What to Put on a Business Card (and What to Leave Off)

A business card has one job. It gets someone from “nice to meet you” to a real follow-up, and it has to do that in about the time it takes to glance at it. Most cards fail because they say too much, or the wrong things. Here is a plain way to decide what goes on the card and what stays off.

Start with the one action you want

Before you pick a font or a paper stock, decide what you want the person to do next. Call you? Visit a website? Book a time? The answer decides which contact detail leads. If you want phone calls, the number should be easy to spot. If most of your work comes through a booking page, the web address matters more than a street address. A card that tries to push five actions at once usually gets none of them.

The details almost every card needs

• Your name. The largest text on the card after your business name, spelled the way you want people to use it.
• Your business name or logo. Enough that someone can place you a week later.
• What you do. A short descriptor, such as “Residential electrician” or “Bookkeeping for small shops.” A job title alone often tells a stranger nothing.
• One phone number. Pick the one you will actually answer.
• One email address. Use an address on your own domain if you have one. It looks more established than a free webmail account, though a working address matters more than a fancy one.
• Your website. Keep it short and typeable. If the full address is long, print the shortest version that works.

Details that depend on your business

Some items help only in certain situations. Include them when they answer a question a customer would otherwise have to ask.

• Street address. Useful if customers visit you in person. Skip it if you work from home and would rather not publish the address.
• Service area. For mobile and local services, “Serving the north side and nearby suburbs” is more useful than an address.
• License or registration number. Some trades and professions expect it, and rules about advertising differ by state or province and by field. Check what applies to you before you print.
• Hours. Worth adding if you are open only certain days.
• A social handle. One handle, and only if you really post there. A row of six icons mostly adds clutter.
• A QR code. It can send people straight to a booking page or portfolio. Test it before printing, and make sure the page it opens works well on a phone.

What to leave off

This is the part people skip, and it is where cards go wrong.

• Every phone number you own. Home, cell, office and fax is too many. Fax numbers in particular look dated for most businesses.
• A long list of services. If you need a paragraph to explain what you do, the card is the wrong place for it. Send people to your website.
• Vague slogans. “Excellence in everything” says nothing. If you use a tagline, make it concrete.
• Tiny print. If you cannot read it comfortably at arm’s length, a customer will not try.
• Claims you cannot back up. “Best in town” invites doubt. Facts such as “Family owned since 2009” work better, as long as they are true.

Make it readable first, pretty second

A card people cannot read gets thrown away. The web accessibility standard WCAG asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 between normal-size text and its background. That standard was written for screens, but it is a handy rule of thumb for print too. Dark text on a light background passes easily. Light gray text on white, or yellow on a pale photo, usually does not.

A few other basics help:

• Keep the body text at a size you can read without squinting. Many designers stay at or above roughly 8 points for contact details.
• Leave white space around the text. Crowded edges also risk being trimmed during cutting.
• Use one or two typefaces at most.
• If the card uses a glossy finish, check that you can still write on the back, since many people jot a note on a card.

The back of the card

The back is free space, and it can pull its weight. You can put a QR code there, a short list of services, appointment details or a space for handwritten notes. Leaving it blank also works. What does not work is repeating the front.

A quick checklist before you print

1. Read every phone number, email address and web address aloud, then type or dial each one yourself.
2. Check spelling of names, including your own and your business name.
3. Ask someone who does not know your business what they think you do, after five seconds with the card.
4. Scan any QR code with two different phones.
5. Order a small proof or short run first. It is cheaper to fix a typo on 25 cards than 500.

Match the card to who gets it

A card handed to a client in a formal meeting can be plain and quiet. A card dropped in a community bulletin box or handed out at a craft fair may need to be bolder, because it competes with a lot of other paper. Think about where the card will actually end up. If people will keep it in a wallet, standard size fits best. If it goes on a fridge or a corkboard, a bigger readable phone number matters more than design flourishes. And if your customers mostly find you online, make sure the website on the card matches what they will see when they get there, including the same business name and the same contact details.

It also helps to keep a few cards in more than one place: your wallet, your car, your bag. A card does nothing from a drawer at home.

Watch a short design walkthrough

This independent video from Joe Hirst covers common business card design mistakes. It is a third-party tutorial, and the right choices depend on your trade and your audience, so use what fits.

Keep the card in context

A card supports the rest of your marketing. It does not replace it. The U.S. Small Business Administration has general guidance on marketing and sales for small businesses, which is a good place to see how a card fits alongside a website and word of mouth. Once the details are settled, you can compare printers and paper options. Our earlier posts on business cards cover some of that.

Sources

• W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum)
• U.S. Small Business Administration: Marketing and sales