Surveys
At Custom Ink, we talk to a lot of people who order custom apparel and merch — which means we’re sitting on a lot of opinions. This is where we put them to work. Each survey here pulls from real responses across the teams, businesses, and organizers we serve, turning firsthand data into insights you can actually use. What’s trending in swag. What employees really want. What makes branded merch land (and what makes it land in a drawer). The numbers are ours. The takeaways are yours.
The School Spirit Gap Survey: Is Your School Paying the Turnout Tax?
School spirit doesn’t happen by accident — and neither does the gap between schools that have it and schools that don’t. Our School Spirit Gap Survey — a 2026 survey of 447 PTA coordinators, booster club leads, athletic directors, teachers, and school administrators across the country — puts a number on what we call the [...]
The State of the Employee Welcome Kit: What HR Teams Are Struggling With — and What Employees Actually Want
Most HR teams assume the biggest barrier to a great Welcome Kit is budget. Our new research says otherwise — and it also reveals exactly what employees wish their kits actually contained. We ran two parallel surveys as part of our 2026 Employee Onboarding Experience Audit: one with 300+ HR professionals responsible for building Welcome [...]
The Welcome Kit Confidence Gap: New Survey Reveals What HR Professionals Really Think About Employee Onboarding Swag
Your new hire’s first day starts before they walk in the door. Most HR teams assume the biggest barrier to a great Welcome Kit is budget. Our 2026 Employee Onboarding Experience Audit — which surveyed 300+ HR professionals responsible for employee Welcome Kits — says otherwise. The #1 challenge isn’t cost. It’s knowing [...]
We Asked 300+ Employees What They Actually Want in a Welcome Kit. Here’s What They Said.
Everyone has an opinion about what should go in a new employee Welcome Kit. The HR team, the office manager, the CEO who saw something on LinkedIn. We decided to ask the people who actually receive them. Our 2026 Employee Onboarding Experience Audit surveyed 300+ employees — people who’ve started new jobs, gone through onboarding, [...]
Survey Finds Looking Cheap Is Now Companies’ Biggest Fear in Corporate Swag
We’ve all been there. Your new hire opens a sleekly packaged onboarding box, heart full of first-day excitement, only to pull out a custom t-shirt so thin, it feels like an afterthought. The message it sends: This is what we think of you. According to our Custom Ink 2026 Unsung Hero Survey, the biggest fear for those who order [...]
The Unsung Heroes of Swag: New Survey Reveals the Hidden Work Behind Your Team’s Custom Gear
Swag doesn’t just appear. Someone has to make it happen. We surveyed over 500 professionals responsible for ordering custom gear for their teams, and what we discovered surprised even us: the person organizing your company swag is juggling far more than anyone realizes. They’re playing five different roles, working through [...]
2026 Swag Trends: The Gear Your Team Will Actually Keep
At Custom Ink, we believe the best gear builds connection. And that’s also the big takeaway from our new 2026 Swag Trends Survey. We asked over a thousand organizers and buyers what they need for the year ahead, and the answer was clear: there is a decisive move away from “disposable” promos toward retail-quality [...]
New Survey Reveals What Gifts Employees Really Want for the Holidays
With the holiday clock ticking, business managers are quickly trying to figure out the best holiday gifts to get their employees. The stakes can feel huge. After all, good gifts go a long way towards building loyalty and retention, with more than three-quarters of employees saying it makes them more likely to stay with their [...]