markdirac
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Post by markdirac on Jan 8, 2016 16:21:05 GMT
... the site works quite differently to the other P2P platforms which some seem to equate with being complex, although in isolation I think they're all relatively straight forward and simple. Chris, I think there may be a very good reason why YOU think they're all relatively simple. Because you are a clever chap who DESIGNS these systems. So it's completely irrelevant what you think is simple. Andrew has said that AC wants to increase client numbers, and to communicate more effectively. In that case, what YOU think is simple should be the most unreliable indication of how to proceed in regards to explaining all this clever stuff to the people who matter - namely, not existing clients, like me, but potential new clients. If I were Chris's manager, I would be shocked that he had spent all that time yesterday writing out an explanation to just one client, and talking of pinning it to some bulletin board, when there's bound to be dozens of potential clients searching around, or hoping to find the time to search around, for just the same information.
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markdirac
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Post by markdirac on Jan 8, 2016 16:28:00 GMT
I must be stupid .... I don't see any of this as straightforward and simple though I have invested in P2P/P2B since 2010. I would like to suggest that you are not stupid. I respectfully suggest that the problem is that you are normal, but that AC doesn't want clients who are normal. I often think AC only wants clients who are IT types, or accountants, or computer games geeks who enjoy the challenge of the puzzle. Now that's what's stupid.
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Post by chris on Jan 8, 2016 16:33:36 GMT
... the site works quite differently to the other P2P platforms which some seem to equate with being complex, although in isolation I think they're all relatively straight forward and simple. Chris, I think there may be a very good reason why YOU think they're all relatively simple. Because you are a clever chap who DESIGNS these systems. So it's completely irrelevant what you think is simple. Andrew has said that AC wants to increase client numbers, and to communicate more effectively. In that case, what YOU think is simple should be the most unreliable indication of how to proceed in regards to explaining all this clever stuff to the people who matter - namely, not existing clients, like me, but potential new clients. If I were Chris's manager, I would be shocked that he had spent all that time yesterday writing out an explanation to just one client, and talking of pinning it to some bulletin board, when there's bound to be dozens of potential clients searching around, or hoping to find the time to search around, for just the same information. Thankfully you're not my manager then. AC is growing healthily - £1.2m deposited in the last four days net of withdrawals, and that would be much higher if we lifted the personal caps on the QAA or had a few more loans drawing down. This message was also late last night and sent to someone who had just offered to review our site for us and give us feedback on how well it worked. Thus it was worth investing half an hour of my time into making sure they understood how the site worked conceptually. One of the very first paragraphs that I cut out when I reposted the contents here was to say that currently the site doesn't help guide new users through well enough and that between the marketing team producing better content throughout the site and a full UX review being carried out by me and my team based on hard usage data. There are always improvements that can be made, and even being able to point at other sites in the industry that get things wrong as well doesn't mean we shouldn't be aiming to get as close to perfect as humanly possible. Over the next few months we'll be making incremental improvements to usability everywhere. But I'd challenge those who think AC is conceptually complex to actually tell me where and how. Not that the implementation is confusing, or that understanding the behind the scenes detail is too hard, or we don't provide enough guidance - that our approach is fundamentally too complex or difficult for the average user to understand. If that can be demonstrated then I would be more concerned as that's likely harder for us to fix.
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Post by chris on Jan 8, 2016 16:36:36 GMT
I must be stupid .... I don't see any of this as straightforward and simple though I have invested in P2P/P2B since 2010. I would like to suggest that you are not stupid. I respectfully suggest that the problem is that you are normal, but that AC doesn't want clients who are normal. I often think AC only wants clients who are IT types, or accountants, or computer games geeks who enjoy the challenge of the puzzle. Now that's what's stupid. As opposed to the sites that want you to write bots in order to invest effectively!? Bonfemme had actually achieved what they set out to, they just didn't realise it as they were looking at the wrong number whilst trying to do something that no other site even supports. A simple step by step guide would solve that. This absolutely isn't about us wanting to alienate the masses, it's about bringing the supporting documentation and content up to scratch whilst working to make the interface easier and more logical.
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Steerpike
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Post by Steerpike on Jan 8, 2016 16:47:50 GMT
In general, I find it pretty straightforward.
