Support chat disappeared from app

Issue:
The chat disappeared from the help tab and I am not able to contact the support.

Details to reproduce:
Open the app click in the help tab.
OS:
Android 10
Device:
OnePlus 7 pro
App Version:
3.26.0
Screenshots:

2 Likes

Posted elsewhere in a random thread, so donā€™t blame you for not finding it:

Hope that helps.

3 Likes

Iā€™ve moved this, because itā€™s not a bug. We are experimenting with the chat buttons being a little less obvious.

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so nobody can get in touch :slight_smile: unless they know the secret password :thinking:

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If people are finding the forum, making an account and posting before finding the chat option, then something is not right.

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Please donā€™t experiment with something as basic as being able to easily reach your bank for help. A very worrying move IMO.

29 Likes

Coincidence?

I think so. Monzo trying to nudge customers into resolving their issues without using the chat has been a long ongoing thing.

1 Like

This experiment was started before the pandemic.

One of the issues is that many people simply donā€™t read the help articles or use the self-service tools that are available. We have to be able to control in-bound levels, and weā€™re also working hard on offering more self-service tools and also making these more visible.

As a data-driven company, we need to be able to consistently run lots of different experiments to find the right outcome. I think people are conditioned to see experiments as more permanent than they are. It might well turn out the approach doesnā€™t work. It might send more traffic to social media, or the forum help, or calls. Equally, we might find that many people use the help articles and self-service and still get their problem solved. Conceptually we have to experiment with friction to understand what is positive friction and what is negative friction.

Iā€™m simply the messenger here, so think of the adage :pray: But simply trying to offer some context - itā€™s very much not up to me what experiments run and what donā€™t.

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Inbound is actually significantly down due to people not being out and about using their cards.

3 Likes

True, I feel your pain.

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@simonb yeah, think I fall into that category :wink:

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Can we do the same with the ā€˜create topicā€™ button on here :sweat_smile: :wink:

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To play devils advocate a bit. If people arenā€™t using the articles, does that not imply that is not how people want to solve issues with their bank?

Iā€™m all for self help solutions, but I think there is a key difference between finding a solution that works, and forcing a solution that makes it easier on the company.

10 Likes

Thatā€™s why theyā€™re experimenting. The results might reveal a solution that makes it better for everyone :slight_smile:

Iā€™m a web developer and we do A/B testing and all sorts of other ā€œtestsā€ on all our websites - itā€™s very common practice. You evolve by learning from your customers to make informed decisions backed by real life data instead of guesswork.

The only reason youā€™re hearing about it here is because we have a forum to discuss it on but youā€™ve probably played part in many many experiments in apps and around the web already without even knowing :test_tube:

8 Likes

If I can speak from personal experience:

I needed a replacement card a few months ago. I opened the app fully expecting to have to have a chat with COp (and possibly go through a convoluted process of freezing and unfreezing my current card in order to do so). Instead the Help tab nudged me towards a help article that took me through the process automatically, seamlessly and quickly. I was very impressed that I was able to do it without needing to talk to a COp at all.

And remember, when I opened the app I was looking to go straight to talking to a COp.

This is the sort of behaviour the nudging is trying to change, and in my case I was very happy with how it worked.

Granted, this case is different (and Iā€™m not entirely convinced by the idea of hiding the chat option so deeply), but I think itā€™s important to remember that theyā€™re not ā€˜forcing a solutionā€™ at the moment, theyā€™re A/B testing it. Hopefully the results will show them that itā€™s the wrong route to go down and it will be rolled back for the people who have been put in the test group.

10 Likes

I can just see the anti Monzo headlines already in the press once they see this thread.

5 Likes

My intention was not to generate a whole discussion on top of it, but I completely understand why you want to make people go more to the articles.
But at the same time, you should help the users, in my case, I request a new card last Friday because I was frauded, so far the card didnā€™t arrive, and I went to the articles find there and click the button to see where my card is. And this screen shows the info of the card I got Last Yearā€¦


And in this screen donā€™t have any button to open a chat, so forced me to come here and report as a bug since didnā€™t appear you are making the articles better.

I fully support making chat support after using the articles, but for that, it is needed to improve the self-service.

5 Likes

I feel as if my comment came across more harshly than intended. I fully understand the idea of A/B testing, and Iā€™m not against what they are doing. I was only trying to put a view forward of how this may be perceived.

After all, playing devils advocate is using a view point you donā€™t necessarily support.

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easy enough to find under account button

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This echos an email I got from Nationwide saying they theyā€™ve been getting a lot of calls for things that could be dealt with through online banking or just looking on the website, which was preventing or adding to queue time of people who really needed to get through to talk to someone.