The last few years have brought a mountain of changes in the way we conduct business, both in person and virtually, right?
But one thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of going digital to enhance the customer experience and networking. Switching to digital technology could mean offering a better customer experience and sticking to obsolete, ineffective routines.
Thus, as practically everything transitions to digital, one thing, in particular, seems to be transitioning more quickly so far—digital business cards, a.k.a. electronic or e-business cards.
A case in point is a report by Market Research Future, which reveals that the digital business card market is projected to reach $242.3 million by 2027.
Discovering the top digital business card options for 2023 can lead you to a tunnel of stacked cards, and you may have already fallen into one of those tunnels to get here.
In this article, you’ll discover the rationale behind electronic business cards. We’ll also explore some of the best digital business card solutions and their G2 reviews to help you switch to electronic business cards.
5 Reasons on why you should switch to a digital business card
1. Share your digital business cards quickly and seamlessly
In today’s digital era, global smartphone subscriptions currently exceed 6 billion, and over the next several years, this figure is expected to increase by 700 million. Since digital business cards usually work on QR Codes or NFC technology, sharing them between phones will be a piece of cake. This invariably means your customers can easily save every detail on their phones with a tap.
2. A contactless remedy
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered consumer expectations, as contactless experiences are increasingly in demand. With electronic business cards, you can securely share your contact information with anybody through QR Codes, text, email, and even instant messaging.
3. Flexibility to edit your business cards and stay up-to-date
Let’s say that your workplace, website, or email address has changed. Does that mean you must recreate or redistribute your digital business card with the updated information? Definitely not.
With a digital business card, you can change your contact information behind the scenes without generating or re-sharing your e-business card.
For instance, if you create a business card with a QR Code and share it with your prospects or customers, they can continue using the same business card to reach out to you in the future, even if the information embedded has changed. Pretty cool, right?
4. Monitor the performance of your digital business card
Return on investment is of utmost significance for any business. You can monitor your digital business card’s activities by checking the number of views, locations, and clicks. And if you’re using a digital business card solution such as Beaconstac, you can activate retargeting for bounced viewers.
5. It is eco-friendly
Globally, 100 billion business cards are printed yearly, potentially causing a cut-off of nearly 6 million trees. The fact that almost 90% of business cards are discarded within a week of being received is more alarming. These cards will be recycled in certain cases, but most will end up in landfills.
5 Best Digital Business Card Reviews in 2023
Now that we know the benefits of electronic business cards let’s review some of the best digital business cards available today.
Josef’s Take
Rated 4.95/5 by G2, Beaconstac is one of the most user-friendly QR Code-based business card makers with enterprise-ready features. The jewel in the crown is that these digital business cards can be a part of your emails, brochures, websites, texts, or CRMs, which can be shared securely with your clients, potential clients, business partners, or anybody else matter through just a scan.
And what’s the best part, you ask? With Beaconstac, you can monitor your scans and see their results in real-time, thanks to the built-in analytics.
Price
- Beaconstac offers a 14-day free trial.
- Starter: $5/month
- Lite: $15/month
- Pro: $49/month
- Plus: $99/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Why should you choose Beaconstac?
If you are serious about networking, Beaconstac is the one for you. Since Beaconstac’s digital business card solutions are powered by QR Codes, generating, altering, and even changing the QR Code customization on your electronic business cards is relatively simple.
Beaconstac’s superpowers include
- Enhanced security: Beaconstac’s digital business card is SOC-2 Type 2 certified, which makes it one of the industry’s most secure electronic cards. Beaconstac provides top-notch security features such as GDPR certification, multi-factor authentication and password protection, phishing URL detection, SSO authentication, and data encryption.
- Capable of running across multiple platforms: With Beaconstac, you can quickly interface into more than 5000 CRMs, and sales and HR tools, such as Salesforce and Zapier, to generate e-business cards automatically.
- Track engagement: Beaconstac allows you to track scans, unique users, devices used to scan, etc., on your business cards.
- Multiple personalization options: You can make use of the attractive pre-built business card templates and a plethora of sections to fill out with the information you want to include on your business cards, such as contact data, user images, brand logos, addresses, websites, locations, social media links and more.
- Bulk creation: Using Beaconstac, you can create up to 2,000 digital business cards in one click.
- Shareability: Beaconstac lets you share your electronic business cards through QR Codes. The best shareability feature on this platform is that you can share and save your digital business cards through Google and Apple Wallet pass on your mobile device.
If you are using Beaconstac to create business cards for many people, then the auto-send feature on the dashboard will help you cut down the manual process of sending business cards to each of its owners. So, every time a new business card is generated, it is automatically shared with the owner.
- Best customer support: Happy customers are essential to Beaconstac. You can quickly rely on them to answer your queries with an excellent customer support team.
Here are a few G2 testimonials that discuss their experience using Beaconstac’s digital business cards
Drawback
Beaconstac solely provides digital business cards with QR Codes.
