Business card contact management: turn every scan into a lead

Business card contact management means capturing the people you meet, keeping them organized with context, and getting them into the tools where follow-up happens. With paper cards, that meant a rubber band, a pen and an evening of typing. With a digital card, the capture happens at the moment of the scan.

In CardDeck, contact management is built into every digital business card. Your card gives your details to the visitor with a save-contact button, and an optional form lets them give theirs back to you. The result is a list of real people, each with:

• Name, email, phone and company, as the visitor entered them
• The source: which card, QR code, event badge, email signature or link they used
• The date and time they shared, plus their consent record
• Your tags, notes and any follow-up reminder

Why source matters

A name without context is hard to act on. "Jonas Weber, from the Summit badge scan on Tuesday" tells you where you met and what you likely discussed. Source tags are what turn a contact list into a lead list you can prioritize.

How it differs from a CRM

CardDeck is not a CRM. It captures and organizes contacts that come through your cards and codes, then exports them. Your CRM keeps managing the pipeline, deals and email sequences.

Two-way contact exchange works by showing an optional "Share your details" form on your card. When someone opens your card to save your contact, they can send theirs back in the same visit.

The visitor's side

1. They scan your QR code, tap your NFC tag or open your link.
2. Your card opens in their phone browser. No app is needed on either side.
3. They tap save-contact to add you to their phone as a vCard.
4. If they choose, they fill in the short form and submit.

Nothing is collected unless the visitor submits the form. They can save your contact and leave without sharing anything.

Your side

The new contact appears in your Contacts list with its source tag and timestamp. You can open it, add a note such as "met at booth, wants pricing for 40 seats", tag it and set a reminder.

Choosing which fields to ask for

Short forms get more submissions. A good default is name, email and company, with phone optional. Recruiters might add a CV or portfolio link field. Event sponsors might ask for job title. Ask only for what you will use.

Where the form appears

You can turn exchange on or off per card. It works the same way whether the card was opened from a printed QR code, a link in your email signature, a message, a social bio or an event badge scan.

Source tags record how each contact found you, so you know where the conversation happened before you write the follow-up. CardDeck adds them automatically; you never have to type "met at expo" again.

Sources CardDeck records

• Card · QR: someone scanned your card's QR code, usually in person
• Card · Link: someone opened your card link from a message, bio or proposal
• Email signature: the link in your signature
• Specific dynamic QR code: a flyer, sign, booth banner or packaging code
• Event badge: a badge scan at a conference or meetup
• NFC: a tap on an NFC card or tag linked to your card

Using sources to prioritize

Sort your list by source after an event. Contacts from your booth banner code and badge scans need a same-week follow-up. Contacts from your email signature are often existing conversations. Contacts from a property sign or flyer may be ready to talk now.

Adding your own tags

Automatic tags tell you where. Your tags tell you what: "hot", "partner", "candidate", "send deck", "intro to Priya". Keep a short, shared tag list so a team uses the same words, and add a one-line note while you still remember the conversation.

Pairing source tags with card and QR analytics shows both sides: how many people opened a card from a placement, and how many of them shared their details back.

Open Contacts, filter or select the people you need, and choose an export. Every plan can export CSV; vCard export adds contacts to a phone or address book; Team and Business plans add CRM export.

Export formats

• CSV: one row per contact with name, email, phone, company, source, tags, notes and timestamp. Opens in Excel or Google Sheets and imports into most tools.
• vCard (.vcf): the standard contact format read by iPhone, Android, Outlook and macOS Contacts.
• CRM export (Team and Business): a CSV laid out for CRM import, with source and tags as fields so lead origin is kept.
• API (Business): for teams that want to build a direct integration with their own systems.

A clean export routine

1. Filter by date range or source, such as "this week" or "Summit badge".
2. Check tags and notes so context travels with the contact.
3. Export and import into your CRM with source mapped to a lead-source field.
4. Mark exported contacts with a tag such as "in CRM" to avoid importing twice.

Keep contact data accurate

Visitors type their own details, so occasional typos happen. Fix obvious errors before export. If two submissions are the same person from two sources, keep both sources in a note when you merge them in your CRM.

On Team and Business plans, contacts belong to the workspace, not to the individual member who collected them. When someone leaves, their contacts stay with the company.

Why ownership matters

With paper cards and personal phones, a departing rep takes their network with them. Prospects keep calling a number nobody answers. Workspace ownership fixes both problems:

• Contacts captured by any member's card are stored in the shared workspace.
• Admins can see, filter and export contacts across the team.
• When a member leaves, an admin deactivates their card or redirects it to a colleague, and new visitors still reach the company.

Visibility and permissions

Owners and admins can view and export contacts across the workspace, so nothing depends on one person's phone or inbox. The admin dashboard on team business cards shows card status alongside contact volume.

Handing over a territory

When a rep changes region, filter contacts by their card and the relevant tags, reassign follow-ups to the new owner and redirect the old card. The history of where each contact came from stays intact.

This setup is the core of CardDeck for sales teams, where turnover and territory changes are normal and losing a warm lead is expensive.

Contact exchange is opt-in by design. A visitor's details are stored only when they submit the form, and CardDeck records their consent and a timestamp with each contact. You can delete a contact on request.

What is collected

• Only the fields you put on the form, filled in by the visitor
• The source (card, code, badge or channel) and submission time
• The consent record from the form

Viewing your card without submitting the form does not create a contact. Card analytics are aggregated counts, not identities.

Your responsibilities

You decide why you collect contacts and how you use them, so you are usually the party responsible under laws such as the EU and UK GDPR. Good practice:

1. Say on the form what you will do with the details, such as "I'll follow up about our meeting".
2. Ask only for fields you need.
3. Delete contacts when someone asks, and remove them from your CRM too.
4. Don't add exchanged contacts to marketing lists without the consent those lists require.

Security

Contacts are stored in your CardDeck account, with team access controlled by workspace roles. See how CardDeck protects card and contact data for details on access controls, export and deletion.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the rules that apply where you and your contacts are.

Capture limits are per account: Free 50 contacts, Pro 1,000, Team 5,000 and Business unlimited. Exporting works on every plan, so you can move contacts out at any time.

Choosing a plan by volume

• Free (50): enough to test exchange on your personal card and see how people use it.
• Pro (1,000): individuals who network weekly, such as freelancers, consultants, agents and recruiters. Includes CSV export and basic analytics.
• Team (5,000): small sales teams and agencies that need shared ownership, the admin dashboard and CRM export.
• Business (unlimited): event organizers, large sales teams and enterprises, with advanced analytics, SSO and API access.

Compare all limits on the pricing page.

Events change the math

A single conference can produce hundreds of badge-scan contacts for one sponsor team. If you run or sponsor events, plan for peak volume rather than a normal week. CardDeck for events covers badge-based capture for organizers and sponsors on Business.

Staying under a limit

Export contacts to your CRM regularly and archive or delete the ones you no longer need. Because the source and notes travel in the export, you lose no context by moving contacts out.