Putting e-Business Cards to a Real World Test
Part One: "Here's My Card"
This past week, I had the opportunity to put e-business cards to a real-world test thanks to a recent trip to the DEMO 09 conference in Palm Desert, California. You would think that if any group of people would have adopted the electronic business card model for exchanging their contact data, it would be the technology community. Yet at conferences like DEMO and all the others, printed paper cards are still exchanged. Why is that?
Getting Started
The first step to going paperless is easy: don't pack your business cards when heading out to an event. Old habits die hard and if you have even a handful of cards in your possession, I guarantee you that you'll use them at some point. Exchanging paper cards is much faster than tapping away at a mobile phone, so there will be several times where you'll be tempted to just break out the paper product if it's at hand. Better to go "cold turkey" and not give yourself any other options.
SnapDat: An iPhone App for e-Business Cards
Next, you'll need to choose a mobile application for exchanging cards. As an iPhone owner, I went straight to the iTunes Store to find my app. Other smartphone owners may not have as large a selection since the other app stores - like those for Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile - are just getting started.
In iTunes, you'll encounter a number of e-business card applications, so picking one can be difficult. To find the one right for you, you'll need to pay close attention to the details. On the surface, many of these apps may sound like they would do, but in real-world scenarios, you'll quickly encounter their limitations.
For example, apps like myCard, FriendBook, and Nameo (iTunes URLs) let you exchange contact information over the air with other iPhone users. This feature is called a "handshake." While this is indeed a nifty trick, in the real world you're still going to encounter enough non-iPhone users to make these types of apps a non-starter.
Another application called DropCard lets you text their service with an email address. It will then send your contact info via email to the recipient. I skipped this option as well because I don't have a mobile plan with unlimited text messages and didn't want to go over my limit.
Instead, while at DEMO, I put an iPhone application called SnapDat to the test. The application was "serviceable," but was still not the ideal solution.
Using SnapDat
What drew me to this app initially was the price tag: free. Whenever possible, I try to find a decent free application before forking out cash for a Pro version.
SnapDat also met my number one requirement which was that it provided a way for me to send cards to others who didn't use the service. Although another application called beamMe is more popular, what intrigued me about SnapDat was that it allows me to create multiple business cards. BeamMe's free application did not permit this. While I could have just entered all my contact info into beamMe, I prefer to keep my identities separate - no need to confuse the recipients.
With SnapDat, the process of setting up your business card is straightforward and it can all be done on the phone. You just enter your contact information, upload a picture (if desired), and pick a theme. That last step, however, was the most disappointing. The themes offered were far from modern, most looking like bad clip art circa Microsoft Office 2003. I found one of the least offensive options (there was no way to create a custom theme) and then proceeded to test the service.
Unfortunately, SnapDat is yet another application which is far too concerned with gathering more users than it is with providing you with a useful tool. Upon launching the app, you're first presented with the option to enter in a user's SnapDat ID. No one I encountered had a SnapDat ID, so from the get-go, I'm having to press a button to bypass this option. It's additional time-wasters like this that make the process of using SnapDat slower than it needs to be.
On the next screen, you can enter in an email address and hit "send." The recipient gets an email with your contact info both in the body of the email and as a vCard attachment which they can then add to their email address book or phone. The sending process was easy but upon completion, SnapDat pops up a message reminding you to inform your new business contact to check their junk mail if they didn't get the email. That's a useful tip for the first time you send a card, but it appears every time you use SnapDat which is more than an annoyance - it's an inconvenience - especially since there's no option to shut the reminder off.
The service also comes with a "SnapDirectory" where you can store the SnapCards others send you, but - let's be honest - this is not a feature you'll use much...if at all. The primary reason for using an e-card app is to send a vCard to someone's email where it can then be stored in their contacts database, not in some niche iPhone application.
OK, But Not Perfect
In the end, SnapDat was, like I said, "serviceable," but the terrible themes and bothersome pop-ups took away from what could have been a much more useful application. However, for anyone who wants to create more than one business card, it's worth a look.
SnapDat is available from the iTunes store here.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where I'll tell you what to do with that stack of paper cards you've collected.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Update: Just got word that SnapDat is coming out with a new version this week and is currently awaiting App Store approval. In this version, they allow you to upload your own logo on 5 classic professional layouts. They've also improved the email vCard process in 3 ways:
1) They've now embedded an image of your SnapCard, along with the vCard.
2) They've added a "lookup" button in the event you want to send your vCard to an existing contact.
3) They've improved the look and format of the email overall.
They're also considering removing the pop-up based on this article's suggestion.
