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

Iā€™ve done the survey but another idea came to mind. Increase the fee free withdrawals abroad. I have a starling account for this one and only reason. Or use the revenue from Plus (or Pro whatever it is called) to reintroduce this across the board :joy::joy::joy:

3 Likes

I donā€™t have any ā€œplusā€ package elsewhere and frankly nothing Iā€™ve read on this topic ā€“ or any prior pre-dumpster-fire Plus topic ā€“ has ever encouraged me to change that situation. Do you want to simply scoop up existing users of this kind of package from elsewhere, or persuade those who do not use it to do so?

4 Likes

If you want to build something new for plus, I wouldnā€™t start from here.

Monthly subscriptions and some sort of double subscription to get things is where you started before and dictates the fundamentals youā€™re going to build and drastically limits your market. I canā€™t see that a new team or new name will change that. Iā€™d pay a monthly subscription for products offered by Monzo that I choose (insurance, mortgage, credit card etc). I wouldnā€™t personally pay just to be a ā€˜supporterā€™ or to join some plus club with more features, or so that I could then choose to pay you more for something else ?!?

It seems youā€™re starting with the assumption you need a monthly sub to monetise these 3 million users, but do you really? Is this really the best way to try to get people to pay you steady amounts? Canā€™t you instead launch more products like savings, or a packaged S&S ISA, or home insurance, or a branded credit card with tight integration (great test case for other credit cards in the app)? There are many options involving concrete products people want, that donā€™t have to live in a packaged premium account to work.

Perhaps the right direction is to ditch plus for now, and focus on delivering some small paid products which could eventually become part of a bigger plus if you want, once they are established in their own right. At present you donā€™t have offerings for a plus, and what you donā€™t want to do IMO is try to roll out a packaged account again that doesnā€™t really have much other than promises inside the packages.

23 Likes

Let me ask a different question then.

How much can you charge for instant notifications? Or in-app card freezing? Or to be able to use Pots at all?

You are already making decisions about what to charge forā€¦ Continue in that themeā€¦?

8 Likes

Appreciate this is probably something almost said in passing but this seems like a bit of a departure from the ā€œwe wouldnā€™t want anything that made things worse for regular usersā€ position when a discussion was had around investor perks (granted the sums/reality are/is different in having someone pay x per month for a service vs investing, but the outcome is the same: prioritising one user group can very easily make things worse for others)

I donā€™t think anyone expects to pay for functional support. If there was going to be some additional service layers on top like concierge type services or whatever, then, great, provided the baseline support is not adversely affected.

I donā€™t think Iā€™ve posted in a plus thread yet, so for my 2p, - for me it is rare that packaged bank accounts add enough value to justify the cost and there is quite a lot of regulatory obligation around recording whether clients could actually claim on each of the products, annual reviews, etc. that make it seem like a less than obvious slam-dunk as far as making money is concerned.

What happened to Monzo as introducer/retailer, ie the marketplace, as a means to drive revenue? Customers can then adjust individual products to exactly suit their needs and Monzo makes their commission.

There appears to have become a heavy focus on a bundled approach (with a naturally constrained offering in terms of what you can get in your bundled product(s)) and if youā€™re having to bundle external services together rather than bundling multiple products done in house where there will be more total margin to play with, I have yet to be convinced that itā€™s possible to make a compelling enough case to people who know how to use google.

11 Likes

Thatā€™s not what the phrase means to me as a customer. For everyone implies free with your basic account, because not everyone has money to spend on premium accounts at every point in their life. As to what to charge for, IMO:

Donā€™t charge for things that make money work for everyone (categories, spending, saving advice etc). Your aim should be to be the best bank, especially for a basic account. I donā€™t really want my bank to have in-app purchases for features.

Charge (either commission or white-label) for discrete products where your value-add is trust (simple vetted terms), convenience (financial control centre) and simple signup (ideally single click) -

  • Savings (you already do)
  • Loans (you already do)
  • Simple investment
  • Insurance (Phone, Home, Travel etc)
  • Mortgages
  • etc

You donā€™t have to build those products (though eventually I think Monzo could do such a good job of that), but you could make the experience radically better for your customers with careful choices and better signup, and theyā€™d happily pay a premium for that.

Just to pick one example of what you could do thatā€™s a little different:

  • A monzo credit card which ties in seamlessly with your monzo accounts, categorises transactions in your feed, is paid off from a pot every month and charges reasonable interest. Maybe a metal option too. The sort of thing that other banks canā€™t do as they typically completely outsource it.

