Battle of the Business Cards: Contapp vs Hybrid vs Print
It’s a more recent debate that has many people wondering which solution truly comes out on top when it comes to business cards.
Do you opt for a modern day all-in-one solution like Contapp? Do you choose a fancy looking plastic NFC business card? Or do you stick to what you know with the conventional printed business card?
Following on from our recent article How Software Can be the Key to Unlocking Networking Opportunities, we’ve teamed up with data experts, Databound Limited, to identify the best solution for business professionals.
Let’s get started by getting more information about each solution in a nutshell:
Contapp: Business Card Solution
The ultimate all-in-one digital business card solution – Contapp is the smarter and more convenient way of managing, sharing and using business card data, whilst reducing paper waste globally.
Unlike your general business card app, Contapp covers all areas of what you’d use a business card for, from sharing, storing and using that data. Contapp works as a:
- Digital Business Card
- Business Card Scanner
- Simplified Contact Manager
In a nutshell, Contapp is everything you wished your business card could do. Saving you time, money and the planet, simultaneously.
Available to download on iOS & Android with a feature-rich free plan and premium plans from £1.33 per month.
Hybrid Business Card Solution
Rather than having an app which functions as your digital business card or scans printed business cards to save digitally, this is a physical business card.
However, they often look robust and come in all types of materials, such as plastic, metal and sometimes wood. Branding and extra cards are available on these business cards, but at a cost.
You’re probably wondering, how on earth do I share my metal business card? Well, they normally use NFC technology, which means if you tap your hybrid business card to someone’s phone, a web link will appear on their device with your details.
Unfortunately, we can’t mention the name of the business, however they are a leader for hybrid business cards.
Printed Business Cards
You’re never less than an arm’s reach from a printed business card when you’re at your desk. They’ve been around since the 14th century and not much has changed since.
Platforms such as Vistaprint give business professionals easy access to design, print and deliver business cards in bulk. They do the job, but since COVID and introductions of innovative platforms like Contapp, people are finding it difficult to go back to printed business cards.
Comparisons: Contapp vs Hybrid vs Printed Business Cards
Now comes the interesting segment of this article. We’ll now cover the pros and cons of each when it comes to the most important attributes of using a business card.
The Pricing Challenge
Contapp
Feature-rich free plan which includes your free digital business card, Cloud backup, biometric login, smart search functionalities and more.
Premium plans from just £1.33 per month, per user, which gives you all-access to everything on the app.
Hybrid Business Card
Pricing from £39.99 to £99.99 depending on what material you choose, for just 1 NFC business card.
Printed Business Cards
This varies depending on many things, such as paper finish, thickness, design level and more. However we have found that a good quality business card that has been designed by a professional graphic designer can be in the region of £200+ per person.
This cost will be less if you choose a template design on a printing platform on low quality paper, which many people wouldn’t opt for to represent their business professionally.
Conclusion
Contapp comes out on top as the most cost-effective business card solution here. As you’ll find later in this article, this is the best solution to provide the best value at an affordable price in comparison to hybrid & printed business cards.
The Data Challenge
Contapp
Transform a printed business card into a digital version with a simple scan, saved to your library in the app. Bring printed business cards to life by adding them to Contapp and contacting people via the app itself.
Share your business card with anyone in the world, whether they’re a Contapp user or not. Take advantage of the intelligent search functionalities to streamline the way you manage and use contacts in the app. Simple, useful and very convenient.
If you’re a premium user, you have the luxury of importing/exporting that data as a CSV file. You can then use the data for platforms such as CRM’s, email campaigns and more.
Powerful integrations are being developed as we write this. This will really strengthen Contapp’s position as the best solution to capture business card data to use it for softwares that you use daily, such as SaaS platforms.
> Read Databound’s article: How Do You Collect Business Cards In The Post-Pandemic World?
Hybrid Business Card
In a face to face environment, it’s simple to share your business card data with a recipient that has a smartphone. You just tap your metal/plastic card on their phone.
However because there’s no app associated with the hybrid solution, the user must save this to their phone contacts instead. This can be a problem for some people that want to separate their business contacts to friends and family.
Although it’s a simple way to share business card details (only face to face, not virtual), it poses other challenges as an end user.
Printed Business Cards
Requires a lot of manual typing, whether it’s on to a smartphone or on a desktop programme, such as a CRM. Like many people that attend networking events, there’s often a lot of business cards to upload on to a CRM platform.
However when there’s a lot of business card details to upload, it can become very repetitive, resulting in the risk of typos. Something no business wants to have in their data lists.
Unfortunately there’s no way around this, unless you choose an all digital solution like Contapp, export as a CSV and then upload it into a CRM or directly into an email platform like Mailchimp.
Conclusion
Data processing is an important part of a business card solution and given the evidence above, Contapp certainly takes the crown on this one.
If you’re sticking with printed business cards, you can use Contapp as a tool to capture that data and transfer the information to softwares mentioned above. Alternatively, go completely digital and choose Contapp to manage, share and store business card data – replacing business cards all together as your all-in-one solution.
The Sustainability Challenge
Contapp
This is a completely paperless, digital solution which not only saves people from printing business cards, but it also encourages people to scan a business card and save it digitally. This results in less paper coming back to your office and ending up in the bin. Zero waste is a big part of our business.
