Hello! We use a few cookies to find out where our Networkers come from and how they use the site, is that ok for you? Learn more

Measuring the effectiveness of business cards at professional trade shows (2025 guide)

Rédacteur Elsa
Antoine Payre
CEO & Co-founder
15/4/2025
Illustration from the blog post about business cards

One professional business card well-designed is not limited to a name, address, and telephone number.

Its graphic design, colors, font, and print quality play an essential role.

Opt for a high-end business card with a personalized touch can make a difference and strengthen your branding.

With the digital age, a digital business card also offers numerous advantages, facilitating the establishment of relationships and allowing a more accurate follow-up of the contacts generated.

So how do you create a map that sets you apart and measure its effectiveness?

We answer it in this article!


What is a trade show?

One Trade show Is a happening where businesses and professionals come together to present and promote their products, services and technologies specific to their sector of activity.

They offer exhibitors the opportunity to meet potential customers in person, from make contacts with other professionals in their sector and to stand informed of trends and news of their market.

Salon professionnel
Trade show


Figures and objectives of trade shows

The market for fairs and exhibitions in France is valued at €5 billion. In France, approximately 1,200 fairs and exhibitionss are organized every year, with 230,000 exhibitors and more than 23 million visitors.

Source: BusinessScoot.

However, it is important to note that these numbers vary considerably depending on a variety of factors such as the size of the event, the industry, the number of attendees and exhibitors, and other economic factors.

Despite the post-health crisis slowdown, a trade show remains a essential in B2B.


Therefore, it is absolutely necessary monetize your participation in it and get leads.

This constitutes a opportunity that you, as salespeople or business managers, must absolutely exploit while measuring your return on investment.


Why participate in a trade show in 2025?


Methods to measure the effectiveness of your classic business card at these events

In 2025, there are several easy ways to track the impact of your business cards at a trade show:

  • QR code tracking : by using personalized and unique QR codes for each lounge on your business cards.
    You can easily track how many people scanned it to access additional information about your business.


create your business card with a qr code
  • Promotional offer : If your business card contains a special offer or promotional code, you can easily track conversions by monitoring sales or signups on your website or newsletter.
    For example, you can offer a special price to anyone who brings you your business card or signs up for a newsletter.

    Therefore, it allows you not only to measure how many people took a business card, but also how many people actually showed interest in your business.
Carte de visite avec une offre promotionnelle
Promotional offer on a business card

  • Follow-up of interrogatories : You can also measure the effectiveness of your business card by tracking the number of inquiries you receive from potential customers after the trade show.
    You can encourage visitors to email you, call you, or fill out a contact form on your website to learn more about your business.
  • Selective distribution : It is important to distribute your business card selectively at trade shows. By carefully choosing who you give your business card to, you can more easily measure its effectiveness.
You can distribute your business card to people who match your target customer base or to people who have shown an interest in your products or services.

If you really want to stay in touch with someone, Make sure he gives you his card in return.

  • Count the number of business cards handed out : it is a key indicator of your success. If you've dealt out all of your business cards, you can consider it a success.
    If you still have a lot left at the end of the show, it may be a sign that your business card hasn't garnered enough interest.
  • Ask for an opinion/comment : If you met interesting people at the show, don't hesitate to ask them what they thought of your business card.
    This will give you an idea of the impact your map has had on them and will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your design.
  • A business card that It really makes an impression will potentially push your prospect to contact you again.
Carte de visite originale pour un fromager
Original business card for a cheesemonger


The limitations of these methods

When your sales team devotes a considerable time At trade shows, it is essential to ensure that all information collected or exchanged, including business cards, is captured reliably.

This is necessary in order to maximize the impact of your team on your target audience and to optimize your long-term sales strategy.

While these methods are useful, they also present some limits to consider.

  • Difficulty tracking interactions : Business cards do not always allow you to track interactions between your sales representatives and prospects or customers.
    Information such as topics of discussion, identified needs, and follow-up actions to be taken can be easily forgotten or lost.
  • Low response rate  : Your salespeople may receive business cards from people who are not interested or who will not respond later.
    This may result in a waste of time and effort for salespeople who need to sort and manage collected contacts.
  • Compatibility issues  : Business cards can be difficult to integrate into systems of customer relationship management (CRM) due to compatibility issues.

Additionally, manually entering contact information from business cards can be Time-consuming and susceptible to errors, which can make it difficult to effectively manage contacts collected at a trade show.

