Kudoboard’s Online Group Cards Replace Greeting Cards That Are Passed Around & Signed

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Below is our recent interview with Aaron Rubens, CEO of Kudoboard:

Q: Aaron, can you tell us something more about Kudoboard?

A: Kudoboard offers an online replacement for the greeting card that’s passed around and signed on birthdays, work anniversaries, and other special occasions. We were founded in 2015 and have since delivered nearly half a million messages of appreciation between users at 10,000+ businesses around the world.

Q: How exactly does it work?

A: The way Kudoboard works is simple. You can start a board for a recipient’s upcoming special occasion and then add your content — ranging from messages of appreciation and photographs to videos and GIFs.

After that, you invite others to contribute content to the board. Some users will write a message or record a video directly from their phone and upload it; others will take advantage of our GIPHY integration to easily find and insert the perfect animated tribute.

You can deliver your board to your recipient whenever ready, or you can schedule it for future delivery at the day and time of your choosing. The board itself is delivered electronically (by email, through Slack, etc.), and there are also printing options to provide the recipient with physical copy of the board if desired.

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Q: What are the most common uses for Kudoboards in the workplace?

A: About 50% of Kudoboards are created to celebrate birthdays or work anniversaries.

Then, there are a variety of other uses that are quite popular. Some teams create a Kudoboard for new employees who are onboarding. For other organizations, Kudoboard is most commonly used for farewells, either because an employee is changing teams, leaving the company for another job, or retiring altogether.

Beyond that, there are the long tail of use cases — sending an ailing colleague a ‘get well’ Kudoboard, recognizing a deserving employee for a promotion, celebrating a great manager on boss’s day, etc.

Q: Can you share a few example Kudoboards?

A: Here are a few Kudoboards that our users gave us permission to share:

• Birthday
• Farewell
• Onboarding
• Retirement

Q: What does the typical Kudoboard customer look like?

A: There are three ‘types’ of customers that Kudoboard tends to serve.

The first type of customer is someone who wants to send a one-off group card for a special occasion. While these customers are primarily colleagues in the workplace, it’s set up so that individuals can (and often do!) use Kudoboard for friends or family as well. These one-off uses come in the form of a free Mini Board that accepts up to 10 contributions or a Premium Board that accepts unlimited contributions.

The second customer type that gets a ton of value from Kudoboard is often an office administrator who previously passed paper cards around on a regular basis. These customers tend to go with a Premium Package rather than a single board, which offers them the ability to start many Kudoboards over the course of the year at a discounted price per board.

Finally, Kudoboard serves customers (often from HR) who are more broadly focused on enhancing culture at the company. These users are aiming for wider adoption of group cards for employee recognition across an organization, rather than serving a single team. They typically go with Kudoboard For Business which offers unlimited boards, custom branding options, and more advanced administrative controls.

Q: What sets you apart from your competition?

A: We have two (very different) types of competitors that we consider. The first competitor is the paper card that we are often replacing. What sets Kudoboard here:

1. Great for remote teams – Kudoboard is hugely convenient for folks who were passing a card around before. For teams where some members are remote, however, having an option where everyone can participate regardless of their geography is a game-changer. Customer reviews back this up; Kudoboard’s usefulness to remote teams is often mentioned first and foremost.

2. More space. – With a paper card that’s passed around, the focus tends to be on the stock message included with the card because signers can’t fit much more than their name and a short sentence. With Kudoboard, contributors are free to add as much as they want — a particularly powerful option when celebrating someone who has been with the company 20 years, is retiring, etc.

3. Interactive content – Beyond just being able to write more, Kudoboard also allows for a far richer, interactive experience than you’d get on a paper card. Employees can add GIFs, videos, and photos — making for a much more powerful experience for the recipient.

The other type of competitor we think about is alternative software options for employee recognition. Where Kudoboard excels vs. these options:

1. Focus on special occasions – Most employee recognition software focuses on frequent, small (digital) pats on the back from managers or peers. With Kudoboard, it’s all about the special occasions that matter most.

2. Lightweight onboarding – Kudoboard is built to make it as easy as possible for contributors to get on the product and start adding to boards. We’ve often had organizations begin with us and have hundreds or even thousands of employees using the product by the end of the day.

3. Flexibility of use – Kudoboards are defined by their unique URL. While the default delivery vehicle for a board is by email, many customers instead deliver them through intranet message boards, slack channels, etc.

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Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: We see the biggest nearterm opportunities for Kudoboard in making it easier for our users to use Kudoboard from wherever they already spend their time by integrating with workplace communication and HR tools. There is also strong demand among our user base for more automations — for instance, allowing administrators on Kudoboard For Business an easier way to create, invite, and deliver boards at scale across a large, complex organization.