Did you know, 10 billion business cards are printed every year and 88% are thrown away within a week of receiving them? Plus, by switching to Contapp, we could save 7.2 million trees every year.
Hybrid Business Card
Again, this is a good example of not needing to print business cards and doing your part to save the planet. However the issue comes to manufacturing plastic/metal business cards.
Although we’re not talking about printing in bulk, it’s still not the most sustainable option. A lot of energy goes into making plastic/metal cards and from our findings these aren’t always recyclable.
Printed Business Cards
The conventional printed business card gets a bad name because it’s not eco-friendly. More often than not, you share a business card with someone and that will end up in the bin or screwed up in a pocket.
It takes 324 litres of water to make 1kg of paper, not to mention the statistics we mentioned earlier about the shocking environmental impact they have. Eco-friendly printed business cards are available, however you’re very limited to other finishing/printing options on those, plus an increase in price.
So in terms of sustainability, printed business cards get a big fat zero.
Conclusion
Contapp and the hybrid business card solution take the points here.
Although for a truly sustainable solution, Contapp’s paperless, zero-waste digital business tool certainly takes the crown. Hybrid business cards still require a lot of resources to make their metal/plastic cards. Printed business cards unfortunately score nothing.
The Convenience Challenge
Contapp
Everything you need from the comfort of your fingertips.
Whether it’s your own business card or using intelligent search features to organise your 1,000+ business cards in the app, you have complete access to everything. Bulk up your business card by adding social media links and easily edit any information at any point.
Plus, all your data is securely stored in the Cloud for access anywhere, anytime. New phone? Download the app and login, all your data will reappear.
If you want to share your business card with anyone in the world, you can do that via various platforms or nearby technology. Convenience is key, which is why so many users choose Contapp.
Hybrid Business Card
In a face to face environment, it can be seen as convenient because you just need to tap your business card to their phone. However in a post-COVID world where lots of virtual meetings are happening, you can;t share your business card details with anyone.
Similar to Contapp, you can bulk up your business card with all relevant information that can be edited at any time. Although, you don’t have the luxury of storing that information in an app to easily search/contact that person.
We also found that if you lose/damage your hybrid business card, you’ll have to pay to replace it and you’ll be cardless until it’s delivered. Not the best option if you tend to lose or break things.
Printed Business Cards
Very similar to the hybrid solution, you need to meet face to face to share your business card with someone. It’s not an ideal solution in the current climate because so many people are still working remotely and taking part in virtual meet-ups.
Business professionals also dislike that they’re difficult to manage, hard to search for contacts and require manually typing information on a screen.
If you have a business card and you change your job title, all of those business cards will have to be thrown away and re-printed with your new job title. Again, printed business cards get a big thumbs down.
Conclusion
It’s fair to say that Contapp is the most convenient solution out of these 3 options. Second place goes to the hybrid solution and last but not least is the printed business card.
However the biggest challenges come from hybrid and printed business cards requiring face to face interaction, whereas Contapp can be used remotely as well.
The Security Challenge
Contapp
Going above and beyond to make users’ data as secure as possible, which is why users trust the Contapp platform. With unique security features for all users such as biometric login into Contapp, it’s clear to see data privacy is a priority.
Security layers include secure Cloud backup, fingerprint/face ID to access the app, EU servers, GDPR measures met, sign-in/out page, strong password validation and no sharing of data to third-parties.
More security layers are being developed to meet the ongoing security of Contapp for users peace of mind.
Hybrid Business Card
With no app being linked to a hybrid business card, the security of this solution can be difficult to judge. If someone loses their hybrid card, then their business card details will be available for anyone to extract and use from a tap of a card to a smartphone.
However the positive is that there is no digital interface that can be hacked, which would be a problem if you don’t take cyber security seriously.
Printed Business Cards
Very similar to the hybrid solution, there’s no digital interface that can be compromised. However, if your printed business card is found by someone else, there’s nothing to stop them from saving/sharing your information.
Again, it’s difficult to judge. But if you’re storing printed business cards that you collect in a folder or in an organised space, then that seems pretty secure. Just make sure this folder of business cards is kept in a safe place. The problem will come when you come to search for contacts in that folder.
Conclusion
Given the difficult judgement of the hybrid and printed business cards, the data security expressed by Contapp shows that users data is stored securely with a number of security layers implemented.
That being said, we will give second place to printed business cards for their conventional old school method of storing business cards and last place to hybrid business cards.
The Winner Is…
With the support of Databound Limited and their expertise with everything data related, it’s a clear indication that these 3 options have their pros and cons. However, judging by all of the information above, it’s easy to find a winner from our findings.
Taking everything into consideration, Contapp takes the crown as the solution which ticks the most boxes when compared to a printed business card and a hybrid solution.
This isn’t anything against the other 2 options, but this result was concluded by considering all areas of what a business would look for when it comes to looking for an alternative to business cards in a post-covid world.
Experience Contapp Today
Discover a smarter and more convenient way of digitally managing, using and sharing business card data today by downloading Contapp for free on iOS & Android.
Save time, money and the planet – all at the same time.
