Kipful vs. Cardynale: What is the best NFC business card?

Introduction

Do you want to renew your business cards or digitize your business?

Surely you have discovered NFC business cards. An eco-responsible and innovative solution, surpassing traditional paper business cards while reducing its carbon footprint.
Simply pass the NFC card on the back of a smartphone to share all your information with your customers.

This article compares two market leaders: Kipful and Cardynale.

Find out which of these solutions will best meet your business needs, by highlighting their benefits, features, and value for money.

General presentation

Kipful

Kipful is a French start-up founded by David Guiton and Benjamin Giraud in Combs La Ville, specializing in the printing of NFC business cards. Kipful offers a variety of media to easily share contact information via QR code or NFC.

A software created with Wordpress allows you to modify the information on your connected business card.

Cardynale

Cardynale, also A French start-up, founded by William Bellity and Antoine Payre, specializes in digital business cards.
Cardynale offers a complete solution with NFC cards, advanced management software and a mobile application, facilitating networking and contact management for professionals and businesses.

Cardynale's connected business cards are designed to last a lifetime, offering a practical and long-lasting solution.

Comparison of key features

NFC technology and connected card offers

Kipful:

• NFC PVC business card : Standard PVC card with Kipful brand on it or customized. Count €25 excluding VAT for the version with the Kipful logo, €55 to €60 excluding VAT for the personalized version.

• Wooden smart business card :
  Color printing: 40€HT for the card with the Kipful logo. Customizable version at 69€ HT.
  Laser engraving: 35€HT for the card with the Kipful logo. Customizable version at €63 excl. VAT.

• PVC & Metal (steel) hybrid business card : Hybrid card with one PVC side and one metal side.
  Color printing: 65€HT for the card with the Kipful logo. Customizable version at €109 excl. VAT.
  Laser engraving: 60€HT for the card with the Kipful logo. Customizable version at 89€ HT.

Kipful does not offer free digital business cards. You must buy an NFC card.

Cardynal:

All Cardynale business cards are Made in France, and available in non-personalized versions with the Cardynale logo, or customizable with your own logo.

• Recycled PVC card : Equipped with an NFC chip inside and a QR code printed on the back to effectively share your contact details.
  Count €17.9 excluding VAT with the Cardynale logo or €49 for the personalized version.

• Recycled wood card : Recycled cherry or maple card, laser engraving. Count between 30 and 60€ excluding VAT depending on personalization.

• Metal and PVC hybrid card : Hybrid card with a metal face and the back in recycled PVC. Silver or gold laser engraving.
  €59 excluding VAT for the Cardynale version and €79 excluding VAT for the personalized version.

• Digital business card : Cardynale offers a free digital business card, allowing you to share a complete profile with contact details, social networks, and documents. This profile can be shared directly via the Apple QR code or Google Wallet.

To get your digital business card for free: click here

Dashboards and profile management

Both solutions offer a dashboard to update information and summarize the information collected on prospects.

However, the two solutions are quite different in terms of ergonomics and functionalities.

Kipful:

• Offers a dashboard for updating business card information.
• It is possible to edit a profile, with the addition of a profile photo, cover, company name, and basic contact information.

• Customizable colors.

• Link customization is limited with the free offer.

• It is not possible to add a photo gallery to the profile.
• Addition of paid Calendly.
• It is not possible to include a video.
• No email signature.

Cardynal:

• Cardynale provides an ergonomic dashboard, allowing you to update information and personalize your profile.

• The digital profile includes all the necessary contact information (telephone number, website, social network...) and an add to the directory button.
• It is possible to add customizable buttons (also called widgets), include a video, a brochure, or a photo gallery to present a catalog for example.

• Free addition of Calendly (appointment scheduling module).
• Add an animation to the logo when the profile appears.
• An email signature can also be generated, in accordance with the information in the digital profile, to add it to the footer of the email and facilitate contact exchanges.

Cardynale goes much further in customizing the profile and offers unparalleled ergonomics on its platform.

Team management

Both solutions make it possible to manage team cards.

Kipful:

• Kipful allows you to create a Profile Manager who will be able to manage employee information.

• There is a multi-configuration feature to change multiple pieces of information at once.
• No trade statistics.

Cardynal:

• Cardynale is designed for teams with customization settings that can be extended to all members.

• A feature”template“, makes it possible to create models and assign them to members, to ensure the consistency of profiles among all collaborators.
• Importing from Excel files for bulk updating of information.
• Administration system to control access and changes to profiles.
• Possibility of block fields so that employees can only change certain data.
• Complete statistics on map uses, click tracking for the different types of buttons.

Contact exchange form

In order to collect the contact details of the people met, each solution offers an exchange form.

Kipful:

• Simple contact form, with option to activate or deactivate.

• However, it is not possible to add your own privacy policy. This can cause GDPR concerns for the complete processing of dating data, as Kipful recalls.

• No follow-up email.

Cardynal:

• It is possible to activate or not the form, which is revealed after the contact has been added.
• Simply add your own privacy policy to process contact data in full compliance with the GDPR.

• An automatic follow-up email can be sent to the meeting with the cardholder in copy, in order to be able to easily continue the discussion by email.

Mobile app

Cardynale stands out for providing a mobile application, with numerous functionalities to list meetings, contextualize them, and scan paper business cards.

Kipful:

• No dedicated mobile application.

Cardynal:

• Mobile application to manage leads, add tags and notes.

• It is possible to add meeting contacts directly to your directory.
• Business card scanner built-in paper to automatically create contacts.

• You can find your QR code on the application and it is possible to add it in one click to your Apple or Google Wallet.
• Monitoring of usage statistics.

Contact management and CRM integrations

Contacts generated via connected business cards then appear on the platform to be processed.

Kipful:

• Export contacts as.CSV.

• No CRM integrations.

Cardynal:

• Centralization of all the prospects collected.

• Possibility to export in.CSV
• Native API integrations with CRMs (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Pipedrive, Copper, Salesflare, Flexmail, Zendesk Sell & Close.io).
• Enrichment of prospect data (automatic addition of LinkedIn, website, etc.) via the platform.
• Integration with more than 4000 applications via Zapier and Make.

Deals

Kipful:

No free digital card offer.

Physical connected cards are offered from 25 to 109€ excluding VAT.
They are on average 20% more expensive than Cardynale.

• Pro subscription at €4.99 excluding tax/month
• Manager offer for teams

Cardynal:

Free offer to create your digital business card and integrate it into your Wallet.

• Cardynale NFC business card starting at €17.9 excl. VAT.
• Solo offer to access total profile personalization, at €3 excluding tax/month.
• Team offer for teams, starting at €1.5 excluding tax/month/collaborator.
• Commercial license add-on for advanced features.
• To consult Cardynale's prices: click here.

Comparison of subscriptions:

Cardynale's free plan offers the same features as Kipful's Paid Pro plan.
To try it out: click here

Conclusion

Kipful offers a wide range of support and customization for NFC cards.

However, Cardynale offers better value for money with advanced functionalities, extensive customization, robust CRM integrations and a dedicated mobile application, while offering ecological supports to accentuate the eco-responsible approach and image.

In addition, Cardynale allows you to try the entire platform for free before ordering a card. It is a product with a quality/price ratio and a very competitive service.

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