How should we keep you in the loop with the future of our paid plans?

Monzo Chat Monzo Plus
1

Hi there,

A few months back, when we announced our fresh start for Monzo Plus, we committed to weekly updates to keep you in the loop.

Since then, we’ve posted 8 of these updates. And we’ve moved to biweekly updates, as we didn’t always have a lot to say on a weekly basis.

But we’ve also heard from you that the current way we’re communicating with you isn’t ideal.

While we’re still thrashing out the details of what paid-for Monzo looks like we won’t always have much to share, and that’s frustrating.

And since this is something we’ll be asking you to pay for, it’s a little different to how we develop other products. We’ll want to explore different angles and approaches without the expectation that ‘this is what it will be’.

I think there’s a few ways we can change things up.

  1. We keep the biweekly updates, with the understanding that they won’t always be full of info and the team won’t necessarily be replying to comments.

  2. Just sharing updates when there’s something meaningful to share. So when we’ve made a decision about something, got some new designs, or want feedback on something specific.

I think approach #2 is best. It lets the team focus on building the product, so they can come back when the plan is clearer. That doesn’t mean radio silence or not wanting feedback though! :slightly_smiling_face:

But we’d like to hear your thoughts: how would you like us to communicate with you?

  • Keep the biweekly updates
  • Updates only when there’s something to share
  • I don’t need to be kept in the loop
0 voters

(Third option included for anyone who feels that way to express their preference too)

7 Likes
2

Might just be me but why would anyone want biweekly updates that are devoid of any real information or detail?

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3

Just to add to the comment you quoted from myself, my feeing is that Monzo will make the best product if they shut out the noise from elsewhere (obviously structured research aside).

I always feel that the “community involvement” can create false hopes for the community, and a misguided representation of what the public actually want.

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4

I don’t have strong opinions on the updates or their frequency. But I think, from the perspective of a forum user, #2 is the worst. We’ll likely end up with threads full of comments along the lines of “There hasn’t been any update for a while, has there been anything happening?” during the quiet periods.

Like this

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5

Because it might help to reduce this

Even if the updates only say that they are working on x, y, and z, and whether these workflows are proceeding as well, or not as well, as expected.

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6

What would solve that would be if they engaged with the community and responded to comments in between the ‘big update topics’.

They currently just drop a new topic and then abandon it for weeks leaving everyone confused and disgruntled.

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7

Fortnightly was ok (not bi-weekly, that’s twice a week!) but until there is a clearer idea and firmer plans I think waiting is better. Until then all the updates tend to do is push people to speculate and postulate, doesn’t seem to add much value to the process?

1 Like
8

I would say yes share with us when you have important updates, however it would be nice to see how things are coming along as Monzo customers were all on the same journey together, so I think by including us with the updates that makes us feel that little bit more special and involved. :blush:

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9

We will just direct those people to the announcement about whatever decision is reached about updates

10

What’s frustrating about the business banking thread, is that a month or so ago, it was said that ‘it should be with you in a few weeks’ - and since then there’s been no word.

It really doesn’t matter how often updates happen, as long as when expectations are set, they’re met.

If it’s taking longer to polish the business banking ‘new navigation’, then that’s absolutely fine. But say so, and reset the expectation of your customers.

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11

Careful now, we aren’t all on the same journey… Android/iOS/Joint Acc all at different points in evolution so depends which bracket you fall into for many things. :laughing:

But yes, I think if you say you will update in X weeks, post an update even if it is ‘sorry we don’t have much to update because of Y’. It’s really just expectation management at that point.

12

Can there be a third option… bigger updates with plus team members being actively on hand to answer queries from these larger updates in the thread?

I dont see the point of having larger updates if this isnt the case

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13

Hey @cookywook - thanks for starting this discussion. I think it’s an important one to have.

