Free digital business card for trades and local services: what free actually gets you

A free digital business card is worth having when it is a real card your customers keep, not a trial that runs out or a link page with a logo in the corner. The useful kind lives in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet on the customer's phone, has its own QR code and link, and updates itself when your details change. You can get all of that without paying.

What free does not usually get you is the part that happens after the save: automatic follow-up messages, updates sent to every phone, more than one card, and numbers on who kept it. On echocard those sit in Pro. Free is the card itself, kept up to date, and it stays free for as long as you use it.

What a free digital business card should include

Before you build anything, check what the free plan actually gives you. A free card that does the job has five things:

• A card that lives somewhere the customer looks. A Wallet pass sits beside their bank cards. A web page waits to be found again.
• A QR code and a link. The code for the counter, the van and the invoice. The link for texts, emails and your social bio.
• Buttons that do something. Call, book, leave a Google review and save the contact, one tap each.
• Updates that reach the card already handed out. Change your number once and every saved copy changes too.
• No time limit. A free plan that stops after fourteen days is a trial, and your customers are left holding a dead card.

If a free plan misses the first or the last, it is not really giving you a card.

The three kinds of free digital business card

The phrase covers three quite different things, and the difference matters more than the price.

1. A link page. A web page with your photo, number and links. Free from plenty of services. The customer has to bookmark it or find the link again, and most never do.
2. A contact file. A vCard the customer saves to Contacts. Free and simple, but it is a copy: once it is saved, you can never change it, and it has no buttons for booking or reviews.
3. A Wallet pass. A card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. It stays linked to your business, so it updates, and its back holds the buttons you choose. Making one takes a service that can sign passes, which is why fewer free options exist.

The guide on whether you can put a business card in Apple Wallet explains why Wallet only takes passes, and why a contact or a PDF will not go in.

What echocard's Free plan includes

Free is one card, in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. iPhones get the Apple Wallet version, Android phones get the Google Wallet version, and the same code serves both.

• Your card, company or personal, with your logo, banner or photo, and up to three short lines on the front such as your phone, hours or licence number.
• A QR code and a link that never change, so you can print the code on the van and put the link in your email signature.
• Your own card page, which is where the code and link land and where the customer taps to save.
• The back of the card, with your buttons: book, call, review, your website, plus Save contact.
• Updates on every phone. Edit a detail and every saved copy updates on its own, usually within a minute.
• Unlimited saves. There is no cap on how many customers can keep your card.

You build it on your phone in a web browser. There is no app for you or your customers to download, and you do not enter card details to start.

Tap ••• on the card and it turns over. A cleaner might put Book a clean first, a handyman might lead with Call or text. The order is yours to set.

What Free does not do

Being clear about this up front saves a surprise later. On the Free plan:

• No automatic follow-ups. Pro sends a thank you the day after a customer saves your card and a reminder a month on, as messages on their lock screen. Free does not send messages.
• No updates to every phone. Pro lets you send a message such as "closed Friday for the long weekend" to everyone holding your card. On Free, the card itself updates, but nothing lights up the customer's screen.
• No numbers. Pro shows how many phones have your card, which buttons get tapped and where saves came from. Free does not show them.
• One card only. A company card and a personal card for each person on the team is Pro.
• No website button. The save-our-card button for your own site is Pro.

Pro is US$9.99 a month and you can cancel at any time. If you cancel, your first card carries on exactly as it was, and nothing on a customer's phone is lost. The help article on what is in Free and what is in Pro sets out the difference line by line.

How to make a free digital business card

1. Open echocard.co/start on your phone and sign in with your email. There is no password.
2. Put in your business name, trade, logo and phone number, and pick a colour. The preview shows the real Wallet card as you type.
3. Add your booking link and your Google review link so the buttons on the back work.
4. Scan the code on screen to put the card in your own Wallet, so you can hold it up for customers to scan.
5. Download the QR code from the Share page and put it where customers see it: the van, the counter, the bottom of every invoice.

That is the whole setup. The guide on adding a business card to Apple Wallet shows what your customer sees when they scan.

When free is enough, and when it is not

Free is enough when you want a card that people keep and that is never out of date. If you are tired of reprinting cards every time your number or prices change, Free solves that on its own.

Pro earns its place when you want the card to bring work back without you lifting a finger: the thank you that asks for a review, the reminder when the gutters or the oven are due again, and a way to see whether any of it is working. Start on Free, and upgrade when you want the follow-ups. Your card, its code and every copy already saved stay the same.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free digital business card for Apple Wallet?

Yes. echocard's Free plan gives you one business card as a pass in Apple Wallet, with its own QR code and link, at no cost and with no time limit. The same card is offered to Android phones in Google Wallet.

Is a free digital business card really free, or is it a trial?

On echocard, Free is not a trial. It costs nothing for as long as you use it, and you do not enter card details to sign up. Check the plan on any service you try: a card that stops working after a trial leaves your customers holding nothing.

Do my customers have to pay or download an app?

No. Customers scan your code or tap your link and save the card to the Wallet app already on their phone. They never sign up for anything.

Can I update a free digital business card after I have shared it?

Yes. On echocard, changing a detail updates every copy already saved in a customer's Wallet, on Free as well as Pro. Paper cards, PDFs and saved contacts cannot do that.

What does the free plan not include?

Automatic follow-up messages, updates sent to every phone, your numbers, more than one card and the website button are all part of Pro, which is US$9.99 a month.

The short version

A free digital business card is worth having when it is a real Wallet card with a QR code, a link and buttons, that updates itself and never expires. echocard's Free plan is exactly that, in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. Follow-ups, updates sent to every phone and your numbers are Pro. See how it looks for cleaning services, or start for free and have your card in your own Wallet in five minutes.