I would much rather choose and use Monzo rather than Starling however, it is very clear to me that Starlings website is a lot better.
It’s professional, the way when you first click on it you have some sort of advertising media in the background and the multiple tabs compared to Monzo.
Overall it just looks a lot more appealing. I am explaining this as if I was a new customer I would be more attracted by the starling website when choosing which fin tech I would like to open an account with (if I didn’t know Monzo previously…)
Just opened both sites to have a look, and putting my objective glasses on for a moment, I can see what you mean from the immediate landing page (not counting any scrolling as once you start scrolling they’re more or less the same, broadly speaking).
Took a few moments looking at the two and tried to figure out why the Starling landing page feels a bit better. I think it comes down to two main factors:
Starling has ‘Statement - App Store links’, which is quicker to read at-a-glance than Monzo’s ‘Statement - paragraph - App Store links’
Monzo only have ‘About’, ‘Blog’ ‘Community’ and ‘FAQ’ in the top navigation bar. None of these relate to banking or current accounts. Starling have ‘Current accounts’, ‘Business banking’ and ‘Money transfers’ prominent. That’s the difference, I think.
ETA: This is what I see on Starling’s site, which is slightly different from what has already been posted above:
Even in your screenshots you can see what is to me a noticable difference between the two in that only your Starling screenshot has the app store links despite the Monzo screenshot being larger.
They’re not a million miles apart, at least. I’d suggest all Monzo have to do is:
add at least one ‘bank-y’ tab to the top navigation bar.
lose the dead space and move the text closer to the top of the page - clipping the phone picture wouldn’t be a problem, I’d say. You can still see enough of it.
Make the text for ‘The bank of the future’ larger. Then drop the first or both of the following paragraphs so that the app store links are much more prominent.
Those three steps would give a cleaner look to the landing page, and the rest on scrolling would still be there.
Different strokes for different folks to a certain extent
I would not say either is radically better than the other, but also I would have thought that the Monzo website will not be immune from the current tweaks to social media design
I agree Monzo’s could do with a refresh. It’s a bit too dark when you first go to the site. Especially on the mobile browser. Would also be nice to have a drop down list at the top jumping to the different features or somthing.
I prefer Monzo over Starling.
I like the app better, it’s easier to use & has better features.
I really like Monzo’s tone of voice, openness & transparency.
Monzo’s customer service is far better than Starling’s.
Plus Starling’s card doesn’t work in hardly any ATMs (& they don’t tell you this & there is no list of where they do/don’t work). The Starling card is supposed to work in Post Office ATMs but mine doesn’t!
I decided to go #fullmonzo because I prefer it, but this is my personal preference.
I’m looking forward to see what they both have planned for 2019!
Thanks @luxurytravelled maybe I just need to keep trying a few more ATMs? I could just have been unlucky with my choices!
But it would have been nice to know upfront that not all ATMs work with the Starling card (ie you can’t check your balance or withdraw cash when you need it )
Luckily I’ve had no issues with my Monzo card at all
Thats true, however given they are both digital banks with real-time balances available on my phone, I have never felt the need to check a balance in an ATM.
That’s a fair point @luxurytravelled (about checking your balance) but it was very scary the first time I used my Starling card to try & withdraw money & it told me my balance is was £0.00 (it wasn’t!) & it wouldn’t let me withdraw any money, when there was money in my account. It would be nice if Starling maybe mentioned this upfront so you don’t think you’ve been robbed the first time you go to an (incompatible) ATM
@anon76813087 my (teal) Starling card doesn’t work in the Post Office ATM & Starling chat told me that it should. Then I tried a Cash Zone ATM and that didn’t work either. But eventually I found one that would dispense my cash (must have not been a LINK), however it still told me my available balance was £0.00 which is incorrect/an error.
Thanks for the tip re LINK ATMs & my Monzo card
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