How to create QR Codes for contacts (phone number and email) and QR Codes for websites (web address URL)

Efficient is to do things right. Effective is about doing the right things.

I am an advocate for efficiency and effectiveness. There must be a more efficient way to share contact details other than manually typing details into the mobile phone when I meet a new business contact.

Add a new contact on your mobile phone by scanning a QR Code

Google has launched the Google Contacts App in 2017, users then could share contacts by creating a QR Code. Simply scan the QR Code to save the contact on your phone. I personally think that such an efficient way to save contact details should be implemented on name cards and marketing brochures.

The trend did not seem to take off, maybe because people do not know how to create the QR Codes in the first place.

To create a list of customised contacts QR Codes

I made use of Google Sheets template to generate the contact QR Codes. Open the template (template link here) on another tab. Please click on “File -> Make a copy” to save it on your own “My Drive” (Google Drive).

Note that this Google Sheets template seems to work only on desktop, not on mobile phone.

You can use this template by updating First Name, Last Name, Mobile Phone number and Email address. The contact QR Code will be generated in the next column based on these 4 fields.

=image(“https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?chs=150x150&cht=qr&chl=BEGIN:VCARD%0AN:" & A3 & “%20” & B3 & “%0ATEL;CELL:” & C3 & “%0AEMAIL:” & D3 & “%0AEND:VCARD”)

Another person can scan the QR Code to add the contact details to his/her mobile phone. New iOS and Android versions are equipped with QR Code scanner in camera mode.

After scanning, simply click on “Save” to add to Contacts.

This contact list QR Code template will be useful when you meet new people in a team or in a tradeshow to gather everyone’s contact details.

To create a single customised contacts QR Code

Go to QR Code Generator, and select ‘vCard’ where you can customise various fields. Remember to test it out, as some fields do not allow special characters eg. comma “,” or the @ symbol, etc.

You can also add this QR Code to your business cards and marketing brochures. Customers and business counterparts can then easily scan and save your contact details to their mobile phones.

Go to a website (web address URL) by scanning a QR Code

Newer versions of iPhone and Android phones are equipped with QR Code scanning in the camera function. Simply turn on the camera and hover over the QR Code to scan it, then you can click the popup to go to the web address URL embedded. For example, try to scan below QR Code:

Web URL embedded in QR Code:  https://www.qrcode-monkey.com

To create your own customised websites QR Codes

I usually go to QR Code Monkey to create a customised QR Code, and the website URL address is embedded in the QR Code above. It is friendly and free to use, and there are more customised options if you prefer:

• add a logo image in the middle (this can be your company logo!)
• set a color (to follow your corporate identity)
• other customised design

So now you can easily create marketing materials with QR Code of your company website.

QR Codes for name cards and marketing brochures

I hope the above hacks are useful to get things done more efficiently and effectively. All the best to your marketing and outreach efforts!

Thank you for reading!

Previously published at https://medium.com/@jnyh/add-a-new-contact-on-your-mobile-phone-by-scanning-a-qr-code-f569f4b497b4