Business cards are a terrific place to display QR Codes, as they provide potential customers and business associates with access to your contact details. QR Codes can also link directly with a webpage that houses up-to-date information or with a file that can be downloaded directly into an address book, such as a vCard or meCard.
First, you’ll have to decide how often this type of information might change. Then, you can decide whether you want a static or dynamic code. You can print business cards that have either A) contact codes, which are static codes, or B) URL codes, which are dynamic codes. We outline the different advantages of each below.
A) Contact codes. You can easily create a static contact code on our homepage, http://qrcode.kaywa.com, by choosing “Contact Code” and entering all of the information that you want to include – name, phone numbers, address, etc.
The advantage of contact codes is that they link directly with your contact information, without having to go through an intermediate website. However, as we mentioned, these codes are static, meaning that the information you include is written directly into the code itself. Once the code has been created, it can never be altered, so if your contact details ever change, you will have to create an entirely new code. You must also save static codes on your computer because Kaywa does not store them. This means that there’s absolutely no way we could ever help you with these codes after they are printed. To sum up, you can’t adapt static codes, nor can we provide you with statistics about your scan rates.
There is another disadvantage to contact codes: The number of pixels/modules within the code depends on how much information you want to add behind that contact code. So, if you fill in address, company name, phone numbers, etc., the code gets very complex and very big as each character is translated into a module. If you put too much information into there, most QR scanners start to have trouble scanning the code. We recommend therefore that you really try to limit your contact information in the code to a minimum and that you try scanning before printing your business card. Or: do a dynamic code – see below.
B) Dynamic codes. You can also easily create a dynamic QR Code on our homepage, http://qrcode.kaywa.com. Your first five dynamic codes are free, and if you need more, you can sign up for one of Kaywa’s subscription plans here: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/static/pricing#qr_mgmt_plans. Dynamic codes only work with a URL. So instead of entering specific details, such as your phone numbers and address, you can link that code to either a sub-site of your homepage where customers can find the contact information for a specific person or the LinkedIn profile for a person or department at your company.
The need to link to a website might seem like a slight disadvantage, but it actually has some very important pluses. The link allows the code to make a split-second online journey over to our server – so quickly that your customer won’t even realize it’s happening. The first advantage that this provides is that you are able to change your URL or the content (for example, a phone number) of your URL at any time, without having to print a new code. Secondly, we can provide you with the scan rate statistics for your code. We can tell you how many people have scanned the code, with what type of device, and from what location. Lastly, even if your phone number changes, your business cards do not have to go to the rubbish bin. You just adapt the phone number on your website; the QR Code stays the same.
The benefits of dynamic QR Codes are why we always recommend using them to link your business cards to a sub-site of your homepage where the necessary contact details are provided. In fact, the sub-site doesn’t even have to be a public page – it can be hidden, accessible only to people who have the URL or the QR Code.
We hope that we have given you some helpful information about using QR Codes with business cards. Please find all our subscriptions here.