How to get a business card into your CRM from your phone

A business card holds most of what a CRM record needs: name, job title, company, email, phone and often a website. What it does not hold is why the person matters and when to follow up. This guide shows how to send both to your CRM in one message.

Step 1: photograph the card

On Telegram, open the Shmor chat and take a photo of the card:

• flat, in good light, with the whole card in the frame;
• one card per photo;
• the side with the contact details (send the other side in a second photo only if it has more details).

Images up to 10 MB are accepted, which covers any phone photo. If a colleague emailed you a card photo, forward that email to in@emails.useshmor.com instead.

Step 2: add the context as a caption

Before sending, add a caption with what the card cannot tell you:

Met at the Leeds digital meetup. Runs IT for a 40-person firm, wants a quote for laptops. Chase next Wednesday.

That gives Shmor how you met (here, most likely Networking event), where (the Leeds digital meetup), the note, and the follow-up date. If it cannot tell how you met, the reply asks.

Step 3: check the reply

Shmor replies with a card: New contact saved (or Existing contact updated if they were already in your CRM), where you met, and the follow-up date. It reads:

• the person: first and last name, job title, email addresses, phone numbers (in international format when the country is clear), LinkedIn URL and location;
• the company: name and web domain, taken from the card or from the email address when it is not a free email provider.

It does not guess. If the card does not show a company domain, none is written.

If something is wrong, reply to the card: "the mobile is 07700 900123" or "her name is Sam Patel". To rename someone, give both first and last name.

What lands in your CRM

• Company: found by web domain, then by name, or created.
• Person: found by email, then LinkedIn URL, then name and company, or created and linked to the company. An existing person is updated, with any new email or phone added.
• Met via and Met at: set only if empty, so the first meeting is kept.
• Note: your context and your original message, with when and how it was captured.
• Follow-up task: due on the date you gave, or after your default number of days.

Badges and handwritten cards

A conference badge usually has a name and company, which is enough to create a record. Photograph it the same way. Handwriting and unusual fonts are read less reliably, so glance at the reply and correct anything by replying.

Cards from people who are already in your CRM

Send them anyway. Shmor matches by email first, so the existing record is updated with anything new (a new title or phone number), and your note and task are added to it. Nothing is duplicated.

Comparing approaches

If you collect large stacks of cards at a trade stand, a dedicated scanner app with batch scanning may suit you better, and HubSpot's mobile app has a card scanner of its own.¹ Our comparison of card scanners and messaging your CRM sets out where each fits.