⏰ Integrated cashback / rewards scheme

#9

I’m going to be a proper party pooper here, and say that this is exactly why a voting system of new ideas on a forum is always going to look messy.

Would I love cashback? Sure. Tell me someone who wouldn’t?

Would I love rewards? Well… Yeah! Free stuff always feels great.

Whilst we are at it, I’d love 7% interest on my balance and market leading mortgage rates.

I just fail to see the point in these threads (no offence to @dnlbaines whose obviously just joined the forum… :wave: Hi BTW!), and it’s something that is completely innocent, and 99% of the time, people haven’t read the previous discussions on such things).

As a weathered viewer of this forum (for my sins), it’s clear that Monzo are a long way off from being able to offer such rewards directly - Instead, they could partner with 3rd parties like Flux and Tail for various things (and anyone else that comes up).

Given the drive for profit and the associated discussions that have happened, despite it being amazing if Monzo could indeed offer cashback, it just seems like a completely wasted topic and votes.

Whilst there may be the odd nugget of an idea that comes from this “community led voting”, I’d much prefer to see a situation that was similar to the Trello roadmap.

Monzo could start the threads of things that they are thinking about implementing, and the votes could potentially help prioritise which ideas are worked on and in what order.

This feels (to me), far more valuable than most of these “voting topics”, that seem to be pipe dreams that Monzo simply won’t ever do.

Perhaps I’m on my own here, but I’ve not interacted with any of these vote topic so far, because they all seem so disjointed.

12 Likes
#10

I insist that you update your profile name to be Party Pooper now. :wink:

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#11

Start a new topic so we can vote :laughing:

#12

I was tempted to do that - I would have basked in the irony!

I’ll save this for Friday’s… :smiley:

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#13

+1 Vote from me :wink::wink:

I’m really not a fan of the voting - its reviving previous “dead” threads - and quite naturally showing the idyllic viewpoint of everyone as you have more eloquently put it.

I’d much rather this! - Couldn’t they add a Thread Category that only they can post in? Like ok, these are the ideas that are in out pipeline - what are you a fan of? - then let us vote on those?

#14

I see your point, but I do feel in this case that this could be a feature that is a key selling point for Monzo. As I said before it is the one feature I miss from my legacy bank and keep the account open for (other than for writing cheques).

I don’t think it would be a big undertaking to partner with a small number of stores at first and with the growing market share of users it should appeal to many companies. Current cashback from other banks is very clunky and generally not very visible and I think this could easily be done in a much better way than competitors. This is achievable and can be profitable unlike a market leading interest rate, companies will pay for the exposure and Monzo gives back a portion of this to the user - and as I said with the rapidly growing user base I can see there being an appeal. The benefit for Monzo is another way to draw more users in.

Also I particularly thought it was worth bringing this request back up as a preview of this exact feature was posted on the forums by Monzo near the end of 2017 (Cashback). So I do think it is worth showing the interest so we can get an update on this and potentially get this back on the roadmap (which I assume it is not at the moment since it has been so long).

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#15

You’re forgetting about all the coding and integration that needs to be done with each provider in app. Along with the user flow, screen designs, how it plays nice with the roundup feature, testing and everything else.

Sometimes what appears to be a simple additions isn’t at all. Just something for you to bare in mind :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#16

Whilst this:

is somewhat correct for the UK market - (I want to say it is arguably one of the biggest challenger/fintechs in users in the UK now?).

It pails in comparison to the real big boys in the market of “cashback” and “rewards” cards.

Take AMEX for example, a stat I just pulled (admittedly from Wikipedia) puts forward that:

“As of December 31, 2017, the company had 112.8 million cards in force” - cashback in my mind is only viable once you have more users - as the “cost” of the cashback is negligible in comparison to the gain in the transaction fees.

Cashback is one of the top “nice to haves” for Monzo - but realistically it may be a while before we see them think about it.

