How to share your business card on WhatsApp (and get saved, not forgotten)
Seven practical ways to put your business card in front of people on WhatsApp, from the first message to your status, so they save your details instead of scrolling past them.
Door Wesley Sing, Oprichter van Newbi4 min lezen
In South Africa, the conversation that wins you work usually starts on WhatsApp. Someone gets your number from a friend, sends a message, and that chat is the first impression of your business. The trouble is that a WhatsApp chat is a poor business card. Your number arrives as a string of digits, your name is whatever they typed, and a week later you are one chat among hundreds.
Sharing a proper business card inside WhatsApp fixes that. Here are seven ways to do it, most of which take a minute to set up.
1. Send your card link, not a photo of a paper card
A photo of a printed card is the most common mistake. The numbers on it cannot be tapped, the email cannot be copied easily, and it is lost the moment the chat scrolls on.
Send the link to your digital card instead. WhatsApp shows a preview with your name and picture, and one tap opens a page where every number, email and address works. If your card has a Save contact button, one more tap adds you to their phone with your photo attached, so your name appears properly the next time you message them.
2. Put it in your WhatsApp Business profile
If you use the WhatsApp Business app, your profile has a website field. Put your card link there. Anyone who taps your name in a chat sees your business profile, and your card is one tap away, with your products, prices and booking times rather than just a description.
3. Save it as a quick reply
Quick replies are shortcuts for messages you send often. In the WhatsApp Business app you can store up to 50 of them. Save one with a short intro and your card link, give it a shortcut like /card, and you can send it in any chat in two taps:
Thanks for getting in touch. Here are all my details, prices and booking times in one place: [your card link]
4. Add it to your greeting message
The WhatsApp Business app can send an automatic greeting the first time someone messages you. Include your card link in it. New enquiries get your details immediately, even when you are on a job or asleep, and you look organised before you have typed a word.
5. Post it to your status now and then
Your status is seen by the people who already have your number, which makes it one of the few places you can remind existing customers you exist without messaging them directly. Every so often, post your card's QR code or a short line with the link, especially when you add a new product or open new booking slots. Statuses disappear after 24 hours, so it never clutters anything.
6. Show your QR code in person
When you meet someone face to face, you do not need them to type anything. Open your card on your phone, show the QR code, and they scan it with their camera. If they would rather chat, tapping the WhatsApp button on your card opens a conversation with you straight away, so you are in their chats before you have walked away.
7. Get ready for WhatsApp usernames
WhatsApp has started letting people reserve usernames, so that in future you can be found by a name instead of a phone number. If you would rather not hand out your personal number, keep an eye on this, and in the meantime let your card do the introducing: it can carry a WhatsApp button that opens a chat with the number of your choice.
What not to do
- Do not send a PDF brochure as your introduction. It is heavy on data, awkward to open on a phone, and nobody saves a PDF as a contact. Link to it from your card instead.
- Do not send your card to people who did not ask. Unsolicited messages get you reported and blocked, and WhatsApp restricts accounts that are reported often. Share your card when someone has shown interest.
- Do not bury your details in a long first message. One friendly line and one link does more than a wall of text.
Where Newbi fits
Every Newbi card has its own link and QR code, and can carry a WhatsApp button that opens a chat with you in one tap. When someone opens it, the Save contact button adds you to their phone with your photo, and anyone who is not ready to chat can leave their details, which arrive in your leads inbox. WhatsApp shows a preview with your name and picture whenever you send the link. It takes a few minutes to set up, and you can try it free for 14 days.