Digital visiting card: how it works and who it suits
What a digital visiting card is, how it is handed over in South Asia and the Gulf, and the trades where it earns its place fastest.
Read it →The easiest way to share your business card is as a link or a code: it opens in whatever browser is already on the other phone, nothing is installed, and the exchange takes about four seconds. Below are the six ways people actually use.
One: hold up the code on your own screen
The fastest way to lose an exchange is to ask somebody to install something, and every method here avoids it.
Home and the Cards screen both carry Scan and Share, with your card's code ready to hold up. The other person points their camera at your phone. No app, no typing, no spelling out an address in a noisy room.
This is the one to learn first because it needs nothing printed. At a salon chair, a clinic desk or a cafe counter it is often all you need; see the cards we set up for salons and barbers, clinics and cafes.
Two: the code on the back of a paper card
A printed card with a code on the back is the arrangement that works everywhere. The paper does the handing over; the code does the part paper cannot.
Print a tracked link's code rather than your bare address, and you can change where it goes long after the box is empty. The links and codes tab shows how to make one, and the QR code generator will draw one now.
Three: a link in a message
Copy Card Link is on the same screen, next to buttons for sending it by email or on WhatsApp. This is what most people use day to day, because most first contact now happens in a chat window. With their add-ons to Pro, you can also send the direct address of your store, your events or your booking page: your card's own address with /store, /events or /book on the end.
One warning worth knowing: a chat app often fetches a link to draw its preview, and that fetch can show up as the first scan on a fresh code. Treat the first count with a pinch of salt.
Four: your email signature
An email signature is the quietest and steadiest way to hand your card over, because you are already sending the email. Signatures in the sidebar builds one from the card you already have: five layouts, seven element switches, a call to action, a banner you upload and a disclaimer. It shows you how it will look in Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail, and Copy HTML Code copies exactly what you saw.
Every link in it, and the code inside it, is a tracked link, so it is counted like anything else. You paste it into your own mail app; we never reach into anybody's mailbox. There is a page on email signatures if you want the detail.
Five: a video call
Backgrounds draws a 1920 by 1080 picture with your card's code on it for Zoom or Google Meet. You pick one of six backgrounds or upload your own, choose the corner the code sits in, and decide whether to print your name and title beside it. The code is drawn as sharp vector shapes and forced dark enough for a camera to read, which is the difference between a code that scans off a video call and one that does not.
Six: a wallet pass
A pass can sit in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet carrying your details. It is useful for the people you meet often, because it is already in the place they keep their boarding passes and their coffee card.
It is also the one method that keeps sharing after the handover. When you publish a change to the pass, every saved copy changes too, and it can carry wallet notifications. In Apple Wallet it can raise a location notification when the holder is near a place you chose, such as your shop or next week's conference. A card saved from the link works the same way with card notifications. Pro is $0.99 a month, and the wallet pass is an add-on to it.
The sentence that makes people scan
Handing somebody a code with no explanation gets a polite nod. Saying what is behind it gets a camera.
"Scan that and it will save my number straight into your phone."
That is the whole trick. You have named the thing they get, and it is something they want. The card's Save my contact button is what makes the promise true: one press writes a full contact file with your name in parts, every phone labelled, your company, your addresses and your picture.
Where to put your effort
If you do one thing, put a code on the back of your printed card. If you do two, add the email signature. Between them they cover the two ways strangers meet you: in person and in an inbox. Everything else is a bonus. The digital business card guide sets out what sits behind the code once somebody has scanned it. You need a card to share first, so make your free card.
Questions people ask
Does the other person need an account?
No. Nothing is required of them at all. They open a page, and they may save your contact or leave their details if they want to.
Will the code still work if I change my number?
Yes, as long as the code points at a tracked link or at your card rather than at a phone number directly. Update the card and every printed code keeps working.
Can I have a different code for each event?
That is exactly what the seven purposes are for: the card itself, a printed card, an email signature, a social profile, an event, a wallet card, and something else. Hand a different code out in each place and the counts tell you which place worked.
Is there a limit on how many codes I can make?
Everything is switched on for every account while we are getting started. Make one for each place you hand your card out; that is what makes the numbers worth reading.