Monzo Plus: a fresh start with some fresh faces šŸ‘‡

To better explain myself, Monzo needs to achieve economics of scale in order to be profitable. If they make a paid product which has broad appeal to millions of users then the economics of scale help them keep costs down and compete on price as you can be profitable with small margin per paying user if thereā€™s millions of those paying.

But if they make a product which only appeals to a small minority of hardcore Monzo fans then not enough people will sign up for it so they wonā€™t be able to offer good competitive pricing while still making profit.

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[Edit]

Edit to add that it is any account. The next question mentioned Monzo Plus

For question two

  1. Do you have a premium or packaged account or credit card?

Is that related to having Monzo Plus or at another bank or credit card company?

Anywhere :slight_smile:

It asks you in the next part (if I can remember correctly) about which ones you have :slightly_smiling_face:

Well I have just cancelled my service with plus, but looking forward to seeing what they bring in the future.

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Hi everyone! I was hoping to post our weekly update today, but I havenā€™t been feeling well :cold_sweat:

I should have it ready for everyone tomorrow. Have a lovely evening. If youā€™re in London this evening, take an umbrella but also wear shorts. Itā€™s one of those days.

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They have to consider it first.

Sorry to hear that, Tom. Donā€™t kill yourself trying to get an update done if youā€™re not well, it can wait a few days Iā€™m sure.

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Just to echo what @tbutz said. I may have been quite critical recently but I can certainly wait a few more days until youā€™re back to 100% health. Get well soon :+1:

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Great update and happy the team are starting again.

Iā€™ve filled in the survey but also positive that all options are on the table at this stage.

Iā€™m happy to pay for a subscription if they end product is exciting/rewarding. Some people will always want that for free, that will always be a tension.

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Yes and sell Monzo branded flame throwers!

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That sentence just gave me a light bulb moment :bulb: of what the problem is.

Monzos success seems to stem from it doing things differently to other banks. However, Monzo plus seems to be doing things the same as the legacy backs (packaged slightly different but still the same), hence it wasnā€™t a success.

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If monzo makes those, i will use it melt my Revolut card. promise!

Good decision. I hope the replacement for this offers great features and great value. I made a previous post detailing how I felt the bundles or the original Plus didnā€™t offer good value (in general, and compared to competition) - Iā€™m fine with something more expensive, as long as itā€™s worth it.

Try to offer something unique and useful, perhaps even something we donā€™t expect. Donā€™t just copy Revolut/Curve/whatever and offer exactly what they offer at the same or greater price again. Monzo did things differently and well, I hope youā€™ll use the same ideology in rethinking Plus.

By the way, I see insurance listed on the survey. Iā€™d actually like insurance (travel & medical) bundled in a package personally, but make it good insurance. I canā€™t remember your provider, but if it was White Horse Insurance like the rest of the banks with an insurance offering I hope youā€™ll use someone else - I havenā€™t heard a single insurance success story from customers of banks that resell White Horse. They sound like an awful insurer.

What legacy banks do:

  • One price for everyone, no matter of what they need. (ie Ā£14/month)

  • Phone insurance not taking into account the value of your phone. Customers with cheaper phones paying the same as flagship phone holders.

  • Forced travel insurance. I personally get it through my work - I need to pay for it even if I donā€™t need it. Feels messy, expensive and unorganised.

  • Same goes for roadside cover. I am personally covered through work, my bank and with my household account. Incredibly messy, loads of reference numbers and confusing.

  • Awful, or no interest.

What Monzo should do:

  • Interest offered to customers with subscriptions. Itā€™s easy to say this was the biggest pushback when bundles were announced. Of course, the financial standpoint of offering interest is challenging - thatā€™s for your new team to figure out. But I fully believe if you donā€™t offer it, it will be seen as a negative part of Monzo.

  • Flexible! Pick and mix, pick and mix, pick and mix! I personally liked the marketplace because you could select what you wanted. You were closer with V1 of Monzo Plus, the bundles made me feel a little bit sick like you were turning into a high street bank. I liked different features from different bundles, but had to pay for the full cost of all the bundles. I applaud you for turning away from this.

  • You probably already have the feedback but please donā€™t isolate software features and support behind a paywall. I think this is pretty clear anyway.

  • Donā€™t pay monthly for a metal card, seems greedy. Option to pay for the upgrade outright if someone wants it. Also, make it totally separate from the subscriptions. (Donā€™t make any subscription dependant on having metal)

  • I donā€™t think customers should either be labelled as ā€œMonzoā€ or ā€œMonzo Plusā€. Monzo Plus should be a section of the app to purchase optional subscriptions.

  • Keep it dead simple. Donā€™t over-complicate it.

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Bundles seemed almost there. Prehaps there need to be more bundles, with an approach where you get to choose a bundle of bundles

This is how Iā€™d I.imagine it should work:

Letā€™s say there are 8 bundles.

Ā£5.99 Monzo plus - you get 5 bundles, 3 of these always come with plus, the other 2 you can choose from the remaining bundles

Ā£14.99 Monzo premium - all 8 bundles

This would maintain some level of flexibility as with plus you could pick the two bundles relevant to you.

Key is that the cost we are paying for things like any insurance it should offer better value than buying direct due to collective bargaining power.

Iā€™ve been really keen to move to Monzo but the only thing stopping me is the lack of a package account. My wife and I currently have a joint Nationwide Flexplus account which is excellent value but I do most of my banking through the mobile app which isnā€™t great and they have now taken away the balance interest and fee free overdraft recently.

The things I would be looking for from Monzo plus would be:

  1. Car breakdown including home start covering the driver not the car - a must for me
  2. Mobile phone insurance
  3. Travel insurance - Not as essential for me.

I like the idea of pick and mix but understand this would work out more expensive. One of the big things for me would be the joint account function. I would like this to be the same as Nationwide where if it is a joint account, the insurance/benefits cover both account holders for the same or a slight increase in cost.

As Nationwide is the best option for packaged accounts, I would suggest trying to emulate this to start with the attract more customers, and then add extra features once it is well established.

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Hey everyone, weā€™ve just shared our first weekly update here:

Letā€™s keep the discussion going there :slight_smile:

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