In addition:

  • Printing hundreds of business cards with a unique QR Code for each trade show is extremely polluting and expensive.
  • It is common for business cards to be lost or forgotten at trade shows.
  • 80% Business cards are discarded within 2 weeks after their exchange, which makes them fast Inefficient.

Finally:

  • Update All this data remains intricate and calculating the return on investment remains very perilous.
  • It is possible that the interrogatories that you receive after a trade show are not not directly related to your business card.
    Visitors may have obtained your contact information from other sources such as your website or your stand at the event.

For all of these reasons, it's hard to know if your business card actually helped generate these inquiries.


Luckily, there is an alternative to traditional business cards.
This is the connected business card, or NFC business card.


Measure your effectiveness in the salon using an NFC business card

Les NFC business cards Today constitute the best solution to measure your impact at trade shows.

Indeed, these allow you to track the use of your card and your meetings professionals related to these events.

They offer you a advanced analysis to understand the effectiveness of your cards.
With accurate measurement tools, you can understand their real impact and optimize your strategy for better results.

Chez Cardynale, we offer you a 3 in 1 solution.

A map (physical or virtual) to share your contact details.

📱 A mobile app to list your encounters.

✏️ A web platform to manage your information and your team.

The Cardynale business card is equipped with an NFC chip and a QR Code on the back, to share everything What matters to you instantly: contact details, commercial brochures, social networks etc.

Your contact can be directly saved in your prospect's directory, which limits losses and omissions.

book a call with cardynale

Once your contact is registered, your prospect can directly leave you their contact details via a contact exchange form.
This encounter is automatically listed in the free application Cardynale.

This enforcement allows you to contextualize your meetings at the end of your day for example.

So, You stay in touch with all your meetings to do Grow your business.

You can also scan paper business cards from within the app to automatically create a new contact.

application Cardynale
Cardynal application

Using the”notes”, don't forget any more information about your prospects.

Briefly write down your topic of discussion or the needs of your prospect in the Notes section.

Then add a Tag to sort easily your meetings.

You can now recontact these different people knowing what the conditions of your meeting and your conversations were.

Économisez de l'argent et protégez l'environnement 😎

Calculez votre retour sur investissement en adoptant la carte Cardynale

Économies annuelles 💶 : 0

Arbres sauvés 🌳 : 0

Émissions de CO2 réduites 💨 : 0 kg



Your commercial approach will be much more effective!

  • Following the purchase of your NFC business card, you also have access to our Cardynale dashboard for personalize your profile digital and manage your teams salespeople and other collaborators.
  • Thanks to the offer Business, get access to advanced statistics on the use of cards such as uses and prospects, the number of CO2 saved, etc.
  • These advanced statistics will considerably help to measure the ROI of your salespeople at trade shows. Follow your results in real time and give yourself the means to increase your commercial performance tenfold.
  • In addition, you will be able to export easily your meetings to your CRM.

→ Thus, buying a Cardynale will allow you to increase your efficiency in exchanging and collecting data from your contacts.

traditionals business cards vs cardynale

What if I am not comfortable in the living room?

Too many people? Not sure how to approach the stands?

There are not only trade shows for doing business, if you are an entrepreneur, you can also turn to business clubs.

The aim of business clubs is toswap your ideas, establish contacts and find opportunities of collaboration.

An NFC business card is then useful for network and to analyze your return on investment at the end of these business clubs.

Business club members may come from different sectors of activity, but they often share common interests In terms of business development And of growth of their business.

Business club JustOneCard
Business Club B&You created on the premises of Cardynale


Conclusion

In a trade show, a well-designed business card is still a communication tool essential for establishing contact and leaving a trace with a large number of prospects.

Whether you opt for a traditional business card made of quality paper with a high-end finish (such as selective varnish or creative design) or for a digital business card, the main thing is to effectively transmit your branding.

Digital business cards bring a new dimension to the professional network by facilitating lead capture and by offering direct access to your website or contact details.

This innovative format also makes it possible to add a link, to appear on the internet and to optimize your visibility without the constraints of printing.

Whatever your approach, a well-designed tour is essential to stand out from the competition.

Remember to take care of each visual element: logo, name, name, typography, typography, color, format, and ensure a creative design that reflects your professionalism.

By combining the best of the digital and the tangible, you can maximizing impact of your communication medium and make your trade shows a success for sure!


create your free virtual business card
Create your digital business card for free
Create my card
Subscribe to our newsletter
Enter email
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.