What Is A Digital Business Card? Your Ultimate Breakdown

Whether you’re a large enterprise with tens of thousands of employees or a small business owner, you may wonder if it’s time to retire your paper business cards and go digital.

I’ve trialed nearly all of the most popular digital business cards on the market (see the full list of best digital business cards here). I’m here to tell you that nearly everyone will make the switch in the next few years.

In fact, 37% of small businesses already have.

I highly recommend doing it early so you get the “wow” factor instead of waiting until it’s old news.

First Things, First. What Is A Digital Business Card?

The quick version: A digital business card is where you create a professional contact page, known as a “landing page,” that you can easily share via the wave of an NFC card, text, email, QR code, etc. to all of your business contacts or potential clients.

If you’re still a bit confused, no worries. Here’s the full-view breakdown.

What is a Digital Landing Page?

Nearly every digital business card you use will start with you building a landing page.

Think of the landing page as the digital version of your business card. When you share your digital card, a “landing page” will appear on the user’s mobile browser or the internet. Depending on the company you use, you can customize this to be heavy-packed in features. Let’s compare a paper business card to a digital business card page:

As you can tell, there’s pretty much no limit to how many things you can place on a digital business card, whereas a paper business card is limited to the tiny physical space (3.5″x2″ to be exact).

What you can place on the landing page is dependent on the company you select. Here are a few examples from different companies and what your landing page can look like:

Now, here’s a list of all the potential features you can add to a digital business card:

As you can see, the landing page alone adds much more value than what you could do or fit on a small traditional business card.

How Do You Share Your Contact Information?

Okay, so you get the point of the landing page. But how do you share it? How can you send this information to someone else at a networking event, and how do they save this information?

Option 1: Send Your Contact Details with an NFC Product

If you like feeling of having a physical business card, then an NFC business card is the way to go. Think of these as the shape and size of a debit card that easily fits in your wallet or phone case. But instead of having your account number, these have an NFC chip that can store all the information from your landing page.

Here is an example of what an NFC card may look like, and what happens when I wave it to someone’s phone.

To share, you simply wave the card in front of someone’s phone, and it will either pop up with the landing page or a message asking if they want to save the contact to their phone.

Once they say “yes” or “save contact,” it will automatically add all your business information to their contacts list, as you can see below.

The best part is that you don’t need an internet connection for this to work, so you can use it even when you’re not connected. You’ll find this really becomes impressive part of your networking skills.

The only downside to this is that the phone you are sharing the information to has NFC phone capabilities, which are any of the newer iPhones, Androids, or smartphones released in the past few years. If they don’t, no worries; you have a few more options.

broken down the companies that specialize specifically in NFC business cards here. This makes it a much nicer exchange because you don’t have to ask for their phone number to send a contact, which could be awkward if you don’t know them too well.

Other NFC Products

While many people opt for having an NFC business card, there are tons of other NFC products you can use.

Depending on the company you’re purchasing these from, they can come in many colors and designs and be customizable to your company logo and colors.

Option 2: Send Your Contact Details with QR Codes

Nearly every digital business card will also have a QR code you can scan. These are usually on the NFC products, but can also be found on your app or widgets for your phones.

For most phones, you can just point your camera at them, and you can pull up the related link. Once scanned, it will take your contact straight to your business page, where they can save your information on their phone.

Option 3: Digital Business Card via Text, Email, or Socials

The other popular way to share your contact information is by texting or emailing a potential client a link to your business card. This is an added benefit to digital business cards because, in a digital world, we are constantly meeting clients and customers remotely and not in person. In a Zoom meeting? No worries, send the link over in a chat and it will take them right over to your landing page.

What about social accounts? If you have a LinkedIn profile or are partaking in some Facebook networking, then you can add these links to your profile pages.

Do You Need To Have an App Downloaded?

Absolutely not. Any potential client or customer does not need a special app downloaded to receive your contact information.

Some companies offer apps for the digital business card holder, which I do recommend having because it makes it easy to send and share your contact information on the fly.

Additional Features With An Electronic Business Card

Okay, so I’m sure I’ve probably already changed your mind or confirmed that it’s time to join the digital era. But the truth of the matter is, I haven’t begun to scrape all the amazing features that come with these cards.

Digital business cards are not just a way to exchange contact info. They’re becoming a major networking and lead generation tool for businesses. 

Samantha brandon

Here are a ton of other features that many digital business cards offer:

Benefits of Digital Business Cards

Besides all the reasons I’ve already discussed above, many other benefits come from using a digital business card. Let’s take a look.

1. Save Your Company Money

You’re not printing. You can change your title, name, or contact info in a matter of seconds without having to reprint. No more running out of business cards anymore either.

2. Increase Your Conversions

By tracking your analytics, you can see what’s working and what isn’t when it comes to your marketing strategy. You can also set reminders to follow up with leads or integrate the leads into your CRM software to increase conversions.

3. Go Green

Related to the point above, you’re not using paper which is always a good thing. Think of every single time you had to reprint because of an employee change. Not to mention, how many of your cards end up in the trash? This is definitely going to save the planet a bunch of trees.

4. Appear Tech-Savvy

When you meet someone, and they ask for your card, and you hand them your phone, there’s an immediate impression.

5. Exchange During Virtual Events

If you constantly take online meetings, virtual fairs, or meet new contacts via social media accounts, then an e-business card is a great way to swap information. It’s an essential part of your online business checklist.

6. You Stand Out

Not a lot of people are using these yet, so if you start now, you’re going to be one of the first in what will become the norm.

7. Always Prepared

You always have your digital business card with you because it’s on your phone. You never have to worry about forgetting it or leaving it at home, and looking all awkward checking your empty wallets and leaving a bad impression.

How Do You Create Digital Business Cards Whether You’re a Solopreneur or Have Thousands of Employees?

If you’re a solopreneur, it’s easy. You can first check out my “How to Create A Digital Business Card” guide or you can jump straight into the “Best Digital Business Cards on the Market” here.

Suppose you are a large enterprise looking to convert your company to digital business cards. In that case, you may be a bit overwhelmed by the process, as that would require making individual cards for every employee in your company.

But don’t worry! I’ve written an entire article about the “Best Digital Business Card for Teams,” and after interviewing and getting personal demos with many of them, here are some common themes I’ve found:

Frequently Asked Questions