Finding the Best Business Card
Traditional paper business cards are closer to resembling memorabilia for “career milestones”, as expressed in a Wall Street Journal article, rather than an exchange of information. The world looks to the next best thing for the seamless exchange of contact information. Influenced by the changing needs of professionals since the pandemic, contactless and digital business cards have been on the rise.
As companies go paperless, they also transition to contactless business cards and their digital equivalents in a digital transformation effort. In Market Research Future’s announcement for research they conducted on the global digital business card market, they found that it “is expected to register an exponential CAGR of 11.2% from 2021 to 2027 and reach USD 242.3 million by 2027.”
For this very reason, we decided to evaluate some of the best options currently in the market. Our objective is to gain a better understanding of the different digital business card offerings in the market, how they serve a modern company’s needs and how they scale in a business setting.
We ordered PVC (polyvinyl chloride, i.e. plastic) cards from six leading companies in the field, including:
Each of these business cards operates with an embedded NFC chip and integrates with software on the web and/or an application to make the overall business card experience more advanced and intuitive, taking it to a whole new level.
In our analysis, we extensively compared promising market competitors. Our in-depth evaluation covers seven categories including ordering, design, UX, card management, support, pricing, and privacy, providing valuable insights for anyone looking to invest in a digital business card solution.
Before you start reading:
Our list of companies is not exhaustive. There is a plethora of digital business cards available on the market, and we encourage you to conduct your own research as well.
To gain a better understanding of the processes required for businesses, we conducted independent research, as well as communicated with the companies to understand how the process would scale.
This research was commissioned by Covve in an effort to better understand how their digital business card offering could improve, and how it compares to promising competitors in the market. Our testers and Covve’s sales and support teams were unaware that the study was commissioned by the organization during the time of analysis, thus removing any potential bias during the analysis process.
All orders were placed under a cover company named “Rocket Co”.
What did we test?
Ordering:
The clarity of steps required to place the order
The amount of time taken to receive the order
Design:
Ease and efficiency of the design process
Extent of customization
Presentation of the card
Overall UX:
Digital business card customization
Companion app features
Features offered to businesses
Card Management:
What solutions each company offers in ongoing card management
Support:
How precise the support teams were in their responses
The extent of solutions and answers offered
The initiative they took to ensure that everything was running as intended
Pricing:
The cost of the order (per card), including shipping
The option for subscription and discounts
Privacy:
GDPR compliance including DPA
These factors matter because they directly impact the experience and satisfaction of using a digital business card. A clear and efficient ordering process, ease and customization in design, and a well-designed user experience all contribute to the overall appeal and effectiveness of the digital business card.
Additionally, robust card management solutions and responsive support teams help to ensure the continued functionality and success of the card. Pricing and privacy policies are also important factors to consider when choosing a digital business card provider, as they can affect the affordability and security of the product. By evaluating these factors, we can determine which company offers the best overall value and experience for digital business card users.
Analysis of the Results
Ordering
Ease of Ordering
To determine the ease of ordering, we placed our emphasis on the following areas:
Accuracy of product descriptions
Clarity of order and design processes
The seamlessness of ordering process
Based on our findings, we evaluated the ease of ordering on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating a very difficult ordering process and 5 indicating a very easy one.
| 1 - Very difficult | 2 - Difficult | 3 - Average | 4 - Easy | 5 - Very Easy |
Blinq | | | | | ✔ |
Covve | | | | | ✔ |
Linq | | | | ✔ | |
Mobilo | | | ✔ | | |
Popl | | | | ✔ | |
V1CE | | | ✔ | | |
Approaching the ordering process from a business perspective, Blinq and Covve offer the easiest and simplest process to place an order. While all six companies host user-friendly and intuitive website navigation, the processes of Blinq and Covve were the most seamless and clear.
Blinq’s “Teams” tab shows a selection of options to purchase their cards, two of which relate to team options. One option is best for SMEs, and the other for larger corporations. They offer a clear explanation as to what features are available with each option, making the selection process easy.
