Monzo Plus - Bi-Weekly Update 28th November 2019

Everyone on the Plus team should be looking at @bruno for how to communicate and engage. he is great.

5 Likes

Looking at the posts done, there’s been 0 posts made from the OP since this thread was created.

4 Likes

Very interested in the upcoming customer support changes then! Whens the date?

:soon:

Isn’t it obvious :rofl:

1 Like

Thanks @BritishLibrary for summarising some of the key questions in the thread. Let me do my best to give you some answers here:

Can you give us more clarity on the paywalling of features and what we can expect in each bucket?
We’re trying to get the balance right between sharing with the community and not committing to anything at this moment that we can’t guarantee. There’s so much for us to consider here, it’s not just ‘yes or no’ for any feature. We’re trying to work out what will make all of our accounts great value, while building a sustainable business, while also making sure we remain competitive in the market with the products we offer. It’s easier said than done! We’re still working this out and you’ll have to just bare with us. That is as brutally honest I can be!

When will you be able to give an indication of the three packages and what is in them?
In addition to some of the similar reasons above, we don’t want to name features yet. We’re working with partners that involve detailed negotiations and integrations. We can’t commit to any of these publicly until they’re set in stone. Additionally, we don’t want to give much away because we don’t want to give our competitors any idea of what we’re building. It’s better for us to keep things close to our chest for now. We’re also thinking of new features every day, so it makes sense for us to get back to you when we have the finalised accounts rather than changing them around .

Will there be any existing features moved to the Paywalled model?
I feel like this ties in with your first question. We’re open to it, is the short answer. But not unless we can really justify it to ourselves and our customers as a good product change. Sure, this answer could be interpreted as us moving everything from your free account to a paid one, but that wouldn’t be very smart for us because all of our customers would leave and our free account wouldn’t be very good! So it’s up to us to work out where we think that line is, and like I noted above, we just don’t know yet.

What will happen to users who are currently on a legacy Plus contract?
We’re actually thinking about this at the moment. This is probably a good update to include in our next post.

And most importantly… Will there be metal!!!
…what do you think? :smirk:

I’ve added a couple more here:

When will it be ready?
Not until next year. We’re taking our time and I would say we’re at around 40%. The later stages will certainly move quicker so our timeline can change. If I was to guess I would say late April. But if you’ve ever worked in product development before, you’ll know how easily these timelines can change. I would take that with a very large grain of salt!

Why don’t I engage more on this thread?
I love our community. As a product marketer it’s a hugely valuable resource for me to get a feel for what people are thinking and feeling. And given so many of the people in this thread are investors, maybe by shedding some light on my role, I can outline some of the other areas I’m adding value to Monzo.

Firstly, I read every comment on here. Every one. And I summarise them in a doc each week and present them back to the team (who generally read them on here anyway). We then take the actionable pieces and discuss what we can improve on or what we need to think about more. So trust me, you’re being heard and I’m genuinely very grateful for your time on here.

Secondly, my time is spent across the whole Monzo organisation. Working with our marketing team to get their thoughts on our product, speaking with COps about the pain our customers are feeling, and trying to write the creative for how we name and position these products in the market. This last piece is a really complex and time-consuming practice that includes market research, competitor analysis, design, and feedback from stakeholders across the business. Getting this right is the single most important part of my role.

This means my time spent getting back to the hundreds of comments on here is just not possible. It’s great to have other Monzonauts jumping in here when we need it, and usually if I miss something really important, I’ll hear about it and can quickly jump in to take a read.


I hope this helps clear things up, and I apologise if you feel like we don’t have enough detail for you. We’re trying to balance regular updates with concrete updates, and as you can see above, we’re still so early on in this process that much of this is undecided. We moved to bi-weekly updates because some people felt that the weekly ones lacked substance. I saw a few comments earlier about people being frustrated that we changed our cadence, so you can see that it’s difficult to get this right! Perhaps you can give me some ideas on what you would do in this scenario? I’ll happily take all your feedback and ideas on board!

23 Likes

Since there’s a long way to go and there’s not much you can say, how about plupdates monthly unless you have something solid to tell, or ask, the community?

6 Likes

Tough love: I don’t think you should be engaging. Why? Because I think you’re seeing expectations that you can’t meet.