#17

I had Tandem card for the cashback and was doing exactly the same as you. Unfortunately, Tandem does not have integration with Monzo or anybody else, e.g. Yolt. Tandem does not even have Apple Pay. I was so disappointed, that I closed it down. :frowning_face:

#18

haha

#19

I didn’t mean to take away from what would be a well received idea if it worked (like I said, who doesn’t want Cashback).

My point was more that my feeling (from looking at what Monzo have been doing, and getting a gist of where they want to go/need to do), is that something like Cashback is years away from seeing the light of day.

There was actually a thread (on my phone, so can’t find it), which was started by Monzo and talked about Cashback as if it was in the works (some sample screens if I remember correctly). But since then, I’ve not seen anything to show it’s something that is viable for now.

Which is why I don’t like these “voting” threads - Not because the ideas aren’t good, but because I just feel it’s a waste of time if nothing can happen in the short/medium term.

I personally feel it would be more interactive, if Monzo put out a vote every couple of months or so with 5 things they could work on next, and then asked us to decide which one was the priority for them.

Then, if you voted for something that actually came to fruition, you would feel a small part of the process - Rather than voting for loads of features that are potentially unrealistic, or simply never going to happen.

I’ll also say, I’d be very happy for Monzo not to do this as well, and just develop what they feel is in the best interests of the majority.

It’s just the “pipe dream” votes that feel a little futile - Especially as there as so many of them now.

I’ll now take my miserable view on life and go and read a bit about Brexit to cheer me up :joy:

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#20

Did that not happen once? The problem with all forum voting, of course, is that the forum is only seen by a small subset of users.

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#21

Yeah it would be nice to have that integration so fingers crossed it comes in the not too distant future.

Until then I’m mainly only using the tandem cards for bigger purchases so I’m not moving money in and out of pots so much.

#22

I feel like its just me and you that aren’t fans - maybe we need to just sit in a corner and moan and complain about everything :rofl::rofl:

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#23

If it did, I don’t remember (or it was before my time).

The only “voting” that I recall, was the Trello roadmap that was live until a few months ago.

I agree with you on the forum side of things - But the way it works now seems to dilute everything (I’ve only seen maybe 30 votes for something so far).

Given the last 2 “big” press releases from Monzo have been the Big Issue integration and Credit Card integration… Both of which were Monzo Time projects (so, as far as I’m aware, weren’t even on the Monzo roadmap until a staff member decided to give it a shot), perhaps someone from Monzo could decide to take on the top voted idea (within reason) and it could be a “forum exclusive” type thing.

Or more realistically, they could suggest X, Y and Z for things they “could” create, and see what people wanted.

Basically, I’m all for ideas being shared if they are potentially do able, but as soon as you out the onus on the customer to think of the idea, it becomes littered with dreams and hopes.

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#24

I can already hear those dreams and hopes crashing and burning :hot_face:

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#25

Your avatars are so similar, I’m not entirely sure you’re not the same person :joy:

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#26

Has anyone seen me and @nickh on the same thread at the same time?

:ghost::ghost::ghost::ghost:

#27

Clearly I’d take the money if it were freely given away but I think there are more important things to look at first. I also have the impression that this isn’t something the business is a fan of.

Implementation is an issue too. I’ve not seen anything mainstream for specific stores that doesn’t require in-app attention and opting into. If that’s what we’re talking about then I’m even less interested. To much effort for me for pennies (although I’ll consider it for large purchases).

Scale is an aspect too. Talking about a customer base of 1.5 million spread across the country, what can the providing businesses expect to get out of it in terms of footfall increase? Without that being obvious, where’s the incentive to offer anything (with the costs of managing such a scheme etc.).

I think cash back is like pay rises. They’re always nice but they’re never enough so wide scale customer satisfaction is also questionable in my mind. Do people really change their behaviour en mass because of these things? Clearly some do but what proportion?

Potentially, a lot of effort for a limited return.

#28

I get your point, but I do think it is a somewhat useful way to gauge what customers might want. Many pieces of software have a similar process with a feedback site which users vote on and then the most voted on features will get a response which could end up with an implementation or even a reason as to why it is not currently possible.