Covve's website hosts a "Covve Card" tab where users can learn about the features of the card and watch a video preview. To order the cards, users can choose between two options: bulk orders of over ten cards, which requires filling out a form and contacting an account manager; and orders of up to ten cards, which provide an instant checkout option for faster and more convenient service. This approach provides clear options and personalized service, improving customer satisfaction and efficiency for businesses of all sizes.
Mobilo and V1CE ranked the lowest in this section, as Mobilo does not clarify when the design takes place which prompted us to reach out to their team to clarify. V1CE’s Team offerings for businesses are not clearly displayed on their website, which led us to liaise with their team to find out more. These processes contributed to the two companies' low ranking in this section as it was not as seamless as the other four companies we are comparing.
Time to Deliver
All orders were placed on the 9th of February, 2023. This date is set as the starting day when measuring the time it took for each company to print the cards and send them for delivery. The table below displays the amount of time in business days the companies took to prepare and send our order.
Company | Order completed and ready to be sent |
Blinq | 4 business days |
Covve | 3 business days |
Linq | 1 business day |
Mobilo | 4 business days |
Popl | 8 business days |
V1CE | 4 business days |
Linq prepared our order the fastest out of the six companies. Their ability to process, complete, and pass our order on to the courier in one day was impressive, ranking them first in this section. However, there was a miscommunication between Linq and the courier leading to us receiving the product one month late.
Covve came in second, even after dedicating the time to provide more than ten design proposals based on our requirements.
We chose to not compare the duration of the delivery process as some companies are in the EU, some in the USA, and one (Blinq) is in Australia. A comparison of their overall time of delivery would be unfair. Thus, we decided to display the time required to process, confirm, and send our order.
Ordering Winner: Blinq and Covve. We believe the ease of ordering holds more weight in significance compared to the time to deliver. With this in mind, Blinq and Covve are the winners in terms of offering the easiest and simplest ordering processes for businesses. Blinq provides a clear selection of options for teams of different sizes, while Covve offers two straightforward options for ordering cards.
Design
The design process is a crucial component of product development for any company. We identified three key categories for evaluating the design process:
Ease of the design process: Assessing the simplicity and intuitiveness of the design process.
Design facilitation: Examining the extent to which the process is facilitated by the company and the user to ensure the best possible design outcome.
Card design fields and features: Analyzing the flexibility of customization available in terms of design elements, such as company logo placement and use of eco-friendly materials.
Ease of the Design Process
| Very difficult | Difficult | Average | Easy | Very easy |
Blinq | | | | | ✔ |
Covve | | | | | ✔ |
Linq | | | | ✔ | |
Mobilo | | | | ✔ | |
Popl | | | | ✔ | |
V1CE | | | | ✔ | |
The top two companies in this section were Blinq and Covve. While Blinq’s design process was simple and easy, it also offered the least amount of design options. They seem to be more geared towards their digital business card offering and their dashboard rather than their contactless business card.
Although all of the companies, apart from Covve, host a design platform of their own, some of which however felt over-simplified, Covve’s in-house design team made the process more personalized and smoother by providing various design iterations.
Design facilitation
| Design Platform | Design with a company representative |
Blinq | ✔ | |
Covve | | ✔ |
Linq | ✔ | |
Mobilo | ✔ | ✔ |
Popl | ✔ | |
V1CE | ✔ | ✔ |
The seamlessness of the design process is influenced by where the design takes place. Covve, for example, hosts the design process entirely via their design team, which receives input from the user that includes their requirements and the general approach a user may have for the card design. Blinq, on the other hand, hosts the design process on their website through their own design software, however, the options felt minimal and constrained.
Mobilo and V1CE offer their own design platforms, as well as keeping their teams involved in the process by liaising with the user via email to ensure that the design is completed as intended. This process, however, felt much longer and required more steps to complete. The user also has the option to send their requirements to the design teams.