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Note: before commenting on typos, edits, or poor wording on this post, please do me a favor and refresh the page. I was in the processing of editing the post when I had some technical issues which led to the post being published. I've since corrected those problems, but you may have encountered the older, unfinished version.
> Yet at conferences like DEMO and all the others,
> printed paper cards are still exchanged.
> Why is that?
1. Printed paper cards are kind of cool, and can be interesting little design artifacts when instantiated in reality -- as opposed to when implemented as mere data, or as ugly little screen images.
2. I think business cards of any kind are rather useless to most people. Only a minority of people have to track sales leads and so on in situations for which business card exchanges make sense.
Therefore....
3. People still appreciate paper cards slightly, but most have no use at all for electronic ones, especially not for dorky gadget handshaking rituals.
I'm always fascinated by the contact management space...especially since I'm someone who *appears* to be super-organized, but have stacks and stacks of business cards. Even with a CardScan, I'm always handing it off to my office manager to get to when she has time.
In this day of needing to encapsulate and deliver MULTIPLE IDENTITIES, I've been on the hunt for solutions. SnapDat looks interesting but -- while not yet iPhone centric -- I'm using a locally grown Minnesota solution, http://businesscard2.com, since I can encapsulate identities and deliver them in many ways.
Good post...especially since two of the solutions you mentioned I'd NEVER looked at (isn't it sort of overwhelming to explore iPhone apps? This is a pain point that's begging for a solution!).
Sorry...the auto-link creation included the "," so it appears broken and should be: http://businesscard2.com
Reality check:
1 - Device to device handshakes can take minutes...at which time you feel really stupid wasting not only your time but the person with whom you are trying to exchange contact info with. Handing someone a physical paper card takes maybe one second, tops.
Sara, are you really going to make me stand there in the hallway at SXSW, when I am late to a speaking panel, and have us debug Windows Mobile and Android interoperability for half an hour? Seriously?
2 - Of the business cards I collect over the course of an industry event I guesstimate the shrink rate is nearly 99%, do you really want 200+ names and numbers in your phones address book that you never use, making search more time consuming?
3 - I read a lot into someone's physical business card. Is it some boring piece of white paper with black text? Yes? They don't have much ability to think in creative ways do they? Do I want to do business with that person?
Note: I am all for digital replacing paper, but between failed handshakes, hardware vendor lock and respecting peoples time and privacy, getting rid of paper business cards isn't one of them.
The results from these groups gives him an insight on what words to strategically use in a campaign. Do these sound familiar? "The Change We Need and Yes We Can. Barack won the presidency using these words. All I'm saying is would he have won by saying "My Friends"? McCain didn't.
Has Anyone invented RFID embedded business cards yet?
What would be very interesting is an RFID embedded business card, and a Hardware / App combination that can read them. That way, you have the opportunity for both.
Users can have the tactile, emotional response from taking possession of a business card, but it would also automatically read the business card as your putting it in your pocket or brief case.
Obviously, the biggest challenge here would be the hardware side of things. You'd have to find a mainstream phone with an RFID reader in them and I doubt this is going to be the next big feature on a new iPhone or Android device.
Great review of SnapDat. I can't wait to read part 2. I've got a stack of business cards that I've been holding onto. I have the contact info added electronically - but they are so darned pretty it's hard to throw them all away. There's something about those little shiny, artsy, cards that makes me keep the stacks.
@Todd: I'm not recommending handshakes actually - in fact, the opposite! Please re-read this post in more detail. Thanks!
Great article. Check out www.dubmenow.com for a better alternative. I think you'll find we have the e-business card app you're looking for.
Thanks!
Chris Hopkinson
DubMeNow
www.dubmenow.com
I was passed onto this article by a friend, I agree its simply not currently a practical option until you get something like RFID or VA software to integrate with the HH device.
From a print broker perspective my cards are produced onto ISO standard credit card size plastic, they are tactile, functional "cool" and have a greater retention span than paper cards
Tom Brown
I think Miarmon and Todd are correct. Business cards have minimal utility for most people and electronic business cards are quite as attractive. That being said, I just installed SnapDat.
Thanks for the heads up on this app; just installed it and am playing with it now.
Keeping track of all your contacts with business cards can be difficult.
I believe some people definitely find useful this:
www.thebcard.com.
For me it is the best option because this is how a real E-business card should look like. Professional design and not too many silly gadgets.
Hi Sarah:
Thanks for writing this article. I was looking for a business card solution for my iPhone, and although this doesn't seem perfect it does look good enough to use.
Cheers
Steve