Whether you’re venturing into your first professional career or you’re the owner of a small business, you’re probably already well-versed on the importance of business cards. A well-designed, professionally printed business card helps to get your name out there – it’s vital for increasing brand recognition and turning passing interest into sales.
But how many business cards should you order, exactly? Printing websites often allow you to order as few as 50 or as many as 15,000 business cards at once, but how many is right for you? And is there any downside to having too many business cards on hand?
There’s nothing more crucial than ensuring you never run out of business cards to hand to interested peers, professional contacts and clients. Today, we’re going to talk about the various factors that might affect the number of cards you need to order to ensure your success.
What Are Business Cards Used For?
A business card is an important advertising tool that allows you to get your company name and information out there. The purpose of a business card is:
1. To increase brand recognition and awareness (if the card is for a company)
2. To make it easier for clients and potential customers to contact you
3. To keep your business in the forefront of your target audience’s mind
4. To advertise your branding, company ethos, products and services
5. In the case of personal business cards, to introduce yourself to potential professional contacts, and get your name out there
If your customers and clients don’t have one of your business cards on hand, it will be more difficult for them to find out about the products and services you’re offering. You need to have enough business cards on hand that you can easily whip one out when needed, and won’t be frantically patting your pockets or tearing your office apart when someone asks for one.
Mistakes are often made by those unknowledgeable of how many business cards they need to advertise for their business successfully. You may think that 100 business cards, for example, sounds like a lot – but in the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t. They can fly away from you all too quickly.
When you consider just how important business cards are for your business, it will become obvious why ordering enough of them is a necessity.
What Will You Do with Your Business Cards?
The best way to determine how many business cards you should order is to look at what you intend to do with them.
1. Are you going to hand them out in person – for example, to customers that come into your place of work?
2. Are you going to pass them out at events (such as trade shows, conventions, or markets)?
3. Are you going to glue them onto your packages, or include them with every customer’s order?
These are all questions that should be answered to determine just how many business cards you need.
Handing Out Business Cards in Person
If you’re going to hand out your business cards in person (for example, to customers who visit your store or premises) then there’s no doubt that you’ll want to order a large quantity.
You’re almost guaranteed to be handing them out during business hours, so you’ll want enough business cards so that you can hand them out for the entire day while also being able to order more if need be. (Here’s a handy hint – if you use a printing site such as 123Print, you’ll be able to save your design and easily order more when needed.)
You’ll also need a business card holder to keep on your desk or at your shop’s checkout, so that clients can help themselves to a card whenever they please. Ensure you’ve got a stockpile of business cards nearby, so that staff can top up the card holder regularly.
We’d recommend ordering at least 1,000 cards for this use, depending on the size of your business and how quickly you get through them.
Distributing at Events
If you’re planning on passing out business cards at trade shows, conventions, festivals or markets, it’s easy to underestimate the amount needed. You’ll find that your target market will be there in person (whether it’s customers or peers), so they can easily take them from you.
The other thing that you need to consider is how many people will be at the event itself. The more people who attend the event, the more business cards you’ll need.
If you bring only a few dozen cards with you, you may find that you run out halfway through the day. This is a disaster, as you likely won’t be able to just nip away and get more – leaving anyone else who’s interested in your business high and dry.
If you bring more cards than you think you’ll need – say, around 500 cards – there’s a lower possibility of this happening. (You can always take the excess home with you to use another time.)
Including Business Cards with Customer Orders
If you are going to glue your business cards onto your packages, or slip a business card into every customer’s order, you will most likely need many business cards to ensure you don’t run out.
When existing customers have easy access to a business card with your logo and company information on it, you know they will be more likely to remember you, which can turn them into repeat customers.
Take an estimate of how many orders you’ve fulfilled in the past weeks or months, and then factor in any sales growth that you expect in the near future, based on things like seasonality and marketing campaigns. Then, take the number of orders that you expect to receive in your designated time period (6 months? A year?) and order at least twice as many business cards – so that you can be sure you won’t run out.
How Big is Your Business?
1000 business cards would be plenty for the vast majority of businesses and sole traders, at least to begin with. But if you’re an entrepreneur or have a high-ticket product, then something like 5000 would be more appropriate.
You’ll also want more if your company has multiple sales channels (i.e., direct mail, distributors). You’ll want to order them as soon as possible and make sure you set up a schedule to order more regularly.
It’s also important to keep in mind that if you’re handing out cards, they should be memorable — not just flimsy pieces of cardboard with your name, company name, and logo printed on them. The most practical way to do this is with personalised, full-colour business cards.
The following are some of the main factors that determine how many business cards you should order:
1. The extent to which you’re going to distribute your business cards beyond the sales staff and clients you already have. For instance, if you’re going to be distributing cards to potential distributors, then suddenly it becomes necessary for you to order more.
2. How many employees and/or salespeople do you have in your company — will they all be distributing business cards too? How many clients and customers will they each meet on a daily or weekly basis?
Do You Have Expansion Plans?
In other words, how quickly does the company need to grow? Take a look at your forecasting, and the number of potential new customers that your company might need to target within a specified period. This can sometimes be difficult to determine because it depends on market conditions and growth opportunities. It also depends on the nature of the industry. But in general, if you’ve got plans for your business to grow and expand, think ahead and order more cards than you currently need.
However, if you are a growing business, be mindful of the fact that if you’re planning to do any of the following in the near future:
1. Move to a different premises
2. Change the name of your business
3. Change your website domain address
4. Expand your social media accounts (start a TikTok or a Facebook page, for example)
5. Change your phone number
Then it’s probably best to avoid ordering thousands of business cards right now. If you change any details that are included on the card, you’ll need to replace them.
Where Can I Order Business Cards?
Some of the most common mistakes that people make when ordering business cards are:
1. They erroneously believe that a small order of business cards will do “for now” – and then end up having to place another order fairly quickly, and paying postage again. This postage cost adds up over time!
2. They go for the cheaper option – or even try to print business cards themselves (never a good idea unless you’re a professional!)
3. They fail to consider their business’s potential long-term and short-term growth, and therefore fail to plan for the future
The bottom line is that if you’re unsure how many business cards to order, then the best bet is to order more than what you think is necessary. Having too many business cards is always better than running out.
High-quality business card printing has never been more affordable or more accessible at 123Print.
With the introduction of the web, people are finally waking up to the fact that they can get anything they want, whenever they want it. This includes designing their own personalised business cards, and having them professionally printed on demand.
Check out our website to see our full range of products and services, including thousands of business card templates to get you started. Our easy editor allows you to quickly and effortlessly edit the design to your liking, and we always aim to ship orders within 48 working hours. With a 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back, what’s not to love?