punch.ninja: our own link pages for NFC product buyers
Clients buying our NFC products were paying other services, like Linktree, for the landing pages those products opened. With our CEO, I chose to launch our own link page product on open source software instead of building one, so clients could buy the hardware and the software from one place. Then I designed the plans and the custom branded pages that made it worth paying for. More than 10 clients signed up in its first month, including Print Three, Fujifilm and Delta Air Lines.
One place to buy the NFC product and the page it opens
Link pages sold with our NFC products, run on open source software and priced to keep the print orders coming.
One product, two suppliers
We sold the NFC product. Someone else got paid for the page. We wanted to be the one place clients could buy both: the hardware and the software.
A client buys NFC products from bigDAWGS
Each one needs a landing page to open
They pay another service, like Linktree, for that page
A client buys NFC products from bigDAWGS
Each one needs a landing page to open
They get the page on punch.ninja, from us too
Would buyers move their page to us?
Before proposing anything, I spoke with about 5 customers already buying our NFC products: would they move their landing page to us if we offered one with the product?
Who I asked
About 5 customers already buying our NFC products.
What I heard
They liked the idea of one supplier for the NFC product and the page it opens.
What it told me
The page couldn’t be a separate product. It had to come with the NFC product, from bigDAWGS.
Build or adopt
We had no link page product, and building one meant months of engineering with no revenue in the meantime. With our CEO, I weighed three options.
Build our own
Months of engineering before the first dollar came in.
Resell another company’s tool
The client’s page would still live on someone else’s platform: the problem we started with.
Adopt LinkStack, open source, on our own server
Our engineer deployed it on our server. We had a paying client within two months, customers stayed with us, and the time went into the part people actually see.
What it cost
LinkStack decides how the page builder works. Anything custom had to live in templates and pages, not in the software.
Two ways to get a page
Self serve keeps the entry price low. Custom design is where a print and design company has an edge over Linktree, so that is what people pay more for.
They build it from templates
The client builds their own page from LinkStack’s ready made templates.
- Cheap to run
- No design time per client
- Set up by the client, on their own
I design it in their brand
A custom page in the client’s own brand, so the NFC product in their hand and the page it opens look like one thing.
- Designed by me for each client
- Built by me with Antigravity, an AI coding tool
- The reason to pay for a higher plan
The idea: the product and its page read as one thing
Custom pages, designed in the client’s brand
One for a client, and two samples I designed for our CEO’s launch video, so buyers in retail and restaurants could picture their own. The video said they were samples.
Plans that bring the print orders back
A link page on its own is a $9 product. bigDAWGS makes its money on print. After researching what to charge and reviewing it with our CEO, I set up three families of plans, each one tied to the physical product. A client can start free and move up as they use it.
Digital Hub
$0 to $49 a month
Free · Launch · Standard · Professional
The client’s own page. Free is ad supported. Paid plans add setup help, no ads and a yearly allotment of cards; from Standard up, monthly design hours from our Creative Concierge.
Capture Engine
$149 to $349 a month
Core · Growth · Pro
We design and build custom landing pages and lead capture forms for the client’s campaigns, with more design hours and more cards each year.
Precision
$499 and $799 a month
Core · Growth
For large companies that hand NFC products to their own clients. Each serial coded chip is linked to the person who gets it, so one tap opens a page made for them: their name, a personal message, a design for their needs.
Variable print, but for landing pages.
Every paid plan ships NFC cards or magnets every year, from 25 cards on Launch to 400 on Capture Pro. The subscription keeps the print side busy instead of competing with it.
The plans as clients saw them
Drag or use the arrows
Dashboard
What happens when someone taps
No app to install. The NFC product opens the client’s page, and every tap and lead comes back to the client.
Tap
Someone taps the client’s NFC product with their phone.
The page opens
The client’s punch.ninja page opens in the browser. No app needed.
They act
They fill in the contact form or follow the client’s links.
The client sees it
Every tap and lead shows up in the client’s dashboard.
Who signed up first
What they liked was getting the NFC products and the page from one supplier. Two of the first clients built their pages from templates; Delta Air Lines got a custom page I designed.
Built their page from LinkStack’s ready made templates.
Built their page from LinkStack’s ready made templates.
A custom page in Delta’s brand, designed and built by me.
Earn first, then build the storefront
We launched on a ready made website so punch.ninja could start earning quickly. The plan was that once revenue came in, I would research and design a proper customer facing site: a clear structure, and plans grouped by who is buying, so a large company, a small business and an individual each see what fits them. The goal was a Linktree competitor that also sells the hardware.
A ready made website
Live quickly, so punch.ninja could start earning.
A customer facing site
Plans grouped by who is buying: