Someone writes the business card’s obituary every year. LinkedIn exists, QR codes exist, and two phones held together can swap contacts in a second. As a way of passing on a phone number, the card lost that fight about ten years ago.
But watch what people do when they’re handed one. They don’t scan it into their phone on the spot. They turn it over and feel the weight of it, maybe run a thumb across the print. Within a few seconds they’ve decided something about you, and that impression stays with the business long after the card has gone in a pocket.
That’s the card’s real job now. And because so few businesses bother any more, a good one stands out more than it used to.
What a business card is for now
A business card is the only part of your brand someone can physically hold. Your website, pitch deck and Instagram grid all live on a screen. The card has weight and texture, and people read those choices a bit like they read a handshake.
A thin, glossy card crammed with information suggests a business that buys the cheapest version of everything. Heavy stock, good print and plenty of empty space suggest a business that makes decisions on purpose. That isn’t always a fair judgement, but people make it instantly and it tends to stick.
The cheapest part of your brand to get right
Most brand touchpoints are expensive to change. A new website is a project, a rebrand takes months, and packaging comes in minimum runs of thousands. Good cards on heavy stock cost around 50p each. Even a run of letterpress cards with foil usually comes to a few hundred pounds.
For a small business, not much else gives you as much for the money. A card won’t fix a weak brand, but it’s a quick way to show off a strong one. It’s also a useful test. At 85 by 55 millimetres there’s nowhere to hide, so if your logo, type and colours still hold up at that size, the identity is working. If the card only looks finished once you’ve filled it with taglines and icons, that tells you something about the brand itself.
When to print, and when to skip it
Print them if you meet people face to face. That covers trades, agencies, consultants, founders who pitch, and anyone who spends time at events. A card handed over in person gets more attention than a follow-up email sitting among forty others the next morning.
Print them if you’re selling quality. If your pitch leans on words like craft, detail or premium, turning up with nothing physical to back that up works against you, and a card is the cheapest way to back it up.
Skip them if your customers never meet you. If you run an online shop or a SaaS business that goes to a couple of conferences a year, a QR code on your lanyard will do. Put the money into the website instead, since that’s what your customers actually see.
What to put on it
Less than you used to. Old cards listed five ways to contact you and a full postal address, because back then each of those was a genuine way for work to come in. Now one is enough, and the fewer things you put on the card, the more confident the rest looks.
What a card should carry
A complete card has your name, your role if it adds something, one way to get in touch (usually an email or website) and your logo, set properly. Leave the rest empty. That space is doing a job. It tells people you don’t feel the need to shout, which is one of the most premium signals a small brand can give off.
QR codes are fine, as long as they go on the back, small and lined up with the rest of the layout. Think of them as plumbing. They’re useful, but you don’t put the plumbing on the front of the house.
Spend the money on the material
If people judge a card by how it feels, that’s where the budget should go. We wouldn’t go below 400gsm ourselves. Duplexed stock, where two sheets are bonded together, feels more like an object than a piece of paper, especially with a contrasting colour showing at the edge. Uncoated paper takes type well and ages nicely in a wallet. Letterpress pushes the design into the paper so you can actually feel it. Foil is only worth it when the rest of the card is quiet enough for it to stand out.
Print fewer, but better ones. Two hundred cards people actually notice will do more for you than two thousand they’re just polite about.
Frequently asked questions
Are business cards still worth it in 2027?
As a way of sharing contact details, not really, because a QR code or tapping phones is quicker. As a physical sign of how much care a business puts into its work, yes. It’s the cheapest branded thing you can put in someone’s hand, and the only part of your brand they can actually hold.
What should a business card include in 2027?
Less than most people think: your name, your role if it adds something, one way to reach you, and your logo set properly. You can drop the full postal address, the long list of contact details and the tagline. Let the paper, the print and the empty space do the work.
How much do good business cards cost?
Good digital print on heavy stock is roughly 50p to £1 a card in small runs. Letterpress, duplexed or foiled cards are more like £2 to £5 each. Either way it’s one of the cheapest branded items you’ll ever pay for, and most of the value comes from the design thinking behind it.
