Hi all!
Here are the notes on the ideas and plans presented at the Sunny Side Up Brunch Workshop we hosted on Saturday, and the feedback the attendees gave us on them.
Please feel free to add comments and feedback on the topics in this thread! We listen to and consider every point raised when planning for the future. I’ve linked other threads which might be relevant to continue more specific discussions too. Myself @simonb @luba @bethtoms will be on hand to answer any questions you have.
Naji on community activity across the UK
I spoke about our plans to coordinate a diverse programme of events and community activity across the UK. In the coming months we’d like to trial a City Reps programme in three major UK cities. These community members will be our eyes and ears on the ground in their home cities and we’ll be working with them to organise unique and memorable community experiences. These are the three main areas I imagine they could work with us on.
1.Suggesting people and organisations doing great things, who Monzo could collaborate with for events, workshops, panel discussions etc.
2.Becoming the first point of in-person contact for community members in that city, sharing community feedback with us and helping us turn this into actionable improvements.
3.Selecting amazing independent merchants or vendors who we could partner with to offer some sort of promotion for Monzo card holders.
We’d love to organise a huge community event over summer off the back of our collaboration with the City Reps connecting simultaneous events via live stream.
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Before we start penciling in lots of events, it’s important to take a step back to really understand what the community in that city would like to see. This is especially true when looking to connect with new users or Monzo customers who don’t yet feel like they are part of the wider community. We need to empower City Reps reach out for this feedback in the right places and help us turn this into next steps.
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Promotions with merchants would be popular however small, they’re a good incentive to keep people using the card for daily. University shops and cafes could be a good place to target with this too.
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Any sort of promotion that is offered needs to be super simple to redeem (or automated)
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Events centred around a live stream or screening need to be sandwiched with some time to chat and catch up with the team and other community members. This is one of the biggest appeals of a Monzo knees up!
Beth on hiring school leavers
Beth is currently trying to work out how we can reach and connect with super talented young people who are:
1.Just leaving school and aren’t sure what they would like to do as a career
2.Seeking alternative routes to personal and academic development
3.People who have just left university or are unsure of how they would like to apply their academic and vocational experience when they leave.
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We should promote and raise awareness of opportunities for school leavers to our community network of parents and individuals working with young people.
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A panel discussion of industry leaders sharing and comparing industry experience with Monzo staff could be an interesting format for a school/college leavers presentation.
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It would be good to partner up with schools and colleges which have a WP (widening participation) programme, to reach a more diverse pool of students.
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As a bank with an aim to grow to a million users, we have an important role to play in supporting initiatives which help combat financial illiteracy.
Luba on overdrafts
Following up from her discussion thread on overdrafts, Luba shared an update on overdraft testing. She confirmed a few points about the overdraft we plan to offer: there will be a fee-free buffer of £20, there will be no additional charges for exceeding the overdraft limit, nor will we charge for bouncing your payments.
The lending team are still figuring out what our customers perceive to be a fair price and have come up with three possible pricing strategies, which we presented for feedback. We have not made the decision yet and we’ll be doing more user testing to make a final decision.
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Fee per day seems transparent and easy to understand, but doesn’t take into account how much you are borrowing, so it wouldn’t be good for people who only use a small amount of the overdraft.
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Although often people would rather pay for what they have borrowed, suggested interest seemed too high. This something for Monzo team to think about.
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We had an interesting discussion on whether Monzo should be offering free student overdrafts. Although it is a great incentive to join a bank, free overdrafts do not help to build good financial habits and a lot of people have trouble repaying after graduation. Students are Monzo focus demographic, so we will be exploring what incentives we can offer.
Luba also introduced a new lending product we hope to trial on a small scale in coming months. ‘Spread the Cost with Monzo’ will enable budget savvy Monzo users to spread the cost of high value items over a set number of months and fixed repayments.
Simon B On building online communities
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Cross channel content - it might be good to reinterpret blog posts as video content for our Youtube channel, exploring topics in more depth or from an alternative angle.
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We should explore partnerships with lifestyle Youtubers and approach tech vloggers for reviews. Positive word of mouth through anecdotal use beats press coverage any day!
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Is there room for collaboration on a themed week of video content created in collaboration with other Youtube channels?
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We can be doing a lot more with our livestream- more periscope style Q+A’s and team discussions with an interactive element.
). That in itself is fine, however that amount of time it ran over those hours really needs a lunch thought about and scheduled in, be it provided by Monzo, a walk around local shops, or a bring your own.
