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Carrying a clunky address book to meetings no longer cuts it (unless you use it as a fan when the AC is out 🪭). It’s ineffective, slow, and prone to errors. Also, nobody likes manually entering the exact details into an Excel spreadsheet at the end of the day.
A digital address book is a much more efficient way to collect and save contact details on the go. It also spares you from the horrors of manual data entry.
Whether you’re a salesperson saving a prospect’s contact details or an event planner collecting your guests’ information for invites, this multipurpose contact management tool simplifies lead collection, storage, management, and nurturing associated with contact management.
Learn how to create a digital address book, collect your leads, and integrate it with another tool, such as a CRM, to engage with your contacts later.
Table of contents
- What is a digital address book, and how does it work?
- How to create a digital address book
- Which industries can benefit from creating an online address book?
- How to manage contacts using a digital address book?
- Collect and manage leads with Uniqode’s digital business card solution
- Frequently asked questions about digital address books
What is a digital address book?
A digital address book (an online address book) is a cloud-based software for saving contact details, such as names, phone numbers, addresses, social media profiles, etc., in a virtual directory. For small business owners, it can also function as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool.
You can customize the information fields in your digital address book based on your requirements. But, its utility is not limited to creating a contact list. Instead, with a digital address book, you can:
- Safeguard sensitive contact information
- Segment leads based on various attributes and do cohort analysis
- Integrate the contacts with a CRM to nurture relationships
- Track previous interactions with your contacts
An online address book is an easy and affordable choice if you have fewer leads to organize or don’t want to invest in a CRM. As your business grows, you can integrate the online address book to other platforms in your tech stack.
How does it work?
Since digital business cards provide real-time interactivity, they can work as a two-way contact-sharing medium.
Each recipient with whom you share your card can instantly share back their personal details via a form in that same card. These details include your recipient’s name, phone number, email, company name, etc. This functionality is active whether you share your digital business card in person or online.
You can view and organize all these details in your digital address book, with each card recipient being recorded as a lead entry in your list.
How to create a digital address book
You must capture leads before adding them to your online address book. There are a couple of ways to collect leads, and it’s essential to opt for a lead generation tool where you can customize the contact fields:
- You could create your digital address book from scratch (only if you find a workaround the technological and organizational challenges that come with it)
- Use a digital business card solution to create, collect, and store lead information
Digital business cards are generally preferred because they are more contextual to the recipient and help you collect warm, qualified leads using two-way contact sharing. We’ll use an e-business card solution to create a digital address book for this demonstration.
🔥 Don’t have a digital business card yet? Create one to start populating your digital address book instantly
Thanks to two-way contact sharing, you can create your lead generation tool in minutes and start collecting leads from the same digital business card you share with prospects.
- Sign-up on Uniqode and create a digital business card for free.
- Share your digital business card with a URL, QR Code, or Apple Wallet pass.
- Want more ways to collect leads? Create QR Code-based forms.
Once you are in the card creation process, follow the steps to set up your online address book on Uniqode:
Step 1: Enable the “LEAD COLLECTION” feature on the dashboard
During the card creation process, you will eventually reach the “SET-UP” tab of Uniqode’s dashboard, where you will find the “LEAD GENERATION” toggle switch.
Toggling on this switch enables your digital business card’s two-way contact-sharing. Now, you can choose whether you want to collect their details first or share your information using the virtual business card.
Step 2: Toggle on the data fields you wish to capture via your digital business card
The type of information you toggle on will be the form fields users fill in from your digital business card. At this step, you can add User Agreement Links to obtain your prospect’s consent when exchanging contact information and clarify how this information will be used.
Step 3: Start capturing leads from your digital business card
Once you have completed steps one and two, a “Share your contact” button will appear on your digital business card.
Your recipients can click this button to complete the contact form while viewing your card. The exact fields in this form correspond directly to the data you have toggled on under “LEAD GENERATION.”
Upon filling out the form fields, your recipients can click “Share my contact” to send the information they have entered to your digital address book.
Step 4: Manage your captured leads on the dashboard
When a recipient submits their contact details using your digital business card form, Uniqode creates a lead entry in your digital address book.
To access your online address book, click “Leads” on the left panel of the dashboard.
Next, click the information button on the right side of a lead entry to view more information about that specific lead.
There you have it—you have just made a digital address book on Uniqode. The best part? Regardless of your card pricing plan, this digital address book comes out of the box.
Which industries can benefit from creating an online address book?
1. Sales
As a sales professional, you are always on the go. It’s easy to lose paper business cards or forget to add your details to your CRM at the end of a long day of meetings.