Personally Iā€™d build these products separately and start making money from them now, and then launch Plus if you wish when you have enough to offer meaningful bundles.

44 Likes

Well said, @kennygrant

2 Likes

Great post and well said.

2 Likes

I think this really needs to be addressed, and something I flagged in the last thread. If Monzo are ā€˜starting from the beginningā€™, then surely early adopters like myself and many others should be reimbursed for the months where weā€™ve received little to nothing as Plus customers? Granted itā€™s not a lot of money, but itā€™s still money we paid on the basis of receiving things which never happened, and possibly wonā€™t happen at all.

This new approach is definitely the right way forward in my view. Only thing left is to wipe the slate clean by paying back customers, pausing payments, and then starting them up again when the first iteration of this new Plus/whatever it will be called is ready to go.

13 Likes

I guess if youā€™re a really early adopter, your effectively getting paid for the account with the interest outweighing the Ā£3 fee. Provided you have the max amount in your account

I wish you luck but you really burnt some of us with the Plus ride so far. Youā€™ve already had some good feedback on Plus in multiple past threads and whilst itā€™s good to start fresh, you wonā€™t get different answers here from the same voices.

I just donā€™t see the incentive to provide more feedback to help shape this.

6 Likes

Bravo for owning up to mistakes of the past and moving on! Appreciate you involving the community more and going in-depth with weekly updates - good to have a finger on the pulse. My wants with a Plus subscription:

  • Metal card
  • Interest/Cashback
  • Swagā€™s cool as a loyalty incentive
  • Various insurance tiers
  • Pick and Mix/customisation
  • Monzo Points!
1 Like

Whatā€™s the point?

Make people use Monzo as their main account? Then try to copy the likes of Santander 123 and offer rewards for paying in salary and having direct debits.

Want to offer packages so people donā€™t feel tied to their legacy banks? Then simply copy the packages they offer and try to match them

Want to make money by cross selling? Then look towards the market place model and start offering flexible, stand alone add ons. Thereā€™s no need for one size fits all - not everyone wants winter sports cover, not everyone wants EU breakdown cover, not everyone looks for 5* cover, etc. Offer a range of products and partnerships.

Want to attract young customers? Then look at offering free railcards, cinema tickets, etc with your young persons account

I write all this as someone whoā€™s never used a premium account so perhaps Iā€™m the wrong person but Iā€™ve definitely been tempted to abandon monzo for Santanderā€™s cashback offers.

21 Likes

Cinema tickets that are offered by perk schemes are popular. My friends and I are always using them as you canā€™t moan at Ā£5-Ā£6 a ticket (including Odeon Luxe too)

Cinema tickets tend to be quite region specific tho

1 Like

Itā€™s typically split into inside the M25 or outside, or with Cineworld itā€™s whether itā€™s West End or not. Otherwise it seems pretty standard.

anyone do IMC because thats the cinema chain in my town

Definitely agreed with this, especially the ā€œdonā€™t chargeā€ section.

My bank shouldnā€™t have ā€œDLCā€. If you started introducing that sort of thing even as an avid Monzo supporter Iā€™d definitely be tempted to switch to somewhere else, it feels cheap and nasty. Especially as those sort of functions are basically hidden behind an if(user.isPaid) statement.

I really like the marketplace idea you guys invisioned. A dashboard of financial products that I can add to my account as and when needed. If I need travel insurance for example, I can load up the app and ā€˜addā€™ it to my account with a few taps with the same interface I know and love.

I like the rewards idea you guys have in the books but I can get that for free through my Amex card or through a Nectar card etc. That should be free-for-all too.

11 Likes

Simply cannot be done any more. That existed as an artefact of a broken system - where card companies were abusing interchange to give out freebies. Interchange is now strictly capped for consumer cards and itā€™s no longer possible to introduce these kinds of incentives.

1 Like

Iā€™m so happy there is a fresh team for this. It was needed for sure as the old mindset was never going to change (as many of us saw). And to people who say that is harsh - this is a bank with three million customers, not a small family run business. The corporate world has to be ruthless. It HAS to generate income, or the bank fails. It is really simple.

I filled out the survey. I really hope everyone else does.

Personally, the day ANY business charges for premium support is the day that I leave it.

3 Likes