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That was a surprisingly fun read.

by skc 6y ago

wombatmobile 6y ago
I thought it read like an ad for a bank and wondered why I was seeing it on HN. Give it a chance, I said to myself, and kept reading to see if there was more to it. It seems to be a show and tell by someone who has designed a banking app, telling us the merits they perceive in every design decision they've made. This bank looks a little better than the shitty old bank I bank with, but I'm not going to change. Why? It's not that I don't hate my lazy, arrogant, selfish, sexist, boorish old bank. It's that I don't want or need an opportunity to nurture a relationship through frequent interactions, or to be more engaged with my money, or to encourage better financial literacy, or to check my balance more regularly. I am already confident and connected to my finances. What I really want is fewer people trying to sell me things I don't need or care about. Are these people those people? After 10 minutes of reading I wasn't sure, so I decided it would be easier to do nothing.
- tomhoward 6y ago
  It's not for everyone. But as you can see in some comments here and on Twitter, the people who love it, really love it, which is not something you can say about the big old banks. They know full well they're not going to win over people who are already established with a major bank. So their very deliberate strategy is to appeal to young people, who are perhaps just getting a bank account for the first time or at least are not yet deeply entwined with a bank, and then hoping to keep them for long enough that they become high-value customers over the next 10-20 years. So if you're not a young person and/or if you already have an attachment to a bank, you're not really in their target audience. (Edited last line for clarity.)
  - andi999 6y ago
    "So if you're not a young person without an existing attachment to a bank, it's not really for you." This seem like a non-sequitor to me.
    - tomhoward 6y ago
      I edited the last line in the hope of making it more clear, though I'm not sure what exactly made it a non-sequitur. Every company/product has a target audience - i.e., a profile for the kind of person they're most trying to reach. By definition, it excludes a lot of people.
      - andi999 6y ago
        If it were a social network, or dating site or disco I agree, age is a characterisc. For banking you need to use other characteristic than age, like 'low income, unsteady job likes/dislikes flashy interfaces' or whatever. And it doesnt mean that a few older ppl do not have the same needs. Large fractions of other agegroups might share the same characteristics you took from your target group. Of course if the targeting is 'is naive and cannot tell a bad deal from a good one' then I agree, experience with age probably spoils it.
        tomhoward 6y ago
        Age is a valid characteristic for retail banking, as people generally only choose a retail bank once (or some other single digit number of times) in their life, and it is usually around the time they get their first job or first taste of financial independence - i.e., late teens. And if they're going to change, they'll be more likely to change if they're young and not so deeply attached to a bank through having a home loan, a retirement/investment fund, credit cards, personal loans etc. Here's an interview with the co-founder/CEO explaining exactly why their strategy is to target under-35s, and how most of their new customers are aged 16-24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C64e_9kgb-s&t=2389 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C64e_9kgb-s&t=2389
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]

That was a surprisingly fun read.

by skc 6y ago

That was a surprisingly fun read.

I thought it read like an ad for a bank and wondered why I was seeing it on HN. Give it a chance, I said to myself, and kept reading to see if there was more to it. It seems to be a show and tell by someone who has designed a banking app, telling us the merits they perceive in every design decision they've made. This bank looks a little better than the shitty old bank I bank with, but I'm not going to change. Why? It's not that I don't hate my lazy, arrogant, selfish, sexist, boorish old bank. It's that I don't want or need an opportunity to nurture a relationship through frequent interactions, or to be more engaged with my money, or to encourage better financial literacy, or to check my balance more regularly. I am already confident and connected to my finances. What I really want is fewer people trying to sell me things I don't need or care about. Are these people those people? After 10 minutes of reading I wasn't sure, so I decided it would be easier to do nothing.

tomhoward 6y ago
It's not for everyone. But as you can see in some comments here and on Twitter, the people who love it, really love it, which is not something you can say about the big old banks. They know full well they're not going to win over people who are already established with a major bank. So their very deliberate strategy is to appeal to young people, who are perhaps just getting a bank account for the first time or at least are not yet deeply entwined with a bank, and then hoping to keep them for long enough that they become high-value customers over the next 10-20 years. So if you're not a young person and/or if you already have an attachment to a bank, you're not really in their target audience. (Edited last line for clarity.)
- andi999 6y ago
  "So if you're not a young person without an existing attachment to a bank, it's not really for you." This seem like a non-sequitor to me.
  - tomhoward 6y ago
    I edited the last line in the hope of making it more clear, though I'm not sure what exactly made it a non-sequitur. Every company/product has a target audience - i.e., a profile for the kind of person they're most trying to reach. By definition, it excludes a lot of people.
    - andi999 6y ago
      If it were a social network, or dating site or disco I agree, age is a characterisc. For banking you need to use other characteristic than age, like 'low income, unsteady job likes/dislikes flashy interfaces' or whatever. And it doesnt mean that a few older ppl do not have the same needs. Large fractions of other agegroups might share the same characteristics you took from your target group. Of course if the targeting is 'is naive and cannot tell a bad deal from a good one' then I agree, experience with age probably spoils it.
      - tomhoward 6y ago
        Age is a valid characteristic for retail banking, as people generally only choose a retail bank once (or some other single digit number of times) in their life, and it is usually around the time they get their first job or first taste of financial independence - i.e., late teens. And if they're going to change, they'll be more likely to change if they're young and not so deeply attached to a bank through having a home loan, a retirement/investment fund, credit cards, personal loans etc. Here's an interview with the co-founder/CEO explaining exactly why their strategy is to target under-35s, and how most of their new customers are aged 16-24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C64e_9kgb-s&t=2389 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C64e_9kgb-s&t=2389
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]