When you interact with these people, you give them your business card hoping that they’ll save you as a contact. And contact you whenever there is a business opportunity.
But traditional business cards have a problem. With them, recipients need to manually type all your details on the phone to save you as a contact. Now that’s a long process and needs people to put effort into it. Hence, most business cards end up in the dumpster.
Moreover, ever since the pandemic, most business processes have become contactless. So, you must update your business cards with contactless technology too.
Introducing—E-business cards. For the uninitiated, e-business cards help you share your contact details to the recipient’s phone via links, QR Codes, or NFC.
They not only help you easily share your contact details but also assist the recipients in easily saving them.
In this article, we will tell you all you need to know about e-business cards. And how to create one.
Keep reading.
A. E-business card—all you need to know
You can create an e-business card via a mobile app or a website. And you can share it via various channels such as website URLs, NFCs, or QR Codes. Let’s see their utility:
1. Website URL
Many services such as ebusinesscards or HiHello help you create e-business cards. These can then be shared via a web link via promotional creatives, in communities, etc..
But here’s the problem—to access the business card, people will have to open their browser and type the entire link.
Only once they do it, they’ll be able to see your details and add you as a contact. This is a long and tedious process. Hence, many people often don’t follow through and drop out.
2. NFC
Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range wireless technology. It allows you to share data between an NFC tag and a smartphone, or between two NFC-powered smartphones.
Nowadays, most smartphones are equipped with NFC. So, you can leverage it to share your e-business with a single tap. This is quite convenient and useful in large crowded conferences.
But the only drawback here is that NFC is limited to an extremely short range.
Generate a QR Code For Your Unique Case
START TODAY!
3. QR Codes
Even though website URLs and NFCs are quite efficient, they face their own challenges. This is where QR Codes shine. QR Codes are 2D barcodes that can store a lot of information and are easily scannable with a smartphone.
Here’s how it works—you add all your contact information in a VCard QR Code. You then add this QR Code to the required creatives. These include your presentations, virtual meeting background, email, flyers, or paper-based business cards.
QR Codes can help you share detailed contact information such as:
- Name
- Profile picture
- Contact number
- Designation
- Company
- Address
- Map location of the address
- Website
- Description
- Social media handles
As a recipient scans the QR Code, she’d see all these details with a Save As Contact button.
And the easier the process, the better would be the likelihood of people actually saving you as a contact.
B. Why use a VCard QR Code for e-business cards
Since the pandemic, the business world has shifted from offline conferences to virtual meetings. And traditional paper-based business cards are not cut out for it. Here are some challenges they’d face:
- People can forget to add your contact details to their contact book
- Suppose you have changed your mobile number and you need to put it out for your audience. To do it, you have to create an all-new business card. This will, in turn, increase your printing expenses
- Paper-based business cards are prone to damage. This can lead to the distortion of contact details printed on them. And that’s not what you’d want, right?
However, E-business cards overcome these challenges easily. Here’s why they make sense:
- First, it is quite common for people to update their contact details regularly. For example, phone number or current employer. And when that happens, they need to re-print the cards
But that’s not the case with QR Codes, especially dynamic QR Codes. Dynamic QR Codes are editable and trackable. That means you can edit the encoded content anytime, even after creating the QR Code.
Thus, you no longer need to incur printing costs repeatedly.
- Second, e-business cards allow you to share more than just your contact details. You can even share your social media handles, business map location, and portfolio links. This way, recipients can access all these details easily with just a click
- Third, wear and tear is a common scenario for paper-based business cards. When that happens, recipients won’t be able to contact you. This defeats the purpose of even having a business card
However, that’s not the problem with e-business cards. Yes, that problem no longer remains even with printed QR Codes. How? Because QR Codes are damage resistant and can scan well even after being damaged. This is all thanks to the error-correction feature.
- Finally, you can monitor the performance of your e-business cards. This is especially true for QR Codes due to their scan tracking feature. For example, how many people have scanned the QR Code, where did they scan it, when did they scan it, and which device they used to scan it. This tracking helps you better optimize your campaigns.
Moreover, QR Codes also allow you to see how your end-users are interacting with the encoded content in your QR Code. For example, do they click on the Save as Contact button after scanning the QR Code or not.
You now know everything about e-business cards. So the next step is to create them.
As mentioned earlier, if you want to create the card sharable via weblink, you can use ebusinesscards or HiHello.
Similarly, you can use 1card or Scube to create NFC-based business cards. And if you want to create QR Code-based business card, here’s how you can proceed:
C. How to create a VCard QR Code
Now that you know why it makes sense to use a QR Code for an e-business card, the next question is—how to create one?
1. Find a QR Code generator
You’d need a QR Code generator that allows you to create a VCard QR Code. It could be dynamic or static. You can head on to any search engine and look for a relevant service. It will fetch you many options to choose from.
But going through all the search results to find the best one is a tedious process. For your convenience, here is a detailed comparison of the best QR Code generator available online. This will help you make a sound decision smoothly.
2. Create a QR Code
Using the Scanova QR Code generator for demo purposes, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a E-Business Card/VCard QR Code:
a. Go to Scanova
b. From the QR Code categories, select VCard QR Code
c. Start customizing the landing page by adding your details—name, company, email, and phone number. You can also add additional fields such as an address, social profiles, or even a description box
Once done, click Continue.
d. Now, name the QR Code and click Create QR Code
e. Now, you’ll see the preview image of the QR Code. Below it, you will the Edit Design button
f. If you click on this Edit Design option, you’ll see two QR Code design options:
Custom Logo Design: Here, you can add your company’s logo and colors to it.
Custom Background Design: This option allows you to place your QR Code on an image.
You can proceed with either of the two options.
g. After deciding on the design, click Download. A window will open prompting you to sign up for a 14-day free trial. Once you sign up, you can proceed to download the QR Code
h. Now you’ll have to specify the QR Code image’s format and dimensions. Once you do that, click Export
That’s it. Your e-business card/VCard QR Code will be downloaded. It is advisable to test scan the QR Code before putting it out for the target audience.
That’s it. That is all you need to know about the e-business card. You can now go ahead and create an e-business card using either of the three alternatives available.
In case you’d like to create a E-Business Card QR Code, you can get started here:
Generate a QR Code For Your Unique Case
START TODAY!
