What Information Should Be Included on Company Business Cards?

When was the last time you refreshed your company business cards? Or more importantly, updated the information found on these cards?

It can be difficult to determine what kind of information should be included on, or left off of, a business card. Many business cards have a simple, minimalistic design that does not allot for the inclusion of too many words. In spite of these trends, however, business cards will always need a bit of contact information since they help make introductions to new connections.

Which information goes on, or is better left off, a business card? Let’s take a look.

Your Name and Title

It should be easy to spot the first and last name of the contact on their business card. Add your job title underneath your name. Try to whittle down the length of your title—avoid defaulting to “slashies” in your title, such as a role that reads as “designer/writer/PR extraordinaire.” Keep it simple on the card; you can explain to the contact when they reach out what else you do in your role.

In some cases, it may also be helpful to read the title aloud to yourself to make sure it sounds professional. Kick out words that sound fun, like “butterfly” and “ninja,” for words that actually explain what you do, like “coordinator” and “strategist.”

The Name of the Company

Much like your own name, the business name should be extremely visible on a business card. If you have a distinctive logo, you may include that alongside the name to further increase recognition.

Contact Information

This is where the clutter starts to kick in. There are several ways contacts can get in touch with you, ranging from phone calls to mailing addresses. At the bare minimum, you should include the following ways to get in touch:

• Physical office address
• Work phone number
• Direct email address
• Website link

What’s the best way to simplify all of this information so it doesn’t overwhelm a business card? I like this business card example from Black Bear Design. There’s an addition of small decals to identify certain forms of contact information, like a location pin for the address and a smartphone screen for the phone number.

Social Media Pages

Where does a social media presence go on a business card? The key is not to include links or icons for every platform where your ecommerce business has an account. Stick to including a few basic platforms where most individuals have accounts, like Facebook or Twitter, or where your own company media posting is the most engaged with its audience. You may also choose to simply include your LinkedIn profile.

What else is helpful, and what can be left behind?

Good question. Here’s a quick shortlist of what’s recommended to include and leave off an ecommerce business card:

• Pronouns. In addition to your name and job title, you may also choose to include the proper pronouns that you identify with and make them visible on a business card.
• Headshots. Is it necessary to have a thumbnail image of your headshot on your business card? Probably not. Headshots are frequently updated, which may require you to order more business cards than necessary. A link back to your LinkedIn profile generally helps place a face with the name.
• Typography. Ideally, business card typography should be clean, neat, and easy to read.QR codes. Once in a great while, I see these included on a business card. Are QR codes scanned all that frequently by their connections? My guess is that it’s not all that likely. If you need to pull one bit of contact information from a business card, a QR code is a good item to drop.

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