Support chat disappeared from app

You can also look at the number of customers either becoming dormant or switching away and those switching in. If people leave Monzo more than normal that’s definitely a bad sign, although not directly pinnable to this change

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Yep :smiley: Monzo already have a lot of our personal data so once they start merging all the layers together they can build up some very in-depth profiles for each user.

Like if you start posting lots of negative comments on here they might have an algorithm to switch you to a different pot which means you’ll then be allowed a loan :rofl: :wink:

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As a developer myself I fully appreciate the use of A/B testing and the kind of analytics you can do with minimal information. Removing features is a necessary evil, and every app, system and interface should constantly be refined and tweaked to make things run as smoothly as possible.

But all tools have a positive and negative effects. But at best this was poor use of A/B testing. At worst this was unethical. You wanna move the chat button, encourage people to use the self help docs more? Sure! but either make the chat with us button more obvious or have a UI to tell people where you moved it and why. By not doing this you are causing harm to the customers who need you the most in their time of need.

That’s the argument people are making here - not that you can’t move the button, not that you shouldn’t encourage people to use self help, the point is you shouldn’t A/B test on something this critical to people’s finances and therefore livelihoods, especially without any context or communication.

Its honestly surprising to me that no one caught this internally first? This isn’t how you should be doing things. Either no one flagged this as maybe an inappropriate use of A/B testing, which is bad and you need to work on why no one considered the repercussions of this, or someone did and no one listened, which is much worse. And given the Current Situation people’s finances are at risk more than ever. You should have pulled the plug on this already, but if you haven’t do it now and do better next time.

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“Disgraceful”, “Ludicrous”, “Stupid”, “Poor”, “Unethical”, just from the last few replies

I know that we are not meant to be tone-policing, but I really don’t find it a very positive experience reading through threads on here, and this seems the worst example right now, where such words are bandied around

Many people want (or expect!) more involvement on here from Monzo staff, but I cannot imagine they are encouraged by reading that either, especially when lots of them are in uncertain or busy circumstances themselves right now

You do not like this, fine, but just express that and move on maybe?

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I chose my words carefully to express my concerns - not to be emotive but to be pragmatic - and I stand by them.

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Right here "The Stalker Ex" is a prime example of why it’s imperative people should be able to contact customer service without needing to search endlessly like the mouse looking for cheese somewhere in the maze.

I didn’t want to say it on that thread because I didn’t want to take away from the seriousness of the help being requested but customers MUST be able to get hold of their bank without delay and without having to jump through hoops designed to keep them away from CS.

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Maybe I’m not in this test, but for me “Chat with us” appears at the bottom when I click “Help” in the bottom nav bar. :man_shrugging:

Given the context that each of these words were used in within this thread; I don’t think any of them are used innapriopriately, or in a way that is overly negative. I feel that the feedback given in all the instances is fair and while it may be critical of Monzo, I don’t find the words used to be “a negative reading experience” for anyone. The tone and language is polite, and points made clearly.

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Personally disagree, people are voicing their concerns on a feedback forum, most of which is constructive criticism. It’s healthy to have a back and forth, and it’s also good for Monzo to know who and why people may feel a certain away.

Nobody(at least in the last couple of days) is telling Monzo they’re being unethical or disgraceful without a justification for doing so. If they weren’t justifying then I’d agree.

Otherwise what’s the alternative? We all just move on and then Monzo doesn’t know what to change because they don’t what people’s thoughts were in the first place?

I guess we’re not supposed to tone police for a reason, i know its easier said then done but you just have to read it for what it is.

Like most on here, I love Monzo, but it doesn’t mean that we have worship everything they do

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I believe this is leading a very poor and frustrating customer experience; when it’s easier to just give up or jump onto the forum there is clearly an issue.

I know if I call my legacy bank right now I’ll have a long wait and I understand why. I do also however know there’s a button in app front and center which connects me directly to the bank securely and passes me through security.

