve their purpose, but they also leave a lot to be desired. For one, there’s no way to find out what a new contact did with your business card after you handed it over at a networking event. Did he look you up online? Did he throw the card away? Did he pass it off to a friend who’s looking to hire someone with your expertise? If you’d passed on a card made with GetContact.Info’s QR code, you’d know all that by now.

GetContact.Info is a web-app that helps its users create smarter business cards. Register for an account and start uploading the information you’d like to embed in your business card, including your name, email address, phone number, job title, and organization. When you’re done adding the information you’d like potential contacts to see, click Save and get your new QR code. This QR code, which looks like a high-tech bar code, can be printed on a new set of business cards or printed out as stickers that can be attached to anything you wish to hand out at networking events. When you hand over a business card with a QR code, your new contact can quickly scan it with an iPhone, Blackberry, or Android device to find a vCard that contains all the details you’d usually put on a basic business card.

People who put GetContact.Info QR codes on their business cards can find out immediately when their information is being downloaded and who it is being downloaded by. Unlike traditional business cards, you can change the information that’s embedded on your QR code at any time with a few simple clicks on the GetContact.Info website – eliminating the need to re-order cards if your phone number changes or you end up switching jobs in the future.

Practical Uses:

  • Create an intriguing business card that people are going to notice
  • Find out which contacts from a recent networking event actually looked you up
  • Limit the information that’s available to people who aren’t listed as your contacts
  • Change the information on your business card without having to place a new order

Insider Tips:

  • Information about contacts with GetContact.Info is accessible from anywhere
  • QR codes work best when they’re scanned with Google Goggles for the Android, ScanLife for the Blackberry, or RedLaser for the iPhone
  • Use your QR code as your Facebook photo
  • Contact information from other people’s GetContact.Info business cards can be uploaded to your computer in seconds

What we liked:

  • Users can print QR codes on stickers, to be placed on nearly anything
  • People who put QR codes on their business cards can save money by not having to re-print cards whenever their contact information changes
  • Users can limit the personal information available to people who are not listed as their contacts
  • QR codes can be utilized in countless ways, not just by being put on business cards

What we didn’t like:

  • Employers or contacts who aren’t into technology might not be sure how to scan a QR code to get a person’s contact information

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2011
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: San Francisco, California
  • Founded by: Alexander Wong and George Dy
  • Web site: http://getcontact.info

Costs:

  • Free

Comments

  1. Cool idea – though, once the codes are scanned using an iPhone there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to download/add a vCard to the address book (it looks like this is an iOS restriction). For this reason, I’m more likely to embed the actual vCard in the QR code itself.

  2. Hey Tim, you’re right, this is an iOS restriction that makes mobile safari unable to download vCards directly. We have a workaround that allows users to email the vCard directly to any email address and download via the email client, sorry it’s a bit clumsy, but it’s the best way today!

    However, we really think we’ve added value in the form of analytics and insights. You can track data on who, where, and when your info is accessed, which we believe helps people vet business leads, etc.

    Thanks for your comment!

  3. This is great. We will soon be printing QR codes on business cards, work uniforms and vehicles. We’ve seen big companies starting to use these codes in marketing and Getcontact.info have made this technology easy and accessible for everyone. Tracking our potential clients is a great asset in a competitive industry and now we have access to accurate information at very little cost. Finally we are starting to see technology supporting our business that is easy to initiate and manage. Excellent.

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