If you use a digital business card, you can rest assured that all essential daily connections are automatically added to your digital address book as a lead.
⚡How it works:
- At the end of every on-field or in-person meeting, you present your e-business card to the prospect
- Your prospect views your details and saves it. On the same card, they can see an option to share their contact information
- You gently nudge the prospect to share their contact information through the card at their pace (which also lessens their pressure to revert immediately)
- The prospect fills out a quick form that you set up before sharing the card and hits send
- The prospect’s contact information immediately appears as a new lead entry in the digital address book
This online address book lets you view all the warm leads and new contacts you have collected and prioritize them for strategic follow-ups. Creating a digital address book for field sales professionals is especially beneficial in the insurance, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing sectors.
2. Real estate
As real estate agents, you deal with multiple buyers, sellers, and third-party vendors. And you will need to collect and nurture leads to close deals eventually. Yet, the job can get tricky when there are disparate lead sources.
A digital address book gives you a snapshot of high-intent buyers you must focus on—high intent because those who will share their contact details with you are “warm” leads.
It also streamlines your lead collection and helps you keep track of all contacts flowing from different channels into one place. You can do cohort analysis and segregate them into specific contact groups.
You can use a digital business card to share additional information with prospects, such as property and contract agreement details.
Once all the contact details are added to your digital address book, you can integrate the address book with your real estate CRM for retargeting campaigns and lead nurturing.
Learn more: Digital business cards for realtors: engage clients better
3. Recruitment
Recruitment is another sector that can significantly benefit from a digital address book and two-way contact-sharing feature on digital business cards. As a recruitment tool, digital business cards can streamline the hiring process by bringing potential candidates closer to the hiring funnel when you share your cards.
Say you’re recruiting at a career fair and would like to collect the email addresses of all the suitable candidates.
With a digital business card, you do not have to do this manually on a spreadsheet or have your candidates fill in a form. Simply share your digital business card via Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, or as a QR Code for digital business cards.
Once potential candidates view your card on their mobile devices, they can share their email addresses and personal details.
As a recruitment business, you can organize your contact data with a digital address book. This makes it super easy to reach out to the candidates you wish to proceed with your selection process.
4. Legal
A lawyer’s digital business card can be a lead generation tool besides conveying value and expertise.
Once you have conveyed your expertise through your digital business card and got a prospect interested in your legal services, they are more likely to share their contact information.
With a digital business card, it’s easier for your prospects to share their details and connect with you on multiple platforms. You can view the information prospects share from your card in your digital address book. After this, you can begin due diligence on your prospects based on their shared information.
5. Event Management
Events are challenging to plan! You need to coordinate with guests, vendors, suppliers, and more. A digital address book makes it easy for event and wedding planners to store and categorize all the contact details in one place.
Moreover, while planning a wedding or a corporate event, you can also share a QR Code form with the guests so they can RSVP. Because the forms are customizable, you can ask the guests about any specific preferences or dietary restrictions that they may have.
If you plan to send them party favors or a physical invite, you can use this form to collect their home/office mailing address. These details get stored in the online address book and help you plan the event better and improve the guest’s overall experience.
6. Nonprofit organizations
Nonprofit organizations need to build and improve their relationships with volunteers and donors. As an NGO, you may host many fundraising events to meet stakeholders and encourage them to contribute to your cause.
Using a platform like Uniqode, you can build a lead collection mechanism using digital business cards that flow into your NGO’s central digital address book.
⚡ Here’s how it works:
- You set up digital business cards for your NGO representatives as an admin
- You standardize card fields, design, and functionalities for representatives
- You strategically design the lead collection form based on the team using it
- Representatives share their cards during events, meetups, and networking using a QR Code, URL, or wallet passes (however you decide)
- Prospects reciprocate by sharing their contact details using the form on the cards
Leads automatically flow into your NGO’s digital address book, accessible on the Uniqode dashboard Once the leads are in your digital address book, you get an overview of the leads based on your goals, such as:
- How many volunteers will be available to join your next event
- Which causes your donors to pledge support
- Forecast of the financial support your NGO can expect, etc
You can send personalized outreach campaigns in the future by integrating these high-intent lists into your CRM.
Now, you know about the different industries and sectors that can use digital address books. But, it is also essential to understand how you can make the most of the tool and its features to manage your contacts, segment them, and set up future interactions.
How to manage contacts using a digital address book?
