Why Swag?\r\n

Before December 2018, we used to send premium chocolates to our customers as a token of appreciation. And of course, just about everyone loves a tasty treat, but as time went on, it didn\u2019t seem enough. We wanted to create strong and lasting associations with our brand, and in the long run, chocolates just wouldn\u2019t cut it.\r\n \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n

\r\n Create wow moments for your prospects and watch your online sentiment increase.\r\n
\r\n Founder, Brandlective Communications\r\n \r\n\r\n

We began to throw around ideas for developing more permanent positive associations in the minds of our customers. That\u2019s when we got the idea of sending gift boxes to the Cloudways community. \r\n\r\n\r\n

We jumped on the idea when we started onboarding our first few customers to the Cloudways Startup Program. The question was, what would those initial customers receive in their swag boxes that would absolutely delight them?\r\n \r\n

\r\n\r\n

So How Did We Pull it Off?\r\n

Of course, Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day. To pull off the execution, we needed to answer some important questions, which we phrased in 4Ws and 1H style:\r\n \r\n

\r\n
• Whom do we send the gifts to?\r\n
• What gifts should we send?\r\n
• Where do we buy the gift items?\r\n
• How do we send the gifts?\r\n
• When do we send the gifts?\r\n \r\n

  All the answers to the question had to keep two things in mind:\r\n

  \r\n
  1. Delighting our customers\r\n
  2. Building brand recognition\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n

     Whom Do We Send The Gifts?\r\n\r\n

     Of course, the gifts were always meant for Cloudways valued customers and brand advocates, but that\u2019s quite the vast community! We needed a process to break down potential recipients to the level we could easily pick or shortlist people to send the gift boxes.\r\n\r\n\r\n

     So we started to figure out the answers to some key questions.\r\n\r\n

     What Gifts Should We Send?\r\n\r\n

     This question warranted the most thought – what were we to send? After all, the people receiving them would be likely to be more interested in the gift itself rather than the how and when of receiving it! \r\n\r\n

     When answering this question, we decided we had to pick items aligned with our objective of brand recognition. So it was smartest to send something the recipient would use on a daily basis, or keep close to themselves or in their office space.\r\n\r\n

     In the context of the B2B industry, we thought of all the items people could use or keep at work. The marketing team went wild, of course! After we crossed off some of the zanier suggestions, we were left with a list that looked a little like this:\r\n

     \r\n
     • T-shirt\r\n
     • Socks\r\n
     • Travel Mug\r\n
     • Coffee\/Tea Mug\r\n
     • Keychains\r\n
     • Pen\r\n
     • Notepad\r\n
     • Stickers\r\n
     • Cap\r\n
     • iPad\/Tablet Case\r\n
     • Books\r\n \r\n

       Finally, we shortlisted four items for our first cycle:\r\n

       \r\n
       • T-shirt\r\n
       • Notepad\r\n
       • Stickers\r\n
       • Books\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n

         Based on community feedback, over time we included more stuff (pens, caps, keychains, wallets) in our box.\r\n\r\n

         And now on to the most hectic part of the process…logistics.\r\n\r\n\r\n

         Where Do We Buy the Gift Items?\r\n\r\n

         On the face of it, this sounds like an easy enough question to answer. Outsource this task to some online store, and all you have to do is select the available items and have them send it to a particular address with a handwritten note. \r\n\r\n

         But well, we wanted more, so easy was out the window!\r\n\r\n

         In our case, we wanted personalized messaging and branded packaging to reinforce our brand recognition. Above all, we wanted to be sure our gift items were of good quality. And we could only guarantee this if we purchased and packed all the items of our gift box ourselves.\r\n

         We started the hunt for local printing press manufacturers and asked them for samples of each of our items. In our quest for perfection, we rejected more than ten samples of just stickers! As for the notepads and t-shirts, those turned out to be tricky for the vendors to make as well, and so we spent patient hours ensuring all the items turned outright.\r\n

         After all that, we still have to go through the trouble of shortlisting, sampling, rejecting and approving items from vendors each time we introduce a new item in our range! At least now we have the experience of managing it all while sticking to the deadlines we set for each task of this campaign.\r\n

         Now we have a stock of all the items plus the gift box. Whenever it\u2019s time to send the gift box(es), we just pick the items, insert them in our Cloudways branded box, write a personalized note, pack it, and send it. \r\n\r\n

         How Do We Deliver the Gifts?\r\n\r\n

         Thankfully we didn\u2019t have to think much about this part! Our DHL Express account saved us the trouble. We trust DHL with the task of picking gift packages right from our doorstep and delivering them to our beloved customers and community champions.\r\n\r\n

         When Do We Send the Gifts?\r\n\r\n

         This is the only question we have a vague answer to. We haven\u2019t fixed a time for sending the gift boxes, except for the new year. Two out of three cycles were planned and executed in the New Year\u2019s of 2019 and 2020. Other than that, we sent gift boxes on random occasions to our customers and community members.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

         \r\n

         Mastering the Process Through Each New Cycle\r\n

         Since this campaign was the first of its kind for us at Cloudways, we decided to skip the fancy stuff and start lean. It worked out quite well!\r\n\r\n

         Bootstrapping the Process\r\n\r\n

         For our first cycle, we picked only ten portfolio startups from the Cloudways Startup Program to send the gift boxes to. This small number helped us achieve our product-market fit at the time, and we developed a plan on scaling once we\u2019d achieved our objectives for the first cycle.\r\n\r\n

         Here\u2019s what Gabriel from Incluyeme had to say about the gift box when he received it:\r\n

         \r\n