The forum is a place for dialogue - but you are on broadcast. The forum is a place for crowdsourcing and creative, iterative feedback - but you want to hold it tight, get it right then release.

None of this is bad. It’s just a different approach. Continuing with these updates is, I think, trying to insert a round peg into a square hole. Indeed, and I have to be honest, all they have done is make me doubt Monzo’s direction. Paywalls or focus on short term gain to losing your way long term are all potential red lines for me. And yet they all seem to be up for grabs. I’d rather not have to wait months to see where this ends up. It makes me uneasy.

Go build the product. In private. Then we will vote with our money or with our feet.

22 Likes

My take is that I absolutely think we should engage, but that it’s tough when there’s little tangible stuff to share just yet. That will change as soon as we’re able. I’m not on Plus team, so I can’t claim to know all the ins and outs, but I don’t think the current situation is indicative of how the product develops once things are signed off and aren’t so much in a state of flux. But I understand the uncertainty given that we’ve haven’t been able to provide super clear timelines on everything just yet.

It’s not binary - it’s a scale. But radio silence isn’t the answer. After all, this company was built on the very foundation of community and listening to what our users want. We haven’t always gotten this right, but when we have, it’s brought us an unrivalled level of goodwill, not just in the fintech space but I think on a much wider scale. It’s what prompts things like us being the most talked-about brand, because we operate under the principles of being open. Whilst we haven’t been able to achieve that all the time, it remains one of our most guiding principles, and there is a way to do this without being unable to meet expectations - as long as we are clear on what those expectations are.

11 Likes

Put your hands in the air and step away from the keyboard slowly :joy:

6 Likes

Shamelessly stolen from Monese:

Simple
Classic
Premium

Also shamelessly stolen from Monese:

The ability to opt in and out of each one every month depending on your needs

2 Likes

Thanks for the update @tomdavies

In relation to the above. Perhaps you could leave the odd short comment or even a :heart: on some comments you like or find interesting? It only takes 2 seconds since you’re here anyway.

I’m sure everyone will be happy to see a little engagement instead of talking amongst ourselves for 2 weeks waiting for the next update.

After all you ask us for our opinions :smiley:

Other than that I can see the point you’re making about the updates and how much detail your can give :slight_smile:

4 Likes

This x 100. And remember what happened the last two times we voted with our feet. With each passing update people seem to care less and less about Monzo Plus - so stop talking it and release it with a Big Bang when it is ready.

Also, the very fact that you have not said you will not paywall existing features is a big red line for me too. The fact that you said that is alarming and shows a serious lack of experience and business acumen in the Plus team IMO.

13 Likes

I fully agree with these two quotes:

Pay walling is a big no no for me too. Monzo is about making money work for everyone.

11 Likes

I totally agree with this :point_up_2::point_up_2::point_up_2:

None of the existing features should be paywalled, These are the features that have brought people to Monzo. Lending and gimmicks like metal cards are ways to generate revenue. But please don’t put smart core features into the same bracket as things like metal cards that have no benefit to money management whatsoever.

12 Likes

This is terrifying

32 Likes

I can’t think of a single reason how this could be justified. I was hoping the idea of paywalling at all might still be undecided, but the fact you’re also considering potentially putting some current features behind a paywall really worries me.

There’s no way I’d be able to sing Monzo’s praises and recommend it to friends and family to the same extent as I do now if this happens.

18 Likes

If this were to happen, wouldn’t Monzo see the same exodus as the Legacy banks did when they reduced the benefits of their paid accounts?
Everyone is looking for more value for money these days.

4 Likes

No, it’s not. Monzo are, quite reasonably, telling us that nothing is off the table.

In practical terms, however, there’s very little that monzo could put behind a paywall… maybe the monzo.me payments, which cost them money to process? Most other stuff either falls into the category of (a) monzo need it to promote themselves e.g. payments with friends or (b) other banks already do it for free e.g. budgeting tools.

There’s certainly no need to be “terrified.”

2 Likes

Monzo.me is as much a promotional tool as a payment tool

That would be shooting them selves in the foot

2 Likes

Can I get some clarity please @tomdavies?

I totally understand that you and the team might not want to commit to anything in particular just yet, but with regards to the above…

Is the lack of commitment in regards to the premise paywalling? Or what features might fall behind the paywall? Or both?