BIZTAP guide
How to put your contact details behind a QR code
A QR code is a picture of a web address or a block of text. Point it at your contact details and anyone with a phone can save you in a few seconds. Four decisions decide whether it works.
Decide what the code opens
A code can hold a link to a card page, or it can hold the contact data itself. A link is short, so the code stays simple and scans easily, and you can fix a typo later without reprinting anything.
Contact data inside the code works without a connection, but the code gets denser and harder to scan, and you cannot change it once it is printed.
Make it easy to scan
- Print it large enough. About 2 to 3 cm square is workable on a business card, and bigger for a poster. A common rule of thumb is that a phone reads a code from roughly ten times its width away.
- Use dark squares on a light background and leave a blank margin around the code.
- Do not stretch it or put a logo over the middle unless you have tested the result.
Share only what you are happy to share
Anyone who scans the code can read what is behind it. Use a work email and a work number. Leave out your home address.
Plan for change
Titles move and numbers change. If the code points at a page you control, you update the page and the printed code stays correct. If the page is ever taken down, the code leads nowhere, so keep it online for as long as the code is in circulation.
Test before you print
Scan the code on at least two different phones, in the light where it will be used. Print one copy first.
Common questions
Does a QR code expire?
A plain code does not expire. It keeps pointing at whatever it was made from. If that is a page you later remove, the code will lead nowhere.
Is a QR code the same as an NFC card?
No. A QR code is a printed picture that a camera reads. NFC needs a chip inside the card. BIZTAP makes the QR image and the files. It does not make NFC hardware.