How to make a vCard with QR: step-by-step guide

A vCard with a QR code is a contact file that, when the code is scanned, saves straight into the phone's contacts with your details already filled in. To make one, generate your digital card, enable the vCard and share its QR. Sales teams use it so the client saves their contact without typing anything.

This guide covers how to create the vCard, how to share it with a QR code and how to keep the details from going stale. If you first want to understand the .vcf format, we explain it in what a vCard is.

What is a vCard, and how is it different from your digital card?

A vCard is a contact file in .vcf format: it carries the name, job title, phone, email and company in fields the phone recognises. Whoever opens it only has to confirm, and the entry lands in their address book with nothing to type. We go through it field by field in what a vCard is.

Your digital card is a different thing: a page with your details, your channels and your services that changes when you change it. The vCard stays in the other person's address book; the card is the one you keep editing. The two are used together, because the QR code opens the card and the card offers the vCard.

For one person, generating the vCard once is enough. In a team the work is keeping them current: every card carrying the right brand, every job title matching the CRM, and all of them changing at once when someone is promoted or leaves. That is done from a dashboard, and it is what the second half of this guide is about.

Steps to create your vCard with a QR code using Lead2Team

With Lead2Team you will have, on the same platform:

• A space to create different vCards with QR,
• Design tools,
• A wide variety of connectors,
• Expert advice,
• A generator to integrate your card's QR,
• Tracking of your cards and your audience's activity within them.

The steps, in order:

Log in to the Lead2Team platform

First you will need to become a user of the site. Click on Create your account. A form will appear on screen for you to enter the name of your company or business (it can be your own as a professional, if you prefer), an email, your country and a new password to access the site. You will receive an email to verify the address. Go to your inbox, find the message and click the link to continue.

Once done, you can log in as normal with the Login button and by entering your credentials. Once inside, find the Agents section to start creating your vCards.

Fill in your personal and professional information

This is the first step to designing and making an effective vCard. Fill in the form with the most relevant personal, contact and professional information. That is, your first and last name (or stage name, if applicable), your role within the business or your professional role (e.g. independent lawyer, CEO, admin, etc.) and your contact details. 

For this last detail, the default is WhatsApp, but you can add more contact details using connectors. These are buttons that connect your digital card with other elements or functions. Call, book an appointment, web link, social media, videos. You can add different connectors depending on your goals for this vCard with QR. You should never, however, overuse them or the elements you can add. Use only what is truly necessary so as not to overload the card.

Choose a design that fits your brand

At Lead2Team you have a range of templates at your disposal that you can use as a starting point. You can then adjust it to your brand image by changing the background and button colours, and the shape and logo of the connectors. At this step it is important to consider what you want to project: a serious, elegant image with a solid, dark background and straight shapes, or bright colour gradients and softer, rounder shapes.

Remember, too, that the platform has a varied gallery of icons for the connectors. This way, if your image works with red, you can place the black, background-free WhatsApp logo and achieve the harmony that your vCard with QR and your brand deserve.

Generate and customise your QR code

Don't let the title scare you. You don't need to code or know anything about IT to complete this step. Just go to the top menu, to the Share section. You will find a drop-down menu that says Link; when you click it, you will see the other options, including QR Generator. The code will be created automatically and all that's left is to adapt it to your card's design so it doesn't clash. 

You can edit the code's rigidity — whether you want it square, semi-rounded or rounded — as well as the background colour and the colour of the code itself. Then you can download it as .png or .svg, view it and download it to add it to other elements, physical or virtual.

Preview and save your digital vCard

On the right-hand side you will always have an image showing how your vCard is shaping up, which you can switch between desktop mode and mobile mode. This lets you preview your card and edit it as you see fit. 

To save it, go back to the Share section and select the option you want to store: the QR alone (ideal for merging with other designs), the vCard, the team card, the web tool, HTML version or the email signature. You can download whichever format you want and share it on your social media, in print, or keep it in your phone's gallery ready to show.

How to scan and share your vCard with a QR code?

I already gave you a glimpse of the ways you can distribute your card. Always remember that the medium, the strategy and the information linked to your vCard with QR, depend directly on your business and the goals you want to achieve with the help of this tool. Even so, there are two fundamental ways for your audience to make use of your card's QR:

Scanning with mobile devices

This works with both physical and virtual elements. You can carry the code on your phone screen and ask the person you are meeting to open the camera on their smartphone and simply hold your vCard's QR up to the camera. Likewise, you can print it on a business card, sign, advert, cup, packaging, menu, screen or badge and, in the same way, the user will open the camera on their device to scan the code. 

With this method, you (or your business) introduce yourself face to face with the customer. It is, let's say, a more personal way to create a contact, which generates a direct and close interaction with the customer.

Sharing your vCard on social media and emails

This one, for its part, works in an impersonal way but is just as (or even more) effective depending, again, on your goal. You can add the vCard or the QR alone to a social media post, keep it loaded on your profile or leave it in your highlights so that everyone who visits your social media sees it.

You can also add it to your email signature. This way, instead, the card's QR goes straight to one recipient. The email option is a little more direct, though far less mass-reaching. Because the person receiving the email already has a line of communication with you, or you know first-hand that they are interested in the connection, so you open the door for them, with their existing interest, to scan, save and create a new contact with you.

Tips to optimise your vCard with a QR code

Now, here are some of the tips that will make your relationship with customers, through the vCard, truly effective. Take them into account and remember to monitor your card's results with your tracking tool:

Keep your information up to date

Updating the information on these cards is not like with conventional ones. You will save time and money, and you only need to log in to the platform to do it. But it is essential that you keep all your details up to date. Contacts, products, niche, launches, roles, etc. The customer should always know what you offer at the moment they visit your card.

Choose professional and consistent designs

Look at your brand colours, what you want to project, the typography, examples from your niche and everything you need to create a great design. Remember to keep consistency between what you offer and what you say you offer, and to avoid mistakes that undermine the professionalism of your design (spelling errors, for example).

Use a high-quality QR code

This will make scanning and sharing your code easier. If the user has to scan several times but gets an error, you will leave a bad impression that's hard to erase. Also avoid transferring your vCard's QR image through platforms that reduce the file's quality. Download once, create a good design and save it where you can find it in an instant.

What if the vCard is for a whole team?

Creating one vCard is quick. Keeping fifty or two hundred of them current is a different job: every change of phone number, job title or logo means regenerating the file and reprinting the QR. With a digital business card platform for teams, the vCard is generated at each download from each person's profile, so the printed QR stays valid even when the details change. The administrator onboards employees, sets the brand design and sees how many contacts have been saved from each card.

If you manage a sales team, start with the team digital card or talk to sales.

Related articles

• How to make a digital business card with QR
• QR codes for business cards