The short answer
The best QR code for a business card is a contact card, also called a vCard. The phone reads it and offers to save you as a contact, with name, phone, email and website filled in. You can make one free in the HueQR generator and print it at 2 cm on the back of the card. If your details might change, make it dynamic instead, so a thousand printed cards stay correct.
Static contact card: free, and fine if your details are stable
In the free generator, choose Contact card and fill in:
- First and last name
- Company, if you want it saved
- Phone, email and website
Keep it short, because it goes on a small card
Everything you type goes into the code, and more text means more squares. A name, one phone number, one email and a website make a code that scans easily at 2 cm. Add a postal address, a job title and three phone numbers and the code becomes dense and needs to be printed bigger than a business card allows. Put the extras on your website and let the code carry the essentials.
Dynamic contact card: for when your details will change
A dynamic contact card in HueQR stores the name and phone behind a short link. The card itself is printed once. When you change your number or move companies, you update the code and every card already in a drawer somewhere still works. The phone opens the short link and receives the contact file to save. It also counts how often the card gets scanned, which is a surprisingly honest measure of a networking event.
Dynamic codes are part of Pro, with a 14-day free trial.
Design for a 2 cm print
Keep the squares dark and the background light. Skip the logo at this size, or keep it tiny; every bit of error correction you spend on a logo makes the code denser. Leave the quiet zone on. Download an SVG so your printer gets crisp edges, and ask for the code on the back of the card, on its own, not tucked into a corner next to text.
Alternatives, and when they are better
A code that opens your LinkedIn profile is simpler and gives the other person a face and a history, but it does not save a contact. A code to your website is the right choice for a shop or a venue. For a person handing out cards, the contact card wins, because the thing the other person wants to do is save your number before they lose the card.
Questions
Yes. Both show a prompt to add the contact. On some Android phones the prompt appears after tapping the notification the camera shows.
Next step
Make a free contact card code
Name, phone, email, website. PNG with no sign-up, SVG with a free account.
Make a free contact card code