What is a digital business card and what are the advantages?

A digital business card is not just another version of the paper business card, it offers many more possibilities than the traditional form. Greater information content, direct links to your online presence and no more hassle in the transition from paper to an electronically usable form are all part of it. In contrast to a paper business card, your digital business card is always with you and always contains the most up-to-date information, without you having to have a new card printed. You can also use a digital business card with a Physical card: NFC sticker business card or NFC metal business card

What is a digital business card?

A digital business card is a personal website with the data of a classic business card that is stored in the cloud and can be easily updated there. It can be accessed directly from there by your contacts. However, they are particularly suitable for exchanging between mobile devices during personal contact. In this respect, they cover the exact function of the traditional paper business card. The recipient of your card has direct access to all your contact details on their device and can use and save them immediately.

What are the advantages over a paper business card?

Flexibility

If your data changes, you have to dispose of traditional paper business cards and have new ones printed. This involves effort, time and expense. It's also bad for the environment. A smart business card saves you all that. All you need to do is update your data on the oneVcard web portal. A particular advantage of an online business card is that this updated data is not only displayed to the contacts you give your card to in the future. The new information is also displayed to previous recipients of your business card when they call it up from the server. To do this, oneVcard places a link in the contact file with which the latest contact data can be downloaded directly.

Active use in the digital lifestyle

Not only can digital business cards contain much more information than traditional ones, this information is also much more immediately accessible. This demonstrates the seamless integration of the smart business card concept into the digital lifestyle. The possibilities are extensive and include visiting your profiles on LinkedIn or Instagram and sending a WhatsApp message. Of course, digital business cards can also contain your own URL to your website or other online content.

Universally applicable

Digital business cards do not require the recipient to have an app. Just an NFC contact or scanning a QR code from your screen is enough to transfer the information and save your contact details. In addition to personal contact, a typical application for a smart business card is an online connection from the home office. This is where the possibilities and advantages of an online business card really come into their own. With the oneVcard app, the digital business card can be easily shared via a link, e.g. in an online meeting. The digital business card can also be integrated into email signatures or virtual backgrounds for Zoom. The traditional paper format would let you down in this situation.

No more typing out information

A paper business card requires a lot of effort because it is based on the old paper office system. Now that almost all your contacts have a mobile device, the business card concept should also be adapted to a digital business card. The contact data is stored on such devices anyway, so it makes no sense to place a piece of paper between two mobile devices.

Digital business cards are ecological and sustainable

Throwing away individual paper business cards is not the only unsustainable thing to do. When you need a new card, you usually have to dispose of a whole stack of old cards. An online business card is an alternative to this model that is ecological and sustainable. Your company's image will also become greener by doing away with paper business cards.

Professional appearance

Your company's brand is like a promise of value for the customer. However, this value must also be presented. A paper business card, even if it's only scratched, damages your company and its reputation.
A digital business card does not have this problem. Not only is it always available in perfect condition, you can also make your smart business card look smart on the oneVcard web portal and choose the design to suit your individual ideas. You also have the option of combining your digital business card with a physical, haptic product. At oneVcard , this is called Physical. Currently, oneVcard offers both a metal business card and an NFC sticker with which you can share your digital business card.

The smart business card is always with you

An online business card is always available with your mobile device. A separate card case as in the past is not necessary.

Constant availability

Unlike paper business cards, you can carry as many digital business cards as you like. You'll never run out of digital business cards, even at a large congress, and you'll never have to worry about reordering business cards again.

Discretion

Some information on a business card is not intended for the public. A digital business card can be transferred much more discreetly than a paper one.

Reliability and quality

The company oneVcard is based in Germany and is subject to German law. This also applies to the strict data protection regulations in Germany. The company's servers for digital business cards are also located in Germany.

How do I use a digital business card?

If you want to create a digital business card with oneVcard , you register for free in the app and enter the data you want your digital business card to contain. You can also choose the colors and design of your smart business card on the portal. Click here to register.
You have the option of creating several digital business cards with different data and designs. These different versions can be in different languages or take into account differences that you want to make for business and private purposes. The recipient receives your digital business card by scanning the QR code or via NFC on their mobile device. They can then retrieve not only the current data, but also your latest changes directly from the server in the future. You can also download your smart business card and save it as a vcf file. This file can be saved directly to your smartphone or to a CRM system.

Digital use. You can use your digital business card purely digitally with the oneVcard app. Use the QR code in the app or the share button. There are two tariffs here. One is the free Lite tariff and the paid Premium tariff. You can find out exactly what the differences are here
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Digital + Physical. In addition to the digital option, you can also link a Physical (see next paragraph) to your digital business card. Now you can also share your digital business card via the Physical . So you combine the best of both worlds.

What is a Physical and how do I use it?

A Physical from oneVcard is a oneVcard Metal or a badge that can also transmit your data via QR code and NFC. This means that there is a connection between your data and an object without a mobile device. The metal business card also fulfills the functionality of a QR code business card, because a QR code is an alternative way to transfer your data.

Metal business card. It looks similar to a traditional business card, but always stays in your hands. To hand over your metal business card , simply place it near the recipient's mobile device. The card is engraved with your name. The oneVcard Metal is also available with your logo as an option. It can also be used as a QR business card if the recipient does not have an NFC-enabled smartphone. The recipient does not need to install their own app to receive such an NFC business card either.

Badge. The badge is smaller than the metal business card, but transmits the same data and thus functions as an NFC business card. The badge can be stuck to the back of your smartphone, for example.

Offers for individuals and companies

As an individual user, you can choose from all oneVcard offers, from the free Lite version to the high-quality metal business card.

Companies have the option of managing all data centrally for all employees. This means that each employee receives a digital business card and, if desired, an administrator or the employee themselves can manage which data this card should contain. The data of all employees can be easily entered via CSV and the connection to HR and ERP systems is also possible.
It is particularly interesting for companies that the appearance can be adapted exactly to their corporate design. For example, the colors can be precisely specified using a HEX code, which graphic designers can also use to define the colors of print products. You can find more information here.

You can try out a digital business card at a low threshold and we are happy to accept individual requests for companies. Even if you prefer to use a real object, a high-quality NFC business card and QR code business card made of metal is perfectly suited to the digital lifestyle.