How we hacked our business cards to optimize conversions
Everyone has a business card to give out at meetings. These cards are rather boring and after you hand one out, you can be pretty sure that the person will go home and forget all about it.
We were attending an event yesterday and decided to try something different.
Our Goals
Before we started out, we decided on some goals. We wanted:
- Something that will catch people’s attention when it is handed out
- A way for them to remember what we do
- Something that will grab their attention when they get back home
- A size that would fit in a pocket
After some brainstorming, we decided to use Sean Murphy’s 3×5 technique. The gist of the technique is to carry a bunch of 3×5 index cards which have a list of pain points on one side, and your solution on the other. 3×5 is a convenient size that fits in a pocket, and the small size forces you to be compact with content.
We then looked at the information on a regular business card and started eliminating anything that was unnecessary. First to go was the address — does anyone use it these days? We also removed the job title. So that left us with the logo, name, email and phone number.
Finally, we put in a QR code. When scanned, the code opens up the email client and sends me an email. That way, when I get back home, all I need to do is to reply back to the email to establish contact with the person I met. Not only is it simpler to get in touch, but also adds a touch of engagement with the person I’m talking to.
To tie it all together, we added a couple of message boxes from Tour My App to give a more concrete idea of what the product looks like. It also gives the person an idea of how in-application tours can drive conversions.
Final design
The whole thing took 3 hours, from conceptualisation, to design, to a printed card.
Re-connecting with people as a conversion optimization problem
If we really think about it, re-connecting with people you meet at an event is really a conversion optimization problem. First, you need to talk to a lot of people. Some of them will have mutual synergies with what you do. So you exchange business cards. Finally, you go home and reconnect for a longer discussion.
When we look at it that way, then new ideas come up. For example, how can we optimize this funnel? So we thought, “what if the conversion action could be performed right there in the event itself”? Thats the idea of the QR code. In our case, it sends me an email. You can also set up a code that will load your website, show a demo, sign up a trial account or something else.
The Results
At the event, we had about 25% who took the card went ahead and scanned the QR code. Another 15% were interested in what Tour My App was about, but didn’t scan the code. The remaining 55% were not in our space and we just exchanged cards.
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