I’ve been reflecting on this, and I think that the Plus team finds themselves in a difficult position: they’re being asked to do a job (create a paid for account) and to explain why they’ve been asked to do that job. Now, it seems to me that they are well qualified to do the former, but less so the latter. And that has, inadvertently, led them into conflict with the community - because we ask questions they can’t answer. So they don’t engage. Which makes folk here grumpy. And the cycle continues…

So I think there are perhaps two conversations that need to be had here: one around the details of paid plans. I’ve said before that I think that creating paid plans are a bit different to software development, so are probably best done in private for longer*. But where there are good points for feedback, to check-in or to talk progress that would be good to know.

But there’s another, and perhaps more important conversation about strategy - why is Monzo pursuing paid plans? To what extent is anything/everything up for grabs? Why? What’s the context? That conversation can’t come from the Plus team - because that’s not their job. They’ve been asked to deliver a package, not to determine if delivering a package is the right thing to do. Whenever Monzo has been brutally honest / radically transparent about its drivers then that has worked in your favour. I’d suggest doing the same again.

So I wonder if a blog post would be useful to set out the business rationale, what difficult trade-offs you’re trying to make, and why this is the best thing for Monzo, its customers, its investors and its community, would be useful?

Many (most?) of us on here are invested in Monzo (be it financially, emotionally or both) and we just want you to be the best you can be. I think there are nerves when we see things that suggest that your values are changing or that the idea of Monzo as something better might be being chipped away at.

So, before this becomes an essay, I haven’t voted because I’m not sure that this is a binary thing. I’d love to see an explanatory blog or something. And then Plus updates whenever it makes sense to do them.

:hot_coral_heart: :monzopride:

*I actually think there might be a way to engage more, but it might require a radical departure from how things work at the moment. And it’s probably too late in the process. It’s a half formed idea at the moment, so will have a think and post a separate thread if I can crystallise it…

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I’m not fully invested in the Plus offering, but I know with any development, any update is better than no updated. A fortnightly ‘No big news this week but we’re beavering away’ is better than lots of unanswered ‘What’s going on?’ posts.

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Many people in the community told Monzo the previous two incarnations would fail, and they did - quickly. Shutting out the community is not the correct way to move forward - instead, in their STRUCTURED research they should have a focus group from the community as well as from other groups of customers.

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16

Oh gosh very true I’m team iOS lol :joy: so used to waiting for things :wink: but yep good to keep us in the know about things - agreed

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17

I personally think the topic to discuss is more than just the frequency of updates or what’s coming up in the original post.

For me, I’d rather hear comms about strategy, approach, how research is being conducted and what the results mean. Why is feature paywalling so important and what tells you that is true? How are you engaging users/prospective users in research and what is that telling you?

What are the milestones you’re working to? When is Launch and what are the dates you’ll be locking things down?

Those types of things I would love to here more of - and helps give the context of “we’ve got a big journey ahead”, rather than “help us name an account” thing.

The other thought I have, is for you guys to really ask yourself why you are posting an update? What output are you expecting from this Forum, what do you want us to add, and what kind of stakeholder are we at various stages? (Thinking the whole “RACI” of project communication).

A lot of these posts seem like they’re after user input - but then it becomes apparent that no input is wanted. So why prompt it in the first place? (And if there is no … edit to finish my sentence… input needed - just make that clear, and/or close the thread so it’s a single-post-update only).

Or like in the most recent thread, which felt like it was after inputs for the sake of asking for them. The project is about 40% complete (we learned after), you cannot yet share direction on the packages, yet you’re looking for product names, while not addressing the huge concerns about paywalling. It feels abit ‘arranging the deck chairs on the titanic’, for lack of a better metaphor.

So yeah, mostly just ask why you’re sharing.

And personally - I think either embrace proper engagement - answer questions, give depth, share key timeline milestones (even if you can’t share some stuff yet), but come and talk to us. I don’t even think the frequency matters so much, if you do this.

Or, go silent until the launch, and work on getting everything amazng for a super surprise launch. But don’t go something in between just for the sake of it.

:slight_smile:

(edited a few dodgy spellings)

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18

Basically, do what @bruno does for his project.

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20

:100:

I couldn’t agree more with this.

:hot_coral_heart:

But I am on tenterhooks on what was meant to have come next:

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21

Ahh, whoops, the joys of trying to work and also post opinions on here. Full time job i tell yah.

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