How Many Business Cards Should I Order?

how many business cards should i order

You’re thinking of upping your corporate game, right? Now you’re asking: How many business cards should I order?

You’re probably already aware of the huge boost that business cards can make to your business or your career. You also might already have worked out the best way to design your own. 

But now you have to get the number right. So, let’s dive in and work out how to optimize your business cards order!


Why Getting the Number Right Is Important

When considering how many business cards you need, the main factor is going to be cost. If you order too many cards and you don’t end up using them, it will be a big waste. 

At the same time, if you don’t order enough cards, you might end up having to pay more for two batches rather than one. 

How much do business cards cost?

Well, the best-designed business cards (tailor-made by a graphic designer) could cost anywhere around $500 for a batch of 500. But you can get large batches of cards for below $100.

Whether or not you can afford to spend too much on business cards is obviously personal. But let’s look at how to optimize the number for those of us it’s important to.


Getting Started

To answer this, let’s break the issue down into a number of smaller questions. This will help us make a more informed and balanced decision. Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be ready to find a business card maker.


How Long Are You Likely to Stay in This Position?

One of the important things you need to list on your card is your current position. For example, you might be the owner or an account manager. 

It may not be a good idea to get 1,000 business cards if you are likely to be promoted or shifted to a new position. If you are confident that your position won’t change for a while, don’t go too low and spend more money restocking. 


How Many Clients or Business Contacts Do You Meet?

If you only meet a new client or business associate every now and again, you might not need a lot of cards in the first place. Don’t get overexcited if you’ve just given out your first card. Wait and see how often it is necessary before you invest.


How Likely Are You to Rebrand?

Businesses change all the time, coming up with new logos, slogans, and other branding features. Investing a lot of money in branding your business cards may be a waste if the business changes its image. 


How Quickly Can You Get Business Cards?

Now you’re almost ready. But think about how long the turnaround will be on your order. Don’t rush to order -- you might have thousands of business cards you don’t need.

8 billion business cards are thrown out each year, so don’t be in too much of a rush!


How Many Business Cards Should I Order?

Once you’ve answered each of the questions above, you should be in a good position to answer the big question: How many business cards should I order? 

Not too many, not too few -- it’s all up to your answers to the questions above. Take the time to make a good decision and you won’t regret the investment. 

If you’ve found this business card advice useful, why not check out some of our other great articles to help you make more business decisions? We offer a wide variety of articles on sales, networking, offline marketing, print advertising, and much more here on Bootstrap Business.

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