What is a Contact Card?
A Contact Card is a Virtual Contact File (.vcf or vCard), which is a standard file format for storing contact information for a person or business. The file commonly includes a name, address, phone number, email address, logo and other contact information. Contact Card files also support custom fields, images, and other types of media.
💡 .vcf file attachments are not supported on 10-digit long codes (10 DLC).
What are the benefits of sending Contact Cards?
Sending a Contact Card as a part of your SMS program helps with branding for the overall customer experience, and it also allows link preview rendering in iOS. Subscribers can add this file to their contacts, and, when they do, they will see the company name and logo in their messaging app (instead of just the sender code).
In addition, Android devices may flag unknown contacts with a spam warning every time you open the message thread. Adding a contact card will stop this spam warning from appearing. The images below show what this might look like on an Android device before and after saving the contact card to the device.
Before Adding a Contact Card  | After Adding a Contact Card  |
How do I create a Contact Card?
There are several ways you can create a contact card:
Most email providers, such as Outlook and Gmail, allow you to create a contact card in their interface. Click the links to learn how:
In Google Accounts
Open the Contacts Application (this can be accessed within the Google menu in your Gmail account).
Click Create New Contact for your brand in the sidebar, if necessary.
Click Export in the sidebar and select the brand contact.
Select the vCard option in the export popup.
Create the card directly on your mobile device.
Create it in another file format, such as CSV, and convert it using a conversion software.
💡 Listrak recommends creating the file directly as vCard of .vcf type when possible.
How do I use a Contact Card?
Contact Cards are saved in a text format, which means you can view the contents in a text editor. They may also include a block of binary data, which is often used to store a photo.
Send a 1-time MMS broadcast message to your existing contacts with the file attached. Include instructions about what to do with the card and the benefits of downloading the file.
In a List Subscription Journey, include an MMS message as part of the subscription flow with the file attached.
How do my contacts use the Cards?
Users can load vCards directly into the device's Contacts app.
💡 Helpful Tips
To work with iOS devices, your Contact Card must be saved to the subscriber's contacts.
Subscribers must have a mobile phone that is compatible with this functionality.