I believe hiding the chat button will lead to more harm than good, especially as people are turning to such a public place (this forum) for help.

I dispair at seeing some poor soul having to resort to posting a screenshot documenting what her ex has been hounding her with because of a poor design/testing decision on Monzo’s part.

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As I said before, I hope Monzo are seeing this and that this will be a strong consideration when they are looking at the results of this particular A/B test.

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Especially when it is those methods that Monzo heavily feature online in marketing.

(from their ad campaign in 2019, plus other spots around online)

It seems a bit counter productive to do A/B testing when one of the options effectively removes a heavily advertised feature

Anyway, said my bit, will be interested to see how the Chat develops in time!

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Monzo is getting closer and closer to being what I consider a “bullshit company” with no real product (one for which people pay money) and instead go all-in on “growth” and “engagement” (there must be some mysterious bank somewhere where you bring “engagement” and they give you cash instead, right? :joy:).

This latest development brings them even closer to the other bullshit companies (hello social media companies) where there’s no way to reach out to a human, except in this case we’re talking about people’s hard-earned money and not being able to get help can have real-world repercussions very quickly.

Maybe if they didn’t spend insane money on “growth” and “engagement” in the last year they wouldn’t need to furlough employees and could actually support all their existing customers without hiding the chat button? :smirk:

A/B testing in a banking app is also concerning. I want my banking app to be predictable - if a feature did X yesterday I want it to do X today as well, and if it does X on my phone I also want it to do X on someone else’s phone. The last thing people want is “surprises” in their banking app. I’m also curious as to how the COps handle this; do they have the A/B testing feature flags displayed to make sure they give the right advice to people when app behaviour differs between the “A” and “B” buckets?

It’s sad that I have to heavily criticise a company that I once loved and recommended to lots of people (including making fun of how hard it is to get ahold of their legacy bank… how ironic).

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Monzo staff have posted saying that the A/B test started before Covid-19 was a thing, and that employees have been furloughed because there’s isn’t any work for them to do; that customer support capacity is better now than it was before the lockdown (fewer people have needed to contact support because fewer people are using their cards). This has been supported by customers posting here saying their recent support chats have been picked up very quickly, for the most part.

In theory this means why could drop the A/B test and reinstate the normal chat button without any problems, which I hope they will do when the test ends.

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Don’t really see this as an issue. You can still type in what you need help with. If it’s right then it’ll give the option to chat with someone, so you can still get someone if you actually need help further from the already provided information.
Also it’s a test, if it doesn’t work out well then it’ll go back to how it was before.
Just read what is provided to you if you do have any issues before complaining about not being able to ask someone directly …

hmmmmm , bit unfair … " Maybe if they didn’t spend insane money on “growth” and “engagement” in the last year they wouldn’t need to furlough employees and could actually support all their existing customers without hiding the chat button? :smirk: "

maybe if they new Coronvirus was coming to change the world economies they could have planned for this like all governments did. Some firms are still advertising their wears and also furloughing employees, is that Ok ? Some football clubs are paying their players 80K a week for kicking their heels when they are laying off their support staff and letting the tax payer pick up the bill …life is complicated ? …smirk …

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I see this as an issue because being able to contact your bank is both a basic thing that everyone expects and it needs to be there for those few cases where you do need to talk to a human immediately because something has gone horribly wrong. It’s also during these times that you might not think about searching because you (reasonably) think that your problem is unique enough that there would be no FAQ entry for it.

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True, my comment was not entirely related to the coronavirus situation and in fact Monzo themselves have said that this A/B test was planned before that. Personally I would’ve preferred that money to be used for supporting their existing customers instead of pissing it away in marketing (especially when that same marketing caused CS to be overloaded for large periods of time).

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Monzo aren’t advertising at the moment , some others are still “pissing it away” to get growth , both are furloughing staff :man_shrugging:

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I’ve never said others doing it are fine, I was just sharing my thoughts about Monzo’s marketing spending and I have the same opinion about other companies doing the same.

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