“SwagUp was such a lifesaver for us.”

— Cait Stewart, Manager of Learning & Development at FreshBooks

Meet FreshBooks

FreshBooks is a leading cloud-based accounting software designed for small businesses and freelancers. It simplifies invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking, and financial reporting, helping users focus on their business rather than paperwork.

Founded in the early 2000s by Mike McDerment, FreshBooks began as a solution to McDerment's frustration with existing accounting tools while running a small design agency. He developed the software to fill the gap for user-friendly accounting solutions tailored to small business needs.

Since then, FreshBooks has significantly expanded its features and customer base. Today, it serves millions of users in over 160 countries, establishing itself as a trusted name in small business accounting.

Easily Delivering Swag To International Hires

“We moved to SwagUp because we expanded internationally and needed a solution for putting together welcome packs and sending them to our employees in Canada, USA and Europe” said Cait Stewart, FreshBooks’ Manager of Learning & Development. “SwagUp was such a lifesaver for us. We grew internationally very quickly and suddenly the onboarding team was stuck with the challenge of finding a swag company that could not only ship to the Netherlands but could also put together and warehouse the swag packs for us.”

Before the partnership with SwagUp, FreshBooks employees were manually putting together swag packs in their office — and distributing them individually when new employees arrived. The challenges of a scaling company, along with new international employees made SwagUp the perfect choice.

“Flat rate shipping, the ability to curate beautiful welcome boxes and the easy to use dashboard put SwagUp in a class unto itself compared to the other swag providers we were looking at,” Stewart said.

Creating Excitement And A Sense Of Belonging

FreshBooks originally handed out blank notebooks and pens to their employees to take notes, but quickly realized that giving them branded notebooks and pens created a sense of excitement and belonging.

“The goal was to provide new hires with some practical tools that are useful while completing company onboarding, as well as instilling a sense of belonging, and generating excitement for joining the company,” said Stewart. “Our new employees are often posting pics of themselves and their swag packs in our Slack channels. They also often reference them when they fill out a survey after they complete company onboarding! They're a big part of the ‘extraordinary experience’ that we try to create for every new employee joining our team.”

Making It Easy To Deliver Swag

Before using SwagUp, FreshBooks had worked with other vendors and also did some of their swag packs manually. But since partnering with SwagUp, so much has changed for them.

When asked what surprised Stewart the most about working with SwagUp, she had this to say: “How responsive your support team was in the first few years. Any shipping challenges were investigated quickly and resolved in a timely manner, and throughout the global shipping shortages your team was very communicative with us.”

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The Verdict?

Partnering with SwagUp has significantly streamlined FreshBooks' onboarding process, especially in the context of its rapid international expansion. By providing an efficient, reliable, and visually appealing solution for delivering welcome packs globally, SwagUp has not only alleviated logistical challenges but also enhanced the overall new hire experience.

The ease of flat-rate shipping, the ability to create custom welcome boxes, and exceptional customer support have positioned SwagUp as an indispensable partner for FreshBooks. As a result, FreshBooks can continue to focus on their core mission of delivering top-tier software while ensuring every new employee feels welcomed and valued right from the start.

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