Just a quick note for transparency here, the prepaid support staff does not have an easy opt out button for these yet. All enquiries for this very early test go back to the partnerships group.
I should stress again just how early of an experiment this was, the feed item was sent to 95 people out of our 370,000+ user base. The main reason it was even in the feed was to lower the time for development using existing app infrastructure.
As for pushback against the whole concept, I should point out that this has always been one of the two key ways we planned to make money long term and weāve made no attempt to hide it. Itās in our investment deck (slide 13). We 100% understand the desire to opt out of these though.
I can promise that the team are reading this thread and taking all feedback into consideration though.
Perhaps spend some development time on an opt-out button or link, please
These two seem at odds. The slide deck argues that this is a long-term goal. Why is early development/app effort being spent on the affiliate links rather than the shorter-term goals?
I thoroughly recommend that a privacy dashboard is developed way before any more of these experiments take place. Take inspiration from Twitter, Google, or Facebook if you must:
Great! Then I would strongly encourage you to develop an advertising preferences system well before you run another one of these experiments:
Or just donāt join the preview, which involves these sorts of tests, if youāre afraid of receiving one of these feed items before opting out ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
Itās up to Monzo to decide what to focus their resources on. If you think you can do a better job of prioritisation, youāre welcome to create your own bank.
Hey @sigwinch thanks for providing so much feedback! Without commenting on your individual case, Iām really curious by the analogy youāre drawing here to Facebook, Twitter and Google. These are three ad-supported businesses who provide the ability to turn off targeting, but not the fact that you see ads themselves.
Would you prefer to receive untargeted content in the Monzo app? If so, how might we best avoid the perception that a lot of people have raised that these are just adverts?
Youāre quite right. I see ads on these services, though I donāt feel as though Iām being manipulated or targeted specifically because I can disable any personalisation. I think itās creepy.
If itās targeted vs untargeted, yes. Iāll take the untargeted.
Donāt attempt to skew peopleās perceptions. Theyāre ads. Call them what they are.
I didnāt know about these inline ads before I joined the preview.
Youāre right, itās up to Monzo to focus their efforts. I however, thought that Monzo functioned well by consuming and responding to feedback, which is what this thread is all about.
I could be building my own bank, but Iād rather offer my feedback to Monzo who are doing exactly that: creating their own Bank.
And you havenāt received one. But if youāre worried then you can delete the separate app which is effectively the same thing as leaving the preview.
A privacy dashboard would enable both. People who find targeted ads creepy can disable them, and those who appreciate tailored content can enable them. Itās not a one-or-the-other deal. Itās the best of advertising for both groups of users in my opinion.
Also as I mentioned, it might be difficult to force targeting on everyone given the new data protection laws coming into force.
Iām not contemplating any action, itās wait and see. The point of the preview is to get feedback though. If Monzo get a big negative reaction at an early stage then they might reconsider future implementation.
I absolutely know that at the end of the day, theyāre a business and need to make money. I was absolutely expecting to see offers and ads - but I never imagined theyād be inserted in to the transaction feed. Thatās what Iām so against.
Itās totally fine if theyāre in their own tab/segregated area and I would probably take a look and may even use some of the products.
Iām also finding the, āBut weāre helping you to save money, itās a service for youā¦ā Vibe, very disingenuous. Call them partnerships, call them whatever, but trying to pretend theyāre not ads doesnāt look good.
At the end of the day - the big banks are waking up, slowly. In a yearās time, a lot of Monzoās unique features may be pretty standard. Then what will we be left with? Cool features and all the Monzo stuff we love as standard with every other bankā¦ You could choose them for free, or you could choose Monzo, with added adverts in your feed.
You seem to contradict yourself multiple times.
As you observed earlier with your one visit to Huel, you suddenly started getting ads for it. Adverts are incredibly targeted nowadays, even though it may not seem so at first glance. Why do you think Alphabet is worth so much?
Thatās not advertisement though. I personally donāt want any paid for product placement on my feed, whether targeted or not. I welcome any of the other analytical observations/calculations where I could save money if I change my behaviour, as long as purely based on the data and potential savings and not influenced by agreements with other parties and the potential earnings for monzo.
