Notes
Welcome kits that people still use a year later
We asked 140 new starters what they kept and what they threw away. Here is what we learnt, and what we changed.
Last year we asked 140 people who had received one of our welcome kits in the previous twelve months a simple question: what is still on your desk, in your bag or at home?
The answers came back on WhatsApp, often with photos. Some were predictable. Others changed how we build kits.
What people kept
The thermal tumbler won by a distance. 82 percent still used it daily, most often in the car. Lagos commutes are long, and a drink that stays cold until Ikoyi matters. The notebook came second, but only when it was a good one: lay-flat binding and thick paper. Thin notebooks were mostly gone.
A gift with a huge logo is an advert I am expected to carry for free.
Handwritten cards surprised us. Nearly half of people had kept the card, and several had pinned it to a board. Printed cards were almost never kept.
What people binned
Stress balls, cheap pens, branded keyrings and anything with the logo printed larger than a thumbnail. One person said it best: a gift with a huge logo is an advert I am expected to carry for free.
Plastic packaging was also unpopular. People liked boxes they could reuse for cables, documents or children’s crayons.
How to spend thirty thousand naira well
Put most of the money into one or two things people use every day: a good tumbler and a proper notebook. Keep the logo small and tasteful. Add a handwritten card from the team or the manager. Skip the filler.
That is exactly what our first week kit now contains. It costs about the same as before, and people keep it.