Random person: Ooohhh, you’ve got a brightly coloured bank card!
Me: **** off and leave me alone. I don’t even know you.
Is that how these conversations go!? Cos this is how I imagine them🤣
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So you’d pay MORE for LESS.
You’re the perfect consumer
I was comparing having the possibility of a pick n mix as compared to a standardised package - it’s not exactly more for less
I get it. Rationally it might not make sense but humans aren’t rational actors. I’d suggest there’s definitely potential here for what I shall coin a “tailoring-premium”.
Option A - the perfect 100% fit gadget and travel insurance for £15
Option B - gadget and travel insurance that meets 99% of my requirement. plus family cover (i dont have a family), plus breakdown cover (i dont have a car) + a metal card (i like my plastic one) - £10
I’d choose option A. With option B i feel like (completly irrationally but coming from my brain nonetheless) i’m carry excess baggage around with me.
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We’ve been taking a fairly either/or approach to pick & mix vrs bundle. An option is to offer both and price them cost-plus margin. Customers can choose to buy bundle or customise (customising will probably be more epensive but some people will pay for that). Some won’t buy either. It could be a case of, “we wanted to offer our customers added benefits via the plus account” “to do so quickly we have provided some great bundled options” “these bundled options will be improved and iterated over time and will likely fall in price as we can negotiate larger bulk discounts” “additionally, we will shortly release pick & mix customisable options using aggregated anonomised data analysis to inform the offering” (call it AI/ML if you want, everyone else does).
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Get yourself out in shoreditch tomorrow eve and give it a whirl. You’ll be pleasently surprised
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It doesn’t have to be a massive money spinner. If it breaks even in the short term then revenue is good revenue. Costs reduce in the longer term and the offering develops and then it becomes profitable. There are other benefits here too such as some people saying they won’t go full monzo until they have a simular package to other banks, for example.
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24 posts were merged into an existing topic: Monzo: investment, profit, VCs and crowdfunding
Thanks for backing me here - I’m basically trying to say that being able to choose what you want is in and of itself a “service”.
This might be a poor analogy but you pay more for food in a restaurant than you would if you had bought the produce and cooked it yourself, why? Because it is being cooked for you that’s what I think of a pick n mix account - Monzo are doing some of the work for you and also giving you free reign to choose what you want, hence a slightly higher price point.
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I think this would have been a better A/B testing approach - not to say we won’t get this as yet - but trying to see where the market trends on these sorts of things. Is it just “whatever does me in the cheapest way” or “I want something that really suits me”.
Back to monzo plus.
I feel that most companies will offer services on subscription soon, many have moved to this already.
The issue is that they’re not always good value for the consumer or rely on some subscribers not utilising the product to subsidise those that do.
That’s why the plus subscription has got people so annoyed, it doesn’t offer much value.
Normally
Random person: Ooohhh, you’ve got a brightly coloured bank card!
Me: Yes, do you use Monzo?
Random person: oh are they one of those dodgy new startups
Me: 
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Just spent most of my morning reading through this topic; what a ride it has been!
I will certainly not be the first or last to say it, but the initial offering has not been in any way a good value proposition for most people. Having said this, it is likely to have been very useful to Monzo as they will hopefully have some insight into what works and what doesn’t (as they’ve already alluded to above).
The ‘fanboy’ bundle is intriguing in that could probably work better as a one-off payment as others have suggested, but also because I don’t remember anyone saying that it was bad value for those who want it. As a 6 month subscription it seems a little stupid, but even as like a £20-£25 one off payment, it’s a good way to get some Monzo merchandise (which I think many people would love and gives the business some extra adverstising) as well as the coveted custom cards.
The higher tier is definitely more interesting however. While it definitely doesn’t offer good value for most, I find it intriguing that they have priced it at £11, rather than a more rounded number such as a tenner. There may be nothing to it, just found it curious…
As for what I’d like to see for the next round, I think there’s room for both a bundle package to entice those who aren’t looking for anything fancy and just want some nice benefits (likely those unsure about moving from a legacy bank) while also having the offer of a pick n mix marketplace with individual features (which will give Monzo somewhat of a USP to advertise).
Now that might sound stupid (I often do), but bear with me on this one. Most people who are currently signing up to Monzo do so as an active choice; many people who I’ve helped sign up have done it as a way to take control of their spending, and these people are by extension likely to enjoy the freedom to pick and choose what benefits they would like to enhance their experience. While it might be slightly more expensive to do it through Monzo than researching individual pieces…well, I can only suggest that I personally would prefer to have my insurances etc all in one place, as this would help with managing as I said.
Conversely, there are a lot MORE people out there who currently have no use for Monzo, not just because they don’t see it as a ‘proper’ bank (thanks Mum and Dad), but also because they don’t see any added value in switching to it. Many of the people with legacy banks have bundled accounts, myself included even now. Having a bundled account with Monzo that offers decent value, combined with the fact that Monzo is every day becoming more and more well known, I feel would draw a lot of these people as well and give them a gateway to the new and easier experience that banking with Monzo provides.
An interesting thought that I had was to change the help tab to a ‘Plus’ tab. For those clicking on it for the first time, it can offer two options: “Look a look at our bundle(s)” and “Check out our marketplace”. Clicking the first option will show a list of the benefits and pricing for the bundled account(s), and if the user decides to decline, it could offer a button to “Check out our marketplace for a customised account experience!”. This would then lead to a list of potential options to select, with a running total after each selection is made. Upon purchasing the set or customised bundle, Monzo could then offer to cancel Direct Debits elsewhere for products you’ll no longer need as part of the service. After purchasing either of these it could then become a management tab for your plus services, offering the marketplace still as a way of expanding the user’s choices, and also giving the user a place to find all of their applicable terms and conditions for reference.
Some features (in no particular order) that I’d enjoy seeing in either form include:
- travel insurance (that is customisable depending on the users needs)
- gadget insurance (hopefully that covers all gadgets in a given household)
- health insurance (not one I’ve heard mentioned for a while, could be immensely useful depending on circumstances)
- breakdown cover (nice to have if you drive)
- a higher fee-free overdraft (I’d likely say £250, might seem counterintuitive but I’d buy it)
- increased travel money withdrawal limits
- a new card (ideally one that indicates a ‘Plus’ account, but I’d likely keep this in the bundled account only)
- access to a higher interest savings account (again, likely to be unpopular but for some people could definitely be worth the expense)
- access to cashback on certain purchases (could link in with some products that Monzo could partner with, or at supermarkets could make a big difference)
Sorry for going on for so long, just a very big post after a very long read haha. Feel free to tell me your opinions on what I’ve said, I likely got the whole idea wrong!
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This is funny. How much would Monzo be charging for this?
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It’s not generic enough
On the £10 Vs £11, £11 gives the impression that the price has been calculated from a sum of the costs, whereas £10 looks plucked from the sky. Because of this psychologically £11 seems better value.
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If ever a thread needed closed…
Muted will do.
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An excellent question that I can’t answer. As I said, these were just some suggestions that could benefit some people, I doubt a lot will be considered! I don’t personally have health insurance but I know a lot of people do; the concept of having it tied in nicely with some other insurance products they have would be nice I’m sure, and perhaps worth a little extra for the convenience (could be wrong again here).
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A well thought through and reasoned post.
I like the idea of a flexible market place. I also see why some people (Mum & Dad) like bundles.
There is a balance to be found somewhere and I think both can coexist too.
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Have spun off the investment and venture capital chat over here:
Let’s carry on with Monzo Plus here!
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