QR Code for Business Card

Why a vCard code beats a plain URL on a business card

A URL code on a business card sends someone to a webpage, which they then have to read and manually copy details from into their contacts, an extra step most people never actually take. A vCard code instead encodes the contact details directly: name, phone, email, company, title, website, and address. Scanning it prompts "Add to contacts" on both Android and iOS, immediately, with no page to load and nothing to copy by hand.

What to include (and what to leave out)

Select the Contact card tab and fill in the fields relevant to how the card will be used:

• First and last name: required. This becomes the contact's name in the recipient's address book.
• Company and job title: optional, but useful context that shows up alongside the name once saved.
• Phone: include the number in the format you'd want someone to actually dial, with a country code for anything that might be scanned internationally.
• Email: optional but recommended, since it gives the scanning phone a second way to reach you beyond a phone call.
• Website: optional, useful for a portfolio, company site, or booking page.
• Address: optional, mostly relevant for a physical office or storefront rather than a personal card.

Worked example: a consultant's business card

A freelance consultant wants a card that gets them added to a client's phone on the spot. Select Contact card, enter their first and last name, "Independent Consultant" as the job title, their direct phone number, their email, and their portfolio website. Leave the address blank, since client meetings happen at the client's office, not theirs. The generated code, printed in a corner of the card alongside the usual printed text, lets anyone who scans it save a complete, correctly formatted contact in about two seconds, rather than typing a phone number by hand from a photo of the card later.

Sizing a QR code for a standard business card

A standard business card is 3.5 x 2 inches (89 x 51 mm). At that scale, the code is scanned at very close range, usually a few inches to a foot away, so it can be relatively small: about 0.6 to 0.8 inches (15 to 20 mm) square is generally enough for a reliable close-range scan, leaving plenty of room for the rest of the card's design. Export as SVG so the print shop gets a crisp vector at exactly that size, with no risk of a blurry, upscaled PNG.

Branding the code to match the card design

The same color, gradient, dot-shape and logo options available on the main tool work here too: open "Colors, logo & shape" to match the code to the card's color scheme, or drop a small logo mark into the center. See the custom QR code generator page for a deeper walkthrough of those options, including tips on which color combinations stay reliably scannable.

Other places a contact-card QR code is useful

The same vCard approach works well beyond a printed business card:

• Email signatures: a small code alongside a name and title lets a recipient save the sender as a contact without opening a separate app or typing anything.
• Conference badges and name tags: attendees can exchange contact details with a scan instead of trading physical cards that get lost or forgotten.
• LinkedIn or portfolio printouts: a vCard code next to a printed resume or portfolio gives a recruiter a one-scan way to save your details.
• Real estate signage: an agent's contact card code on a yard sign lets a passerby save the agent's number directly, faster than reading it off a sign while driving.

If you only need a link, not a full contact

If the goal is just to send people to a webpage (a portfolio, a booking calendar, a single social profile) rather than saving a full contact, the plain URL/website QR code on the main tool is the simpler choice: less information to fill in, and a single tap opens the page directly instead of prompting a "save contact" dialog.