However, I did make the obvious mistake of plonking money in the QAA and wondering why it didn't magically move to the MLIA when required.
Later, I realised that the the QAA would not "know" that that was what I wanted and so I then moved the money to MLIA from where it swept to the QAA and back again. Marvellous.
Clearly, others have made the same mistake and so some simplification of this process is desirable, perhaps by combining the QAA "Invest" and "Invest idle funds" in to one function, or perhaps have a tick box on each account "Sweep idle funds to QAA" and a reminder in the QAA "Invest" function that funds invested directly in the QAA stay there and auto sweeping to/from other accounts is selected by using the individual fund "Sweep" tick box.
In passing, I would also like to see the return of the "Target investment" option in addition to the "Buy instruction" on the MLIA Invest function.
Over the last month, I have started to increase my Assetz holdings again, partly funded by FC withdrawals.
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SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Jan 8, 2016 17:02:25 GMT
Credit where it's due, AC is now one of my fastest growing platforms as I take advantage of the much improved deal flow (after 6 months going sideways at best) and I'm now even using the GBBA for some "30 days notice" type funds I'd previously parked directly in the QAA. It's illuminating watching what it does with them; it's 60% invested already (on a 5 figure sum) since this morning, albeit only across the 3 most recent loans currently.
I've never had the slightest problem understanding the user interface, although logically I agree it would make more sense to opt into sweeping idle funds to the QAA from within the account where they originate.
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Steerpike
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Post by Steerpike on Jan 8, 2016 17:14:15 GMT
Credit where it's due, AC is now one of my fastest growing platforms as I take advantage of the much improved deal flow (after 6 months going sideways at best) and I'm now even using the GBBA for some "30 days notice" type funds I'd previously parked directly in the QAA. It's illuminating watching what it does with them; it's 60% invested already (on a 5 figure sum) since this morning, albeit only across the 3 most recent loans currently. I've never had the slightest problem understanding the user interface, although logically I agree it would make more sense to opt into sweeping idle funds to the QAA from within the account where they originate. I like the idea of using the GBBA (and/or GEIA) as a higher interest notice version of the QAA but as there is no guarantee regarding withdrawal time I have always viewed it simply as an MLIA for dummies a bit like the TC Lending Clubs (which I used to use).
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SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Jan 8, 2016 17:20:40 GMT
Credit where it's due, AC is now one of my fastest growing platforms as I take advantage of the much improved deal flow (after 6 months going sideways at best) and I'm now even using the GBBA for some "30 days notice" type funds I'd previously parked directly in the QAA. It's illuminating watching what it does with them; it's 60% invested already (on a 5 figure sum) since this morning, albeit only across the 3 most recent loans currently. I've never had the slightest problem understanding the user interface, although logically I agree it would make more sense to opt into sweeping idle funds to the QAA from within the account where they originate. I like the idea of using the GBBA (and/or GEIA) as a higher interest notice version of the QAA but as there is no guarantee regarding withdrawal time I have always viewed it simply as an MLIA for dummies a bit like the TC Lending Clubs (which I used to use). It appears to have access (currently at least) to very large chunks of the recent loans, much greater than I received as an MLIA lender (eg. 10x of this afternoon's M* Hotel), so I reckon liquidity for the foreseeable future should be pretty good. Time will tell but it's a bit of an experiment. I put a smaller chunk in the GEIA too but it's found nothing to buy at all yet. However at least it's all swept back into the QAA as idle cash, where it was sitting anyway until this morning!
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jonah
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Post by jonah on Jan 8, 2016 19:18:38 GMT
But I'd challenge those who think AC is conceptually complex to actually tell me where and how. Not that the implementation is confusing, or that understanding the behind the scenes detail is too hard, or we don't provide enough guidance - that our approach is fundamentally too complex or difficult for the average user to understand. If that can be demonstrated then I would be more concerned as that's likely harder for us to fix. I really like AC so this is intended to be constructive... Two concepts I had to get my head around. Cash account Why is this here? It doesn't earn money or access to loans. Moving money from one account to another goes through here to get to another but only briefly there. Previously it was the only account to move external money into, but now that isn't the case, is this really helping customers? QAA sweeping. The account talks a lot about quick access to get into loans. But directly invested cash needs manual moving. Almost everything else on AC is automatic so this really confuses. The 'real' purpose if you are wanting to use in future loans is via sweeping, but that runs totally differently to the 'put in account ' concept above. I suspect the number of people who invested direct accidentally is reasonable high. Direct investing is obviously popular and suits a lot of people but the two approaches need better segmentation at least.
