When party-planning service Punchbowl expanded into digital greeting cards last fall, it emphasized creating a beautiful experience, just as it did with its party invitations. But CEO Matt Douglas says that for some users, a key piece was still missing — you often don’t just want to send a card, but a gift too.
That’s where the company’s new integration with Amazon.com comes in. Punchbowl is now an authorized reseller of Amazon Gift Cards, so you can include a digital gift card of between $25 and $500 (without an expiration date) along with your digital greeting. The news is coming out just barely before Mother’s Day (that’s this Sunday, for the delinquent among you), so if you need a last-minute save, this could be the right option.
And it continues Punchbowl’s attention to detail and presentation. As Douglas showed me yesterday, when you receive a Punchbowl/Amazon combo, the greeting opens up to reveal the gift card within, almost as if you’d slipped a physical gift card inside a physical greeting. Plus, the gift and greeting card designs match.
This is a smart way for Punchbowl to monetize its free greeting card business. The company also has paid memberships for additional features, and it’s offering 25 free, yearlong Platinum memberships (a $99 value) to TechCrunch readers. Just go here and enter the code TCMOM25.
You can browse Punchbowl’s collection of Mother’s Day greeting/gift cards here.