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Digital Business Cards have 50x the response rate!

September 28, 2009 by Chris Record  
Filed under Direct Sales Tips, Recent Articles

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rsz ar123959038681484 Digital Business Cards have 50x the response rate!Answer this question seriously. If you pass out 100 business cards, how many responses do you end up getting? 1%? 5%? 10%?

I bet most of you get no more than a 1% response rate from your business cards yet we all use them every single day. I would propose to you that the traditional business card model is outdated and is not effective.

About 6 months ago I switched from regular business cards to digital business cards and I watched my response rate from prospective clients jump by over 50x!!!

I use the iPhone as my phone/PDA, and it has a cool notepad feature that allows me to type up notes and then email them to people. I decided to create a “digital business card note” and then everytime someone asks me for my business card, I tell them I have a digital business card and pull out my phone, ask them for their email address, and then send them the note.

The note includes all of my contact information and a paragraph asking them to reply to the email with their contact information as well to let me know that they received mine. What I love about using digital business cards is that I am automatically “following up” with my prospect, which was one of my weaknesses, because when they get home their is an email from me sitting in their inbox! Not to mention that digital business cards are FREE!

Another thing that I did was created a filter in my gmail account that organizes all of the digital business cards that I have ever sent out. This allows me to track all of their emails as well so that I can stay in touch with them or add them to a mailing list of some kind. It also allows me to see how many of my sent emails were directly responded to. I am pleased to announce that I currently have a 70% response rate to my new business cards! I love how technology helps to simplify our lives!

STEP 1:

CREATE THE DIGITAL BUSINESS CARD IN YOUR NOTEPAD

Digital Business Card

CREATE THE DIGITAL BUSINESS CARD IN YOUR NOTEPAD

STEP 2:

CLICK THE EMAIL BUTTON TO SEND THE NOTE AS A MESSAGE.

Digital Business Card

CLICK THE EMAIL BUTTON TO SEND THE NOTE

STEP 3:

ENTER THE EMAIL ADDRESS OF YOUR PROSPECTIVE CLIENT.

Digital Business Card

ENTER THE EMAIL ADDRESS OF THE RECIPIENT.

Another cool benefit is that you can log into your email client and you will have a record of everyone you have ever given your business card to!  I use Gmail and I simply do a search for sent messages that say “Digital Business Card from Chris Record”.  It gets even better though, because not only do I have an email database of everyone I have ever exchanged contact info with, but I can also identify which ones responded and which ones didn’t.  I can simply reply to the email I sent and remind them to respond with their contact information so that I have it on file.  The last time I did this I improved my response rate to well over 70%.  This is flat out one of the most effective strategies that an entrepreneur can use to get greater results.

What are your thoughts on this creative marketing strategy???

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  • I stopped buying business cards after I bought an Iphone and started using digital business cards. I've had more people respond to my digital business card then I've ever had with thousands of normal business cards. The only other hard copy business card I use these days is a $100 bill business card. These cards get more response then any other card I've ever used. Check them out at: www.100dollarleads.com
  • George, I also use $100 dollar bill business cards and they too work incredibly well. Some people expect a physical business card from you, so it's nice to have one, in which case those work the best.

    On the other hand I love using the note feature on my iPhone because it completely tracks a history of everyone that I have ever given a business card too. Imagine if you could pull up a contact list of every single person that you have ever handed your business card, and with the click of a button you could email them all. It's hard to beat.

    I think that the combination of the $100 doll bill business cards and the digital business cards is the best bet :)
  • billycampbell
    I am in a networking and marketing position for the company I work for. I used to hand out 200+ cards a month with people asking for another one two weeks later. With the e-card from my iphone, I have never gotten a request for another AND I get regular emails from the people I send my ecard to. Thank you Apple!
  • Billy,

    What a great testimonial. Here is a little tip. Log into your email account, and do a search for "digital business card for Billy Campbell" in your sent mail (or whatever the title of your note is). You can then create a filter called "Digital Business Cards" and this will keep an archive of all the cards you have ever sent out and who has replied.

    Then you can reply back to everyone that has not replied yet and check to make sure that they got your card in the first place. This is what took me from a 50% response rate to a 75% response rate nearly overnight!

    Another cool trick is that you can take that entire email list and invite those contacts to your Facebook profile as well. I have successfully converted about 1/3rd of my Digital Business Card recipients into Facebook friends, which is a powerful way to continue communication with them.

    There are so many amazing ways to use the benefits of these business cards!
  • stevenyoung
    This is a great idea as well. If you use Outlook to manage your mail there is a program called Xobni (free at xobni.com I believe) that automatically gives you the contact info from a persons email, including their linkedin and facebook page if they have one.
  • Steven, I have heard about Xobni before but since I don't use outlook I haven't yet tried it. I would love to hear your feedback with the combination of digital business cards and Xobni to manage the database. Let me know if you end up using it...
  • I love this idea.. Plus, it gives you their email address for your tickler file!
  • Yep Merrick. Getting the email address is the key because it allows you to stay in contact with people over a long period of time by "dripping" on them along the way. I always make sure to get their business card as well and then I use CardScan for Mac to create a database and that way I have their complete info, not just their email.
  • This is a great concept. I don't have an Iphone but found the DUB app for Blackberry which makes it easy to setup an electronic business card and you can exchange via email, mobile phone or with other DUB users. Thanks for the inspiration!
  • I am unfamiliar with the DUB app for Blackberry. Does that only work when dealing with other Blackberry users? Sounds like Bump for the iPhone. The reason that I don't use apps like that is because I want to get maximum exposure out of my digital business cards regardless of what cell phone someone uses. I am pretty sure that Blackberry has a notepad or memo pad feature and if you simply copy the instructions from this article I am sure you can set it up that way. Then, you can simply email that note to your new contacts.

    The key to this article is not so much the ability to hand out a digital business card, but the power of the high response rate. Is that something that can be measured easily with the DUB app?
  • While not perfect, the DUB app does allow you to exchange cards with anyone, they dont necessarily have to be DUB/Blackberry users, although it helps.
  • Name
    can u add your pic to the (DUB) card like a traditional business card?
  • markklanac
    What a great idea. I also have a blackberry so I'll be setting up a digital business card via the MemoPad that comes on BB. Very simple. Thanks for the tip.
  • Thanks! I haven't had a chance to set one up yet with a Blackberry. When you do, would you mind posting the steps here in the comments so that other Blackberry cell phone users can create digital business cards as well?
  • markklanac
    Instructions for Blackberry users -

    1. Create your Digital Business Card in MemoPad.
    2. After it is created, in order to send it select your business card and hit your 'menu' button.
    3. Select 'Forward As'.
    4. Select 'Email'
    5. Enter the person's email address and hit send.
  • jasonmccormick
    Chris,

    That is a great idea! Thank you and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
  • robertschanrhorst
    When creating the digital business card, is there a template to choose such as the one on your blog that looks like a yellow note pad? I have never heard of a digital business card until this morning when I signed up to your blog.
  • Robert, the template that I am using is the "Notes" feature on the Iphone. That is why it looks like that. In the end it just looks like an email when it reaches the recipient.
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