Josef’s Take
Another excellent digital business card platform is Blinq, which provides services like business cards with QR Codes, business cards integrated into Apple Watch, and NFC technology. So if you seek a comprehensive, affordable, and easy-to-use NFC business card, then Blinq is for you.
Price
- Blinq offers 2 free digital business cards. This is great for entrepreneurs and side hustlers.
- The monthly fee for Blinq's Premium subscription is $2.99 if paid annually or $3.99 if paid monthly.
- Blinq Business starts at $2.99/month if paid annually.
- Enterprise: Insists on speaking with the sales team for Enterprise pricing.
Why should you choose Blinq?
Due to its NFC technology, Blinq is an expert in easy-to-reach sharing. As a result, it is one of the top solutions for mobile business cards available today. With Blinq, you can add all the necessary information to complete your contact information without sacrificing any crucial details.
Blinq’s superpowers include
- Easy to create: You can instantly create sleek, professional-looking electronic business cards at an affordable price.
- Easier digital-sharing experience: Blinq’s digital business cards offer the swiftest load time and the fastest way to share your electronic business card. For example, with Blinq, you can send your contact information via QR Code, text, email, or even through virtual backgrounds during Zoom or Teams meetings. You can also generate a URL that helps you share your card through LinkedIn.
- Allows integration with Apple Watch: Blinq is one of the few solutions to integrate your electronic business card with an Apple Watch.
- Get paid faster: You can include payment icons such as PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp on your digital business card, so you can use your card to get paid more quickly.
Enhanced security: Blinq recently obtained SOC 2 Type II certification, demonstrating its dedication to security and protecting its customers’ data. Further, Blinq’s Enterprise version is backed with added security measures and policies, like enforced Single sign-on (SSO).
Here are a few G2 testimonials that discuss their experience using Blinq’s digital business cards
Drawback
- Don’t offer video embeds.
- Minimal color customization options.
Josef’s Take
HiHello is also a popular digital business card solution that allows you to create and exchange digital business cards accessible on both Apple and Android phones. HiHello’s easy-to-use interface allows you to develop stunning digital business cards that link various features, including contact information, social media, documents, and more, within minutes.
Price
- HiHello begins with a free plan (up to 4 unique business cards). The Basic subscription, which allows limitless card production, costs $5/month.
- Business: $5/month
- Professional: $6/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Why should you choose HiHello?
With HiHello, you can design and personalize chic digital business cards and share them with anybody, local or distant. In addition, HiHello offers you some of the best personalization options, including colors, pronouns, and social media profile links.
HiHello’s superpowers include
- Easier digital-sharing experience: You can quickly share your card with anybody, even if they don’t have the app. This is significant because not everyone may use the same app that you do. The card can be sent via email, through a QR Code, social media, links, or an NFC tag.
- Availability of pre–built templates: Offers pre-built digital business card templates to help you decide quickly.
- Allows you to scan physical business cards: HiHello’s business card scanner is an excellent feature if you are still receiving physical business cards. After you scan the card with your phone, a person verifies if the information is accurate and adds it to the address book.
- Offers a repository: HiHello provides an address book feature, an excellent central location to see all your professional contacts.
- Compatibility: HiHello is available on both iOS and Android.
Here are a few G2 testimonials that discuss their experience using Hi Hello’s digital business cards
Drawback
Hihello lacks security features, which could, in turn, compromise customers’ data.
Josef’s Take
Popl’s digital business card facilitates networking among professionals. Its simple user interface makes it very easy to navigate and share your information. Popl’s virtual business card app allows you to scan business cards to capture leads, manage interactions, and schedule follow-ups. Furthermore, Popl uses Zapier integration to connect to Salesforce.
Price
- Popl is free for 1 digital business card.
- For extensive features and services, you can avail of their paid plans, which start at $6.49 per month for 3 business cards.
- Popl Pro: $6.49/month
- Popl Pro+: $11.99/month
- Popl Teams: Custom pricing
Why should you choose Popl?
Popl combines the best features from both realms (physical and digital) into an NFC card. It comes in the form of a physical business card (like a credit card) that you can tap on a prospect’s phone and have your details instantly shared with their phone. Further, Popl offers powerful statistics and unlimited scans.
Popl’s superpowers include
- Easier digital-sharing experience: With just a tap, Popl’s electronic business card lets you add your website, company description, contact details, email, and many other crucial elements. You can then share your digital business cards through QR Codes, URLs, and email contact lists. It also offers excellent NFC capabilities.
- Compatibility: Create and share digital business cards on Android and iOS phones.
- Allows you to scan physical business cards: Popl offers another exciting feature that lets you scan physical business cards. You can then export this contact information to various platforms, which is the icing for businesses trying to export their leads.
- Personalization: You can customize your NFC sticker and QR Code with your logo as well as other personal information.
- Get real-time insights: Popl’s Insights tab allows you to access applicable data and details on your networking efforts. You can assess your electronic business card’s views, clicks, and key insights through metrics such as pops, link taps, new connections, and tap-through rates.
