Still staring at that stack of business cards from last week's networking conference, trying to contemplate the time and effort required to import contact information into your phone or spreadsheet or CRM software? There is a much easier way using automation. Using the ChatGPT app and it's free plan on your phone, you can import contact details into your phone without processing them individually. Not only is it free, but it's fairly accurate and it takes a little less than 5 minutes.
This works best for cards that are of standard size and material, and not double-sided. Here are the steps:
This works best for cards that are of standard size and material, and not double-sided. Here are the steps:
(1) Put all (ideally up to 9) the business cards on a table together as a collage and click a picture of them using your phone from a vertical distance of about 10 inches from directly above the cards, ensuring there is no glare of light, reflections or shadows reducing the readability of text on the cards.
(2) Upload the snapped image to your ChatGPT app and prompt it the following instructions:
"Attached is an image of a collage of business cards collected from an event. Analyze and extract the following information from each card into a table format:
- Company Name
- Company Website
- Contact Name
- Contact Phone
- Contact Email
- Contact Title
You can define your own set of data for extraction as well. ChatGPT will ask any clarification questions if necessary, and then proceed to perform the extraction. Once ChatGPT provides the extracted data, take a look at the data to verify the contact information was extracted correctly. Occasionally ChatGPT will interchange an i or a 1 or ! interchanged depending on the quality of the image or ambient lighting conditions. Point out any errors to ChatGPT and ask it to re-analyze the image with corrections. Once everything looks good, prompt ChatGPT to export the data to a either a csv (spreadsheet) or vcf (phone contacts) file.
"Export the results to a vcf file for importing"
ChatGPT will provide the file for downloading, which when downloaded can be opened. With a VCF file, you will be prompted to import the contacts into your phone's contact list. Thats it!
Note: To ensure better privacy of any data you upload to ChatGPT, set the ChatGPT "Data Controls" setting "Improve the model for everyone" to off, so ChatGPT does not store / use your information for training their models.
Also tips for better accuracy:
- Flat Layout: Ensure all cards lie flat without curvature or cropping.
- Lighting: Use even lighting to reduce glare or shadows.
- Resolution: A higher resolution image improves OCR accuracy.
- Spacing: A bit more spacing between cards helps avoid text overlap or boundary confusion.
- Orientation: Align cards consistently—some are rotated, which slightly impacts text clarity.
Automation can help streamline labor and time intensive tasks. Try our app to easily export contact information to Excel, CSV or VCF format without prompting. Contact Us for access and to learn more about how AI and Automation can help you.