A digital address book is a multifunctional contact management tool. Understanding these four features will help you make it to its maximum potential for your business:
- Automated lead collection
- Lead segmentation and organization
- Integration to improve engagement
- Secure contact storage
1. Automated lead collection
As we’ve discussed before, collecting offline and online leads shouldn’t take up hours of your time. Opting for automated lead collection sources, like a digital business card, reduces the effort to 5-10 minutes.
Ideally, opt for a complete solution to collect, store, and nurture leads without manual intervention. A streamlined lead workflow with no manual intervention ensures no contact falls through the cracks.
For example, using Uniqode, you can set up these touchpoints and a single-view dashboard to monitor how your leads engage with your cards and QR Codes. These insights can help you optimize your outreach strategies and increase lead flows by tapping into popular lead-capture channels.
2. Lead segmentation and organization
With lead segmentation, you can categorize contacts based on various attributes, such as the lead type, industry, or level of interest. For example, realtors can segregate their audience based on the type of property–apartments or villas–they are interested in.
You can use this information to understand your audience better and tailor your communication with them. On Uniqode, the contact manager lets you filter your leads using various filters based on the information fields added in two-way contact-sharing.
Take it further by manually adding labels to prioritize a few contacts if required.
3. Integration to improve engagement
Depending on your business type and nurturing workflows, you can add your leads to a CRM, email marketing automation, or an IVR platform to engage with them in the future.
Again, you don’t want to export these leads to another tool manually. It’s best to choose an online address book that syncs with the existing tools in your sales and marketing workflows.
For example, if you use Uniqode, you can export specific, segmented lists to Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and many other tools with direct and third-party integrations.
4. Secure contact storage
Security needs to be your number one priority when collecting any contact information. Your contacts and leads trust you to protect the first-party data your prospects share with you from cyber attacks.
The digital address book solution that you opt for must have the following security features in place:
1. GDPR compliance
2. HIPAA (if dealing with patient health information or PHI)
3. SOC® 2 Type 1 and Type 2 compliance
Apart from these secure guardrails, only the right people from your internal team should be able to view the contact data saved in the digital address book. Uniqode lets you limit the internal use of data with:
1. Single Sign-On (SSO)
2. Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
3. Role-based access
Collect and manage leads with Uniqode’s digital business card solution
We hope we could convey the benefits and convenience of a digital address book. You’ve also seen what two-way contact-sharing can do for your lead generation and management processes.
The next step is to choose a specialized, end-to-end digital business card solution. Uniqode gives you every tool to build and utilize your digital address book—with the added advantages of digital business cards. Simply share your card contact-free via Google Wallet, Apple Wallet, or other digital methods to capture contact information and store it as leads in your digital address book.
Frequently asked questions about a digital address book
1. How do I choose the best digital address book for my needs?
Choosing the right digital address book depends on several factors:
- Features: Ensure that the tool offers important features, such as lead segmentation, integration with CRMs, and security options
- User interface: Look for a user-friendly interface that makes managing contacts and accessing information easy
- Compatibility: Ensure the digital address book syncs with your existing tools and devices for smooth integration
- Customer support: Opt for a reliable provider who offers 24/7 customer support to assist you with any issues or questions.
Uniqode is one of the most end-to-end digital address book solutions available. You can take a free trial of the platform to test it yourself!
2. What information can I store in a digital address book?
You can store all of your prospect/lead’s details in a digital address book, including:
- Names
- Phone numbers
- Email addresses
- Mailing addresses
- Social media profiles
- Notes and tags
- Birthdays and anniversaries
3. How does a digital address book differ from a traditional paper address book?
A digital address book significantly upgrades from storing contacts in a traditional paper-based format. Unlike a simple address book, you can access your contact list whenever you want across multiple devices. It is also a more secure way to save contact information and integrate it with your existing sales/marketing workflows.
4. Can I customize the link to request addresses?
Yes, on Uniqode, you can white label the digital business card platform and create a custom URL to share with your recipients. At the same time, the information fields in the Two-way contact-sharing form can be edited and changed.
5. Can I export contact details from my digital address book?
You can export all the leads collected in your digital address book in a CSV file/ Excel file format. You can even segment the leads before exporting them to create a more targeted list of contacts.
6. Are online address books secure?
A digital address book is the most secure option for storing and managing contact details on the cloud. When choosing a digital address book solution, you must ensure it meets relevant compliances, including GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC® 2 Type 1 and Type 2. Many platforms also offer features like multi-factor authentication to ensure the safety of your data.
Reuben is a Content Marketer who helps businesses drive audience engagement and conversions through compelling content. Currently, he explores the profound impact of digital business cards on organizational ROI.
