Monzo Plus - Small Scale Trial

[MRMR (Marcel Ruhf)]

Not quite - they were profitable at one point, but then chose to expand internationally, which made them loss-making again.

[Feathers (MikeF)]

@lumisota

The people on this thread represent an extremely small, self-selecting minority (72 users out of 1.5 million customers). Trials with good sample selection make much more sense.

More than that, the people on this thread appear to be 72 users commenting on something that most of us haven’t actually been offered. We may not have been offered it for a reason such that all those saying they’d never use it are, in fact, confirming the selection algorithm.

Just my opinion but then that’s all most of the rest of this discussion is anyway!

[simonb]

My understanding is less than 0.1% of our customer base are currently seeing this in the app, just for some additional context.

[Jackcrwhitney (Jack)]

@mylescarey

Is it just me that would rather Monzo pulled this now, delayed it by a couple of months and tested it out with everything sorted around April-June?

They can’t test their assumptions with no users.
It’s a trial / test now.

[Jackcrwhitney (Jack)]

Update here:

Making Monzo: An update on Monzo Plus

I wanted to share a quick update on the Monzo Plus trial that has been discussed on community forum in the last couple of days. Thank you all so much for your feedback and comments! This has been really useful for us to go over and will be taken onboard. About the Monzo Plus trial… As Lindsey explained in her blog post, we are in the process of exploring a few ideas and Monzo Plus is one of them. We are currently running a very limited trial to get feedback on the Minimum Viable Product [MVP]…

[luba (Luba Chudnovets)]

@Jackcrwhitney You beat me to it!

Thank you all so much for your feedback - this is super helpful to shape our approach to Monzo Plus. Please have a look at my update on this that Jack has just reposted!

On a separate note, there were several questions regarding the incentives following the user research interview. I am really sorry for the delay with this - I have now followed up with our Finance team to check why the £30 incentives have been delayed. I’ll reach out to everyone who took part in the research separately today

[davidwalton (Award Winning Hot Coral Analyst)]

I’m with the 99.9% for now - but looking forward to how this develops.

I still have a legacy HSBC account with an active Travel insurance, Mobile insurance and Roadside Breakdown/Assistance - for £9.95 per month. I’ve been looking to ditch this for cheaper alternatives… Seems like there may not be any.

In the many years I’ve had this cover, I’ve claimed on Travel Insurance once (Daughter had a minor accident abroad) and the Roadside Assistance once (cam belts decided they’d had enough - ouch). But it has been very simple and effective to get the help when it was needed. It does give a surprising amount of peace-of-mind.

[michaelw90 (Michael)]

Interesting update, thanks for the official word on it. Hope the 1% are able to give you some credible insight into how people look to use it.

[daedal]

@lumisota

The £11/month offering also includes an additional £200 of fee-free foreign ATM withdrawals, which would ordinarily be £6/month. That leaves £60/year for the insurance, and the soft features (cards, emergency cash abroad, etc).

That’s actually a pointless statement, how many people travel every month and will use the extra £200 a month, very few people would. Most people at most will go on a couple of holidays a year, some might go abroad every other month, but very few go away every month. So very few would be paying the £6 a month you quote.

Lots of banks provide access to your own money in an Emergency for no fee, so that’s not an extra feature that is new or special.

[NeilM (NM)]

just a quick point the era of MVP(Minimum Viable Product) is gone.

Minimum viable product

The movement with design space at the moment is to focus on the Minimum Awesome Product.

[anon35201645]

I pay £14 a month for *everything. The best thing is that it’s just £25 & £50 excess.

*everything being things of **high value in the home.
**mainly electronics

[danmullen]

Is that with £10,000 of contents?

I have my home insurance with contents covered including accidental damage and cover away from home. I just don’t fancy making claims on it for mobile phones as it will inevitably lead to higher premiums.

[johnbiondini]

Just posting my old comment in here, I still think that if this made economical and logistical sense to Monzo, it would be a game changer.

What does Monzo premium / value add mean to you?

Realistically, Monzo could change that whole “packaged” account game with a pick and mix system. You increase the discount rate with the number of items you add to your account. Example - phone insurance is £5pm and breakdown insurance is £4pm, if you get them together you would pay £8pm (£1 discount per month). Now, what if I want to add another feature (i.e. airport lounges) which is £4pm? All three together the “package” would cost £10pm (£3 discount per month) and so on. I think a lot of …

Also, I’m pretty shocked that people are not requesting a metal card?
I like the midnight colour but not overly keen on the lagoon blue.

[SamanthaD (Samantha)]

Hi Adam,

I’m sorry this has happened, thanks for raising it. I’ll DM you now to fix it and see what we can do better to avoid this from happening in future.

Samantha

[johnbiondini]

Same here, I always thought that other cards would have used other fluorescent colours but realistically, Transferwise uses a fluorescent green and Starling a fluorescent blue.

[lumisota]

@daedal

how many people travel every month and will use the extra £200 a month, very few people would. Most people at most will go on a couple of holidays a year, some might go abroad every other month, but very few go away every month. So very few would be paying the £6 a month you quote.

I fully agree: there are lots and lots of people for whom the £11/month account is not good value for money. I’m one of them. But for the people that do want to use their Monzo card to go abroad every month to withdraw £400+ and who do want Pluto travel insurance? This account is for them. We are not them, and that is OK.

[BenC]

@johnbiondini

and Starling a fluorescent blue.

Teal.

[BenC]

I quite like the concept of Monzo Plus. This preview is a bit underwhelming though.

Hopefully the final offering will be a bit more attractive.

[johnbiondini]

You are right!

[Rob3 (Rob)]

Think there should be a base level plus account for say £3-5 where you can get different card, monzo me link, a higher abroad withdrawal plus some thing else like cashback on utility bills. Then anything else should be pick and mix as everyone’s needs will be different.