Digital business card vs paper: which to choose
Digital or paper business card? What each one does well, what the other person needs to open it, and how to carry both with one QR code.
Choose a digital business card if your details change, if you meet people online, or if you want people to save your number in one tap. Choose paper for meetings where a card is expected and for people who never scan codes; often the best answer is both: a paper card with a QR code that opens your digital card.
What is the difference between a digital and a paper business card?
A paper card is a small printed card with your name and details, usually 3.5 x 2 inches in the United States and 85 x 55 mm in much of Europe. The other person keeps it and later types your number into their phone, or does not. What is printed on it cannot change.
A digital business card is a web page about you, opened by scanning a QR code or tapping a link. It holds more than a paper card: buttons to call you, write to you on WhatsApp, send an email, open your website or your address on a map, and a Save contact button that adds you to the other person's contacts.
Which is better, digital or paper?
| Paper card | Digital card | |
|---|---|---|
| What the other person needs | Nothing | A phone that reads QR codes, and a connection |
| When your details change | Reprint | Edit the page; the link and the QR code stay the same |
| Saving your details | Typed by hand | One tap on Save contact |
| Room for details | A few lines | All your contact buttons and links |
| Sharing at a distance | Not possible | Send the link by message or email |
| Running out | Order more | Never |
| Knowing whether it was used | No | Many tools count scans and views |
When is a paper card the better choice?
- The meeting expects one. In some trades and some countries, handing over a card is part of meeting someone. A phone held out across the table is not the same.
- The other person does not scan codes. Some clients will never open a camera to read a code. A card in their hand works with no help.
- There is no signal. A paper card needs no battery, no network and no app.
When is a digital card the better choice?
- Your details change. A new number, a new job or a new address means a new box of paper cards. A digital card is edited in a minute, and every code you already handed out opens the new version.
- You meet people online. A link fits in a message, an email signature or a social profile.
- You want to be saved, not just kept. A paper card goes into a pocket or a drawer. A digital card offers to add you to the phone's contacts on the spot.
Does the other person need an app?
No. On an iPhone, the Camera app reads QR codes: point it at the code, then tap the link that appears, as Apple's help page shows. On Android, the camera app reads them on phones with Android 9 or later, and Google Lens can do it too. The card then opens in the browser.
The page does need a connection at the moment of the scan: in a basement, or abroad without data, it will not open. Once your contact is saved, it stays in the phone, connection or not.
There is another kind of QR code, a contact code (or vCard code), which holds your details themselves instead of a web address. It saves with no connection, but it cannot change once printed. Do QR codes expire? explains the difference between the two kinds of code.
Can I have both?
Yes, as long as the paper leads to the digital card. The QR code printed on the paper card opens your page online, and the page carries the details that change.
For example, Sara is a plumber. She hands out a short paper card: her name, her trade, her number and a QR code. The code opens her digital card, with a call button, a WhatsApp button and her address on a map. When she changes her number, she edits the digital card that evening, and the code on every card she already gave out now leads to the new number. The old number printed on those cards is wrong, though, so she reprints when the box is empty rather than on the day of the change.
What should I put on a paper card that has a QR code?
- What does not change: your name, your trade or job title, your company.
- One way to reach you that needs no camera, for people who never scan. A printed phone number is handy, but it is often the first line to go out of date.
- The QR code, with its white margin. The empty border around a QR code is part of the code: the QR standard asks for one at least four modules wide (a module is one of the code's small squares). Print nothing over it.
- A test before the batch. Print one card and scan it with two or three different phones, from the distance people really hold a card.
On the digital card, add what helps people choose you: a photo, your website, your work. It is a public page that anyone with the code can open, so put nothing there you would not print.
How do I make a digital card and its paper version?
On vCardGen you can create a digital business card for free: your photo, your contact buttons and a Save contact button. To put it online, you sign in with a code sent to your email, with no password. The card gets its own address, which never changes, so you can edit the card whenever you like while the QR code stays the same. Your account gives you the code as an image (PNG or SVG) and counts the scans and views.
The account also has My business card to print: an 85 x 55 mm card with your details on the left (name, title and company, phone, email, website: whichever your card has) and the QR code on the right. You download it as an image for a print shop, or print a sheet of eight with cut marks, at actual size (100%). Scans of those printed cards are counted with the others.