If monzo are going to continually and substantially save me money while always working for me in the background and massively simplifying what I need to do to benefit from offers elsewhere, heck Iād even pay monzo de referral fees myself as a service charge.
I think the idea would be to avoid this. So, only use curated companies that may not be rock bottom prices but provide a level of service similar to Monzo and to only offer the switch to customers that would actually benefit from the switch.
Not at all. I too donāt want ads, targeted or not, in my feed, but I do recognise that one of Monzoās USPs is their promise to analyse my spending on energy as a neutral intermediary, for example, and suggest I switch to save money, taking the commission as profit. I found the Bulb experiment extremely spammy but am very happy to accept it was a test sent to me and very few others and I offered my constructive criticism of it. I accepted their justification for it and believe Monzo when they say how theyāll eventually improve my financial life. I might have, gasp, even changed my mind from my original position to where I stand on the issues now. Overall I accept that I willingly signed up to a preview of a service, knowing I would be a guinea pig for all kinds of unfinished ideas. I certainly didnāt throw my toys out of my pram and begin quoting Monzoās Ts&Cs regarding privacy back at them, or get on my high horse about EU/ICO regulations, or threaten to close my account, or go and open a Starling account in a huff or whatever else Iāve witnessed various other people in this thread do. My use of Monzo is a continuing discussion with them, it is a privilege that they want to hear my opinions as they develop their product and as I am an investor it is in my interest to see Monzo succeed.
You know, Iām in a similar boat when it comes to the shocking experience that is having my mind and my view changed. When I wrote my original comment, my mind went āitās an ad, and Iām so used to Bank of Scotland bloating their app with useless offers that Iām going to make a sweeping assumption Monzo is headed the same way and lash outā.
Since then, Iāve found myself being in the position of having to pay closer attention to my budget going forward, as I will be moving flat in the not too distant future.
TL;DR: I will be okay with seeing suggestions for savings on certain bills within Monzo, especially if it helps push Monzo towards profitability so that it becomes a fully sustainable bank.
With things like an internet service provider, saying āyou can save X by switching to Yā is useless because I probably signed up for X since it provided better net value for me.
F.ex. if BT has a minimum assured download speed of 62Mb and up to 20Mb upload, that is likely going to be better for live streaming than Virginās up to 100Mb download speed and 6Mb upload speed (with throttling).
BT will end up being approx. Ā£5 more expensive, but it provides better overall benefit for me.
However, with things like an energy supplier, thereās not that much difference in the service they provide. Iāve never heard of having to phone up your energy supplier because your bulbs are dimmer than usual, and they say āyeah thereās congestion on the National Grid just now and youāve kept your lights on for over an hour so weāre throttling your electricityā
You absolutely have a point - sometimes customers will be prioritising service quality, customer support, other features (IPv6!) etc over the price.
I think having a āIāve made up my mind about this utilityā, is important - as is ensuring that Monzo can actually make intelligent decisions. For example, if I use X KWh, factor that in and work out if the competitor is actually cheaper. If you canāt beat my current deal, donāt bother me essentially.
Monzoās USPs is their promise to analyse my spending on energy as a neutral intermediary, for example, and suggest I switch to save money, taking the commission as profit. I found the Bulb experiment extremely spammy but am very happy to accept it was a test sent to me and very few others and I offered my constructive criticism of it. I accepted their justification for it and believe Monzo when they say how theyāll eventually improve my financial life. I might have, gasp, even changed my mind from my original position to where I stand on the issues now. Overall I accept that I willingly signed up to a preview of a service, knowing I would be a guinea pig for all kinds of unfinished ideas. I certainly didnāt throw my toys out of my pram and begin quoting Monzoās Ts&Cs regarding privacy back at them, or get on my high horse about EU/ICO regulations, or threaten to close my account, or go and open a Starling account in a huff or whatever else Iāve witnessed various other people in this thread do. My use of Monzo is a continuing discussion with them, it is a privilege that they want to hear my opinions as they develop their product and as I am an investor it is in my interest to see Monzo succeed.