Why do we use business cards?

In a generation born with screens at their fingertips, various human realities have been gradually digitalized, even among those who were accustomed to paper business cards (to the point of exhaustion).

It might not cross the minds of younger people, but the importance given to a simple business card is incomparable to what it is today.

Anyone who, in their daily life, dealt with various individuals, whether a salesperson, administrator, secretary, or even a counter attendant at a brewery, had the habit of carefully keeping the business cards they received.

The importance of the business card was such that the expression 'business card' became a popular simplification to identify the first impression we convey to someone, such as 'this product is the business card of our organization.'

For example, in Japan, even today, receiving a paper business card is done with the utmost dignity possible, as it is an extension of the dignity of the person responding to the contact.

Japan Business Card
Image from Business Insider.

As soon as the internet and digital communications dominated work relationships, paper business cards continued to be produced, though in smaller quantities, becoming quickly dispensable.

When, until a few years ago, it was common to have files to store business cards, they became unusable due to the unavoidable application of contact information in digital devices.

 

Dossier Business Cards
Image from Live Simply

 

After companies established a regular presence on the internet and people started exchanging contacts by simply typing phone numbers or email addresses into a smartphone, digital business cards were born.

Digital business cards are basically vCard contact files associated with company links that can be easily incorporated into email signatures, text messages, or even QR codes that have become imperative on paper business cards in recent years.

And of course... business cards have become even more disposable.

But the questions remain: why does the need to have something physical persist? Is it simply a mental block in the digital transition? Why do so many entrepreneurs and employees continue to spend money and time to acquire a few paper copies?

American Psycho | Lions Gate Films
American Psycho | Lions Gate Films

 

In our opinion, based on feedback from hundreds of customers of the WalliM Card, the answer to these questions lies in the fact that the physical business card has a subliminal and predominant utility in the practice of networking, it is an authentic 'hammer' that breaks the ice in a spontaneous conversation at an event, in a presentation, or even in a negotiation.

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