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Steerpike
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Post by Steerpike on Jan 8, 2016 19:40:43 GMT
Cash account is the only 100% secure account.
QAA serves two purposes, as a home for idle cash in the other accounts and as a quick access short term investment account.
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Post by reeknralf on Jan 8, 2016 19:58:54 GMT
I understand the purpose of the cash account.
I just don't understand why I can't set it to automatically send deposits to one of the interest-earning accounts. No-one makes deposits so that the money cn sit in the cash account. Every time I make a deposit, I have to wait for the deposit to transfer to AC, then log-in just to manually move the deposit to the MLIA.
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ben
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Post by ben on Jan 8, 2016 20:02:38 GMT
I understand the purpose of the cash account. I just don't understand why I can't set it to automatically send deposits to one of the interest-earning accounts. No-one makes deposits so that the money cn sit in the cash account. Every time I make a deposit, I have to wait for the deposit to transfer to AC, then log-in just to manually move the deposit to the MLIA. you can click on manage funds and it gives you the account to send the money to for the 4 different account types
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jonah
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Post by jonah on Jan 8, 2016 20:12:04 GMT
Cash account is the only 100% secure account. QAA serves two purposes, as a home for idle cash in the other accounts and as a quick access short term investment account. I agree with the second point.... Just that those two functions confuse at least a bit! Surely uninvested cash in mlia is as safe as the cash account? (As long as not swept)
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Post by chris on Jan 8, 2016 20:38:50 GMT
Cash account is the only 100% secure account. QAA serves two purposes, as a home for idle cash in the other accounts and as a quick access short term investment account. I agree with the second point.... Just that those two functions confuse at least a bit! Surely uninvested cash in mlia is as safe as the cash account? (As long as not swept) As long as not swept, and as long as you don't have any instructions set. There's a couple of reasons for keeping the cash account including the simple fact that you can't transfer funds into the other accounts directly until you've made your first transfer from the cash account (so we know you've read and agreed to the terms), and so that it can act as a target for funds as they are withdrawn from investment before they are withdrawn from the site. It could certainly be made clearer, and that's something I'll work on, but there are reasons the cash account still exists. As others have pointed out if you want to transfer funds directly into the other accounts you can now do so bypassing the cash account, once you've made your first investment via them. With regards to the QAA I again believe this is simple enough in concept but understand that the interface could be clearer. I like the idea of adding a tick box to each account to enable or disable sweeping - the underlying code already supports this on a per account basis so it would be a simple interface change and would probably be clearer than the current implementation even if it's a bit more fiddly to enable it on all accounts in one go.
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registerme
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Post by registerme on Jan 12, 2016 10:34:46 GMT
... the site works quite differently to the other P2P platforms which some seem to equate with being complex, although in isolation I think they're all relatively straight forward and simple. Chris, I think there may be a very good reason why YOU think they're all relatively simple. Because you are a clever chap who DESIGNS these systems. So it's completely irrelevant what you think is simple. Andrew has said that AC wants to increase client numbers, and to communicate more effectively. In that case, what YOU think is simple should be the most unreliable indication of how to proceed in regards to explaining all this clever stuff to the people who matter - namely, not existing clients, like me, but potential new clients. If I were Chris's manager, I would be shocked that he had spent all that time yesterday writing out an explanation to just one client, and talking of pinning it to some bulletin board, when there's bound to be dozens of potential clients searching around, or hoping to find the time to search around, for just the same information. Well, I was the "client" in question, and Chris' response came as a reply to an offer from me to do a "new client fresh eyes" review of the entire experience. With twenty odd years experience in IT infrastructure and development management in and around fixed income trading I thought it might be an interesting exercise. So that, combined with Chris's ideas about incorporating his notes in marketing material etc means that it's not entirely accurate to say that his effort was simply on behalf of one client. Anyway, now that I've got my tax return out the way I can get on with it  .
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