- Bulk creation: With Popl, you can seamlessly generate and edit more than 100 digital business cards.
Here are a few G2 testimonials that discuss their experience using Popl’s digital business cards
Drawback
- NFC and other bulk creation options can get expensive as they are only available in paid versions.
- Lack of color customization options.
- Delayed customer service.
Josef’s Take
Known for its simple functionalities, Haystack is another digital business card solution used by 300+ companies. Haystack allows you to create, smartly promote, and market your business like never before and use your analytics to evaluate your marketing efforts.
Price
- Haystack offers free versions for single users with cost-friendly business plans.
- For Business: $4.95/month
- For Enterprise: Custom (request a quotation)
Why should you choose Haystack?
Haystack lets you create virtual cards with a sleek and stylish look. You can also share Haystack’s electronic business cards with anyone using a QR Code.
Haystack’s superpowers include
- Easier digital-sharing experience: Even if your customers don’t have the app, you can still share your Haystack card. Sharing is simple thanks to your electronic business card’s QR Code and unique URL.
- Capable of running across multiple platforms: Haystack integrates seamlessly with hundreds of business tools and CRMs, such as Hubspot, Gmail, Slack, Twitter, and Google Calendar, among others. Haystack is available on iOS, the App Store, and the Web.
- Enhanced security: Your privacy is vital to Haystack. Only you and the customers you have shared your card with can access your Haystack digital business card. It is encrypted using SSL (HTTPS) and has an ‘A’ security rating from Qualys.
- Prebuilt templates and personalization: Haystack offers a stack of pre-built templates and customization options to help you create and modify your electronic business card in minutes.
- Allows you to scan physical business cards: When customers or potential customers hand over a paper business card, your staff can scan the card into Haystack’s address book and send a short follow-up email so they have your contact information.
Here are a few G2 testimonials that discuss their experience using Haystack’s digital business cards
Drawback
- Customer support needs slight improvement. Registering and retrieving existing cards could get tedious.
6 factors that will help you choose the best digital business card solution
The range of digital business card choices has immensely expanded, making it challenging to decide. Every solution out there can be used to build a digital business card; however, to get the most out of your time and money, you should look for a solution that perfectly suits all your needs, whether they are professional or personal.
If you are still wondering how to choose a digital business card? We’ve got you covered.
Some strategies that will help you choose the right solution to create a digital business card for your varying needs:
1. Check for usability
Is the solution simple to use and intuitive? Does it have a spick-and-span interface? Does it make you go through a challenging learning curve? These are some questions to consider while evaluating usability.
Usability involves more than a platform’s aesthetics. It more closely relates to its organization and flow. Also, it directly affects your experience as a user, so it’s always a good idea to assess a platform’s usability before parting with your money and checking to see whether your selected platform offers a free trial.
2. Look for good design options
The usability of a digital business card solution may be strong. But does it enable you to design beautiful e-business cards? When adding details, can you be as thorough as you’d like?
A cloud-based solution shouldn’t restrict your design choices or the information you can include. Instead, select a platform that enables you to have more than just the essentials since digital business cards are meant to be repositories of personal and professional data.
3. Tracking and analytics features
Designing your digital business card will make you seem knowledgeable and competent, which will help you draw in the correct customers. But can the platform track user involvement once you’ve attracted the targeted leads, clients, and customers?
Some of the best digital solutions allow you to collect information on crucial metrics like views, shares, and audience location since they provide thorough tracking. Some will even permit a Google Analytics integration (like Beaconstac) for more useful information.
4. Check for security features
Security and safety concerns can affect anything that occurs online. Also, since your name and other pertinent information are on your electronic business card, ensuring that your and your client’s data are secured with the highest level of protection is essential.
Choose one that complies with SOC-2 Type 2, such as Beaconstac and Blinq. Nonetheless, it would be ideal to focus on the requirements that cannot be compromised, such as GDPR compliance, data encryption, and SSO authentication.
5. Ease of sharing
Digital business cards with easy distribution and shareability features. Does your chosen solution let you share your digital business card across various channels?
Good digital business card platforms will let you share your cards through social media, email, text messages, etc. Nevertheless, some go so far as to allow you to create QR Codes that you can include in your business cards or NFCs for close-range communication.
Thus, pick the option that corresponds to your expectations.
6. Integrations
Are you paying for Application Programming Interface (API) access and integrations that automate necessary processes? This factor is crucial as using third-party technologies to obtain automation is only sometimes financially feasible.
Many apps, like Google Analytics, Zapier, and Slack, can be integrated to speed up the process. However, it’s crucial to remember that not all solutions have the same API access range. Hence, check the solution’s library first to integrate external APIs.
Bottomline
Digital business cards are economical and environmentally beneficial and won’t end up at the bottom of a handbag or hidden in your drawer. In this digital age, digital business cards may help you make a lasting impression thanks to their contemporary designs, scalability, and cutting-edge features like QR Code integration, a URL for contactless sharing, and security.
So pick the one that best embodies you and your brand to let the world know you.
