Something McSomethingface and the power of choice

If you haven't heard, challenger bank Mondo now has to change its name due to trademark issues. They have called for a crowdsourced name to "involve the community" as much as possible. In doing so they have had to stipulate that Banky McBankface would not be an accepted suggestion, explaining that "suggestions need to begin with an M" to keep their established brand marque. But should a challenger bank be denying the people what they want? By turning down Banky McBankface are they falling into the same trap as banks of today?

OK, its a silly question. But, something has to be said about listening to people and what they want. Personalisation is something that has escaped the world of finance, no matter how hard they try and convince you otherwise. Banks don't treat us like individuals or understand us as individuals and they certainly don't listen to us as individuals. We are grouped into large buckets (more often then not, based on how much money we have) and sold to in these buckets (these rates, credit cards and services are/aren't available to you). This is a problem, but how do we solve it? How do we create a more understanding finance system?

We think the answer lies with choice: giving people the power to decide. No barriers, no red tape, no entry fees. Companies like Amazon are famous and loved because of 'choice'. In the early days they didn't just sell the best selling books. They sold everything. Knowing that what isn't right for some people would be exactly right for others. By providing all the options, as a company, you can learn who your customer is, what they prefer, what works for them and how much of an individual they really are.

After that, you need to listen and learn. Listen to what customers say and learn their habits. Once you understand the habits you can add real value to the services you provide. But if you don't listen, things go right back to the way they were.