Less of a nudge, more of a barge.
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The fact that some have a new carousel card and some a new tab suggests this is in A/B testing. Hopefully they’ll change their minds before rolling out to everyone
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N26 did something similar to the carousel approach in the screenshot @Anarchist posted above when they were just starting out.
It was effective marketing, because it was annoying. Signing up made it go away, or made the screen more useful.
I hated it, and I’m glad they eventually got rid of it and found a more suitable home for the sign up.
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Exactly, effective marketing which angers your customers is the equivalent of cutting your nose off to spite your face.
It is never good to create resentment amongst your customer base, as it erodes their sense of loyalty and makes them more likely to switch.
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Additionally, copying N26 would seem to never be a good idea - for obvious reasons.
Need I say more!
(Sorry for the double post)
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Ugh the spacing around the ‘Monzo’ words on the blue and coral carousel cards is different, it seems to me.
Can anyone else see that?
Who designs these things?
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Yes, the Plus card has the wordmark too close to the edges.
It’s the sort of thing that just gets annoying as, once you notice it, you can’t unsee it!
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No home button?
That screenshot will have been cropped to highlight the issue (the offset blue ‘GET MONZO PLUS’ button is a clue). I’m sure the Home button is there on the left-hand side.
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That I don’t mind so much
The banner add that, seemingly, you have to dismiss to use the app, not cool
Which banner is that? I must’ve missed it
I was referring to the post above where it appears to be a large banner which you have to dismiss.
I dont bank with Monzo anymore so I may have not understood it correctly - if it IS a large banner which you have to dismiss to use the app, then that to me is obtrusive
What’s wrong with that?
I have 4 icons across the bottom too, should you just have 3 because you don’t have Plus? Just don’t press it?
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In a word, yes!
It’s not good design to have one whole section of the navigation pane dedicated to advertising and upselling the product. It’s too in your face, and gets in the way of the core function of using your (non-Plus) account.
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I agree on the design part. It doesn’t need to be there at all, because it doesn’t actually do anything. It’s just advertising for something I already have.
The Plus feature list should be somewhere else and the 4th icon be something useful or go back to 3.
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Yes, as a non-Plus customer, I think to discreetly have an upgrade button in the main account management view is fine and I have no issue with the placement because it’s logical.
To put it in a navigation element of the UI, though, is totally different and is both too obtrusive and not logical enough to go there.
Interesting that you make a similar point as a Plus customer, that it’s basically a waste of space? I see the Monzo thinking there, which was probably to make it easy to find and access all the Plus functions, but perhaps it is better to put them in the same parts of the app as other similar functions instead?
Again, it feels to me like another opportunity to be subtly advertising, even once you have upgraded - as the tab is making sure you are aware that those features are part of Plus, and almost saying to you “don’t downgrade, you’ll lose all of this”.
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From that tab;
I can add other accounts - I did this when I signed up, 2 months ago
See interest - £1.04 this month so far!
Custom Categories - Tells me about them. Great. I set these up 2 months ago
Holographic card - Great. I’ve had this 2 months. I don’t need to see a picture.
Virtual Cards - I can get to these in my account.
Advanced Round-ups - I don’t use this. And I can turn it on via a pot anyway.
Credit Tracker - I check this once a month
Offers - I haven’t looked at this since day one
Google Auto Export - I turned this on and left it
Free Cash Deposit - I’ve never put cash into Monzo
Free Cash Withdrawal - Great. I’m not abroad.
This tab is completely useless to me. The things I might need are easily accessible in a different place and the rest is just promo for a product that I already have.
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I’ll take the bait.
Having an advert in the main navigation is like having someone hold your eyes open to watch whilst another person shouts the adverts directly into your ears.
It’s ridiculously in your face, and annoying. Not a case of just don’t press it. Maybe a bit of masking tape over the screen 
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I just asked my other half to see what she see’s - she gets the Blue Card in Carousel version - so does seem like A/B testing.
I don’t think I like either, for all the reasons above, and I also don’t like the Plus button that leads to nothing of real significance on the home screen post subcribing (the “Monzo Plus: Design” thread covers that well).
I’d prefer both this “hey upgrade” option and any other Post-upgrade context to be in the Stacked menu of things you can do with your account (i.e. the one you get to after pressing your profile photo).
It’s already got a “Your Personal Account” thing with actions, and a “Do more with Monzo” section where the Plus upgrade would fit nicely.
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It worries me that Monzo are pushing Plus so much, maybe their profitability depends on it. If the vanilla account simply becomes the loss leader used to push everyone to Plus, it suggests we’ll see a significant slowdown in development of the vanilla Monzo experience, further paywalling of features, and increasingly intrusive freemium style reminders of what you’re missing out on. I just looked at my Starling account, and it suddenly looks much more appealing.
Anyway, maybe our feedback might persuade Monzo to reconsider this approach. Maybe…
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