Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Send a Custom Postcard to Anywhere, from Your Phone, for $2.99

postcardbot.co

41–50 of 57 posts

Re: Show HN: Send a Custom Postcard to Anywhere, from Your Phone, for $2.99

#41
post #38

Any plans to send gifs as well? (gifpop.io is good inspiration)

At first I actually wasn't sure if you were joking or serious, but gifpop.io looks awesome. I'll start looking into how/if I can integrate.

However, If I sent my grandma a postcard that moved, she'd probably collapse :p

Re: Show HN: Send a Custom Postcard to Anywhere, from Your Phone, for $2.99

#42
post #39

This isn't a new Show HN since you've posted this before[1] with the domain postacard.io. What's changed since then? [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12427505

Actually, 4th time- here are two more submission from same user. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13272490 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13275228

Guilty as charged, with the stories.

Re: Show HN: Send a Custom Postcard to Anywhere, from Your Phone, for $2.99

#44
post #38

Any plans to send gifs as well? (gifpop.io is good inspiration)

At first I actually wasn't sure if you were joking or serious, but gifpop.io looks awesome. I'll start looking into how/if I can integrate. However, If I sent my grandma a postcard that moved, she'd probably collapse :p

Haha, totally serious about the gifs.

I'm surprised that none of the postcard bots (yours included) have targeted the Christmas/holiday card or wedding gift thank you market. None of them seem to offer bulk discounts or options for uploading a csv or better yet integration with iOS or Gmail contacts.

Average number of wedding guests in America is 150, iirc.

Re: Show HN: Send a Custom Postcard to Anywhere, from Your Phone, for $2.99

#46

There's somehow a contradiction between the service you're offering and the name of the service. Postcard BOT feels impersonal, cold and automated, while you associate a postcard with something warm, handwritten, personal. There's a risk that your target market (postcard lovers) might get turned off by the name (bot).

I tend to kindly disagree - while what you say is true for the people who love to write and receive postcards - this service is perfect for lazy people like me. The real postcard lovers will still want to buy the real thing and hand-write the message on there and probably wouldn't consider this kind of service either way.

Re: Show HN: Send a Custom Postcard to Anywhere, from Your Phone, for $2.99

#48

Sending a physical postcard from a mobile phone is a standardised activity: https://www.nowsms.com/oma-mms-postcard-conformance

The end user (my mother, sister etc.) definately wouldn't know that.

I remember when Youtube came out, and all the nerds said "I could write that easily, not that big a deal".

This is why knowing who your customer is (and what problem you're trying to solve) is essential.

Re: Show HN: Send a Custom Postcard to Anywhere, from Your Phone, for $2.99

#49
I worked on a few postcard apps about 5 years ago, for my experiments the economics were very difficult unless a) you charged a lot b) of recurring revenue c) for a niche. I gave up even when I found a viable model because I didn't want to spent the next 5 years working on this, thought I could make a lifestyle business but I think to be successful here you have to move a lot of postcards and that takes marketing muscle and ensuring a high CLTV. Margins are good but absolute profit is tiny. Also support costs will be high, people will be emailing you about lost postcards (inevitable given the many ways they can be lost, and they will be pissed) when you stand to make 30 cents. Giving one away for free seemed to help "validate" that delivery has an existence proof for a given address, but is very expensive.

Anyway free info: the thing that seemed to have legs was an app that lets parents send monthly postcards of babies. (Recurring, high margin.) Grandparents and other relatives still have the ones my friends sent on their fridge. I think if you took this idea and executed well you could be successful, but you would need marketing capital or capital to get a partnership with a big brand.

Good luck!

Re: Show HN: Send a Custom Postcard to Anywhere, from Your Phone, for $2.99

#50

This is a full rework of my original project, Postacard.io. The entire project has been completely rewritten. The new version includes a Messenger bot for international use without the SMS fees, as well as statistical NLP in address parsing for faster creation (from start to finish) and better accuracy internationally. FYI, for those of you using "UK" as your country code. The postcard service this uses recognizes "G…

Very impressive. Probably the first postcard 'app' I'll actually use.

If I type in an address and forget the zip code, it prompts me to enter the zip code. Except, now I have to re-enter the complete address, instead of just the missing part. Ideally, if I'm missing the zip code, I would just enter that and your bot would remember the rest of the address.

Otherwise, great work.

Post reply on HN