Card Design
| Company logo | Contact details | Remove logo | Card colour | Edit back side | Ecological card options | Design placement |
Blinq | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | | | ✔ |
Covve | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Linq | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | | ✔ | ✔ |
Mobilo | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Popl | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | | | ✔ |
V1CE | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | | ✔ | ✔ |
Observing the card designs offered by the companies, they all offer the core design features we were looking for. However, only Covve and Mobilo offer the ability to customize the back side of the card with an image or a color, making their design offering more extensive.
The ecological card option refers to the ability to select an eco-friendly card, such as bamboo material, which could be pertinent to a business heavily focused on sustainability and further meeting eco-friendly criteria. Some companies offer metallic options as well, and even a Gold material option (offered by Popl).
Additionally, the design placement criteria refer to the ability to arrange where the logo and contact information is placed on the card. This is important to a business as it enables them to create more unique cards that tie into their unique brands.
We would like to note that on its design platform, Blinq does not offer the option to edit the reverse side of the card. However, users have the option of going the extra mile and designing their ideal card to then share with the Blinq team, as seen on their blog. This option seems to be the most time-consuming of all design processes. Alternatively, users can select Blinq’s most expensive contactless card option at a rate of $60 to access further customization options such as design placement and further color options.
Covve's design process stood out as more intuitive and transparent, although it is fully manual and conducted entirely with a company representative rather than an online design platform. A manual design process such as those provided by Covve, Mobilo, and V1CE, grants access to a professional card designer and, ultimately, we found that we received the designs precisely as we wanted them to be, unconstrained from online tools. Having access to a professional card design is an additional service that is provided as part of the design process, making it a great boon for the three companies.
Design Winner: Covve and Mobilo - For the ease of the design process, Covve seems to stand out for offering personalized assistance from their in-house design team, while also providing various design iterations to ensure that the product is delivered as intended. However, Blinq's design process is simple and easy to use, despite offering fewer design options.
Regarding card design fields, Covve and Mobilo stand out for offering more extensive design options, such as the ability to customize the back side of the card with an image or a color, and offering eco-friendly card options.
The above images are photographs of each product we ordered within their packaging. The labels below the photographs indicate each company’s product.
Ultimately, the winner will depend on the specific needs and preferences of the business, as each company has different strengths and weaknesses.
Overall UX (User Experience)
Upon receiving the products, we measured the versatility, personalization, and efficiency of the digital business cards. From the process of setting up the digital business card to tapping the contactless card onto a phone and observing the information that was exchanged and how it was stored.
The key points we observed were:
The information that can be included on the digital business card
If the six companies have their own companion apps, what features do they offer, and how intuitive the apps are to use
Ease of business card activation
How seamless the exchange of information is
What kind of information does the recipient see, and how that information is stored
The features offered to businesses
We observed the UX from the perspective of three stakeholders of the cards:
Individual card holder
Recipient of contact details from a cardholder
Companies with multiple staff using the cards
The following tables indicate the features and processes that the six companies provide.
Card Holder
Digital Business Card Personalization
| Photo | Bio | Cover photo | Contact information | Website link | Social media platforms | Embed videos and files | Payment platforms |
Blinq | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | | ✔ |
Covve | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | | |
Linq | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Mobilo | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Popl | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
V1CE | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Linq, Mobilo, Popl, and V1CE offer a greater extent of digital business card personalization. While the core digital business card personalization features are shared by all six companies, we were interested in the extra offerings that could cater to a wider range of businesses across various industries.
In determining the better offering in this field, we also took into account the companion app and how easy it was to navigate.
Companion App and Features
| Companion app | Analytics | Preview page | Add to email signature | Add to video background | Add to wallet |
Blinq | ✔ | | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Covve | ✔ | | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Linq | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Mobilo | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | | |
Popl | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
V1CE | | | | | | |
All companies provide a companion app, however, V1CE’s app was not working at the time of this case study, and the card activation process had to take place via their website’s portal. Therefore, their companion app could not be accurately evaluated.
It should be noted that Blinq offers an analytics feature in their Team Dashboard offering, however, it is not included in their companion app.
Linq and Popl provide extensive features in their companion apps, and they are easy to navigate. The most aesthetically pleasing UI of the two is that of Linq, as it clearly displays our card as we open the companion app, and the dashboard is easy to navigate with its extensive features.
The above images are screenshots of the mobile versions of the companies’ companion apps, with their names beneath each image respectively. As previously mentioned, V1CE’s companion app was not operational during the time of this case study, and therefore could not be accurately analyzed nor could we include it in the above images for this section.
Ease of Business Card Activation
| 1 - Very difficult | 2 - Difficult | 3 - Average | 4 - Easy | 5 - Very easy |
Blinq | | | | ✔ | |
Covve | | | | | ✔ |
Linq | | | | ✔ | |
Mobilo | | | ✔ | | |
Popl | | | | ✔ | |
V1CE | | ✔ | | | |
As for the business card activation process, V1CE scored low due to their companion app not working, and having to communicate with their team to facilitate this process.
With Covve, however, the process was quick and easy. When we scanned the QR code on the physical page that arrived with the card, we were directed to download Covve’s companion app. Following the download of their app, we were prompted to tap our card to get started. We were then asked to fill in contact information, completing the process.
Recipient
When your card is tapped or scanned, it is critical to know that the information you include in your digital business card is accurately and seamlessly transferred to your newly formed contact.
Tapping and scanning the cards produced similar results, where all cards transferred information in one second or less. None required an email to register, or required the recipient to download any apps. The information transferred from every card provided the option to be stored in the recipient’s address book, and to be shared to or sent through another platform, such as through email and various messaging platforms.
Despite the added factor of geolocation being included in Blinq, Linq and Mobilo’s exchange of information, there does not seem to be a way to disable that feature for Linq and Mobilo via their companion apps. Blinq clearly indicates an option to disable their “where we met” feature, removing geolocation marking of where you and a contact met. Sharing personal information such as location and not being able to easily disable that feature may be detrimental. The New York Times explains this thought further, “location tracking raises numerous privacy concerns about who can snoop into your whereabouts”.
Popl includes the dates for when connections were made, which is a helpful feature when recalling the circumstances under which a contact was met
Similarly, Covve makes note of when a contact was saved
V1CE offers the option to share birthdays, however that information is not commonly used in a business setting.
It must be noted that Mobilo offers extensive lead generation features, enabling users to customize the questions that the recipient receives upon tapping the contactless card on their phone. Mobilo also enables link tracking, allowing users to see how many people click on their profile links.
The images above are screenshots of what a contact would receive when tapping the contactless cards on their phone. Each company is labeled beneath their respective companion app screenshot.
Features for Companies
| Onboarding process | Business branded pages | Customization locking |
Blinq | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Covve | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Linq | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Mobilo | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Popl | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
V1CE | ✔ | | ✔ |
When looking to take on a card solution as an organization, we found the onboarding processes, page branding, and customization locking options to be significant factors.
Each company provides an onboarding process that includes one-on-one sessions to guide the admin user on how to use their digital business card and how to navigate the companion app, as well as the process of setting up admin accounts. Additionally, each company offers support through its blogs to complete onboarding processes and provide guides on how to use its card solutions.
When looking to onboard a new employee, or offboard one who is leaving the organization, Blinq, Linq, Mobilo, and Popl offer integration features to allow for data to be updated in real-time. Covve allows companies to preload data by sending a CSV/Excel file and they further informed us that a company administration portal will be made available later this quarter.
Blinq, for example, takes a more “hands-off” approach, and preloading data can only be done through their ‘Teams’ dashboard. V1CE offers a similar solution as Covve, whereby onboarding or offboarding an employee would be achieved by an admin within their app, or by sending the required changes to an account manager.
Additionally, each company allows for an admin to manage each card and offers a feature for companies to limit the extent of customization for each employee, which is key for maintaining brand consistency.
The page branding feature enables an organization to further extend its brand’s presence and offers teams the ability to create unique identities for themselves. All companies offer the feature of business branded pages.