A bit of machine-learning to identify accounts like that would be useful, aye. Then they can put a little flag on the record to make the invite box not appear, so no-one has to think, say, “That’s a bit daft, I can’t invite Freetrade to Monzo.”
Certainly, it’s my view that the user shouldn’t have to e responsible for dismissing any invite options in cases like this.
I’m actually mind blown by the amount of people who seem to use the swiping through cards a their primary source of navigation through their account and pots.
I pretty much always pull down quickly to get the list view so I go didn’t have plus already I do t expect it would bother me that much having the Plus Card to the left
Monzo’s advertising is still the best, least obtrusive of any bank that I’ve seen.
RBS got to the stage where my “Personal Banking Manager” was literally phoning my weekly to get me to upgrade to whatever their Premium account is.
Nationwide’s app home page is 90% advertising, 10% my account.
I’m on the free account and I don’t even have it!
I agree, but an argument could be made for putting it in the “Do more with Monzo” section if Monzo wanted to be less obtrusive.
I agree, and I would say this is usefully placed.
This is like ‘Sent with iPhone’ nonsense. I hate, hate, hate it.
I think its fine. Its placed at the bottom of the screen after all your own accounts are listed so doesn’t get in the way. Its cleaner than Monzo’s profile page
I think it would make sense to have an ‘App customisation’ section in settings that includes the ability to change your default reference from “sent from Monzo” or to remove it altogether.
This section could also include stuff like:
App defaulting to showing joint account, personal account or a business account upon opening.
Dark mode.
Change app icon.
Seems a reasonable point and maybe one for @robinb to consider
I don’t seem to see much of this - is this because I don’t pay my salary into Monzo and they are concentrating on people who it is the main account for?
Because there isn’t much to see. Some people just like to make mountains out of molehills.
The Nationwide one isn’t anywhere near as bad as you are making it seem. It is literally just a list of their other product categories underneath your accounts. If you had quite a few accounts, you wouldn’t even be able to see it.
Not to mention the pop up taking up the top quarter of my screen…
Yet somehow seeing the edge of a blue Monzo Plus card is intolerable.
I don’t have the advert at the top. It might be because I already have the start to save account but it does look like you can close it anyway (but I am aware it could appear but I don’t know as I don’t have it). The ones at the bottom aren’t intrusive at all.
Those promotions can be dismissed by tapping the close button and then they’re gone. They’re like the occasional dismissible ads or notifications that appear in the Monzo feed. I like them as they alert me to something I might not have been previously aware of and I can easily get rid of them. I’d much rather this than an email or something in the post. I also think it’s entirely different to something which is permanently present.
On a slight tangent, those homescreen messages aren’t only used for marketing. They also sometimes display educational information about recent phishing practices. I think they’re really good and something Monzo should consider introducing.
None of my apps advertises to me very intrusively. Nationwide is explained above. Santander is just a link to their other products and Virgin Money has nothing so far.
Quite a few people are missing the point here. I don’t think anyone is insisting that the ads are removed for everyone. What one person finds intrusive, another will be fine with. The option to turn off all in-app advertising would be good UX.
How would Monzo then promote their products to existing customers? Since once you have an account there’s no real reason to visit Monzo’s website, the only way I could think is if you opt out of in-app advertising you would then be blocked from opting out of email advertising.
I can’t see any bank removing all promotion of their own products to existing customers.
If a comparison is being made to other banks (other aspects of the linked post), most or all have products which enhance the basic current account in some way and will be out of reach to many. HSBC Premier, Barclays Premier, Lloyds Platinum, Nationwide FlexDirect are a few that come to mind.
On the type of product, personally I don’t see an issue with selling software ad-ons (perhaps because part of the reason I was attracted to Monzo in the first place is because they were trying a different approach to traditional banks). There would have been a time when a bank selling insurance was unusual, until it wasn’t.
So things that a bank sells to make money that will get you into debt = good
Things that a bank sells to make money that help you and make things better = bad
I am a Monzo Plus subscriber. I do like the additional features and I think they are good value for the price. And I do think Monzo still has a great offering for free customers with a great basic feature set - to me the Plus and Premium features are definitely add-ons and not things I would expect as standard.
However, I do worry Monzo is pushing Plus and Premium a bit too hard.
For existing customers, it’s okay to have a little prompt, but I can completely understand how the constant reminder could be a bit much.
My biggest concern though is the pushing of Plus and Premium for customers who have not even joined Monzo yet.
I note that they are the first two feature highlights on the Monzo homepage below the header right now (see screenshot).
Surely the homepage should be used to push the basic account and get customers to sign-up? Maybe with Plus and Premium mentioned further down.
In your screenshot you can clearly dismiss that pop up, I’m not a fan of them in any app but haven’t seen another banking app where you can’t dismiss the pop up
The counterpoint to that argument would be that getting customers to sign up now by advertising a basic account and then afterwards advertising Plus/Premium to them could be seen as a form of bait and switch. ‘Come join our shiny new bank!’ Ok, no you’ve joined, pay us extra to use this stuff.’
Advertising Plus and Premium up-front means that at least the customer is full informed and doesn’t have any surprises after signing up with a basic account.
I can see where you are coming from, but I don’t think this is bait and switch. The basic Monzo account is a great product and has all the essential features you need.
Plus and Premium just offer optional extras - it’s more like getting on a plane and being offered a price to upgrade to business class. It’s not a completely different product.
But above all that, I’m not saying don’t promote these accounts on the homepage or elsewhere, I’m just saying I would prioritise the information differently.
Surely it makes sense to list the core features everyone gets - the key selling points of why you should switch and bank with Monzo - before mentioning the cherries you can have on top of you choose to join Plus or Premium.
As a digital bank, I think Monzo often has to overcome some hurdles in customers minds before they switch. It makes sense to tackle these first head on, explain why it’s worth making the move for budgeting and the app etc. Once customers are sold, that’s a great time to say if you want you could also have this or that.
