Help us name our account types!

[Chris]

What’s the French equivalent?

[szb (Sergey)]

There are 2 main types:

1. PEA (Plan Épargne Actions)
2. Le Compte-Titres

[Vlad (Vladislav Kozub)]

When facing international expansion, I agree with @szb that GIA may not be the best long-term option.

Of course, the names could vary from one country to another (GIA / PEA / etc.) but why call things differently if consistency will help other countries’ users feel “aware” of what the UK folks are talking about?

I like the idea of calling it just “Freetrade Account” (hence my poll vote) but as @Gaz92 mentioned, it may cause confusion with differentiating Freetrade Account to Freetrade Alpha because technically, both are Freetrade accounts.

I would have thought “Freetrade Standard” [written using pink font colour] / “Freetrade Alpha” [written using yellow font colour] could work well taking expansion into account - Standard is standard across the globe, and Alpha is Freetrade’s unique name.

ISAs/SIPPs, of course, are a different story and will have to vary depending on the country based on tax-efficient offers their respective regulators have in place.

[Freetrade_Team1 (Freetrade_Team)]

@Gaz92

Plus I think it might lead to confusion between Freetrade Alpha and your Freetrade Account.

Just to clarify, you’ll be using the same account whether you have an Alpha subscription or not.

[Chris]

Those make total sense. I like them.

[kenny (Kenny Grant)]

@Freetrade_Team1

Just to clarify, you’ll be using the same account whether you have an Alpha subscription or not.

Yes I think for this reason Freetrade Account is less confusing - you can then have a description somewhere that explains this is a GIA or whatever the equivalent is in a given country. GIA is just too technical and too full of jargon - this is exactly the kind of thing you want to avoid if you want to encourage people who haven’t tried investing to give it a go.

Alpha is more a status that affects all accounts you might open.

On a separate note, personally I find the name ‘Alpha’ a little off-putting too, both because it is also jargon from the industry and because of the connotations in popular culture ( alpha male etc), so I would consider changing that in the long run if you’re thinking about naming and how it appears to people who want to learn about investing.

[saf]

@kenny

personally I find the name ‘Alpha’ a little off-putting too, both because it is also jargon from the industry and because of the connotations in popular culture ( alpha male etc)

Agree 100% with this.

Feels like this plan was called something else before, but I’d have to check old emails to confirm…

[rod]

alpha → “Freetrade Now”?

[rod]

@Freetrade_Team1

Just to clarify, you’ll be using the same account whether you have an Alpha subscription or not

This community looks like it might be using the word “account” for different things?

• types of user subscription (free, alpha)
• something else as well (which Alex is referring to)

This may indicate a potential challenge in understanding for users? - I am only guessing. User research would reveal if it’s important or not Looking forward to using it!

[saf]

@rod

This may indicate a potential challenge in understanding for users?

I think it will and that’s why the “freetrade”, “investment”, and “investing” options confuse me. Imagine saying I need help with my Freetrade account, does that mean your overall account or does it mean your account that isn’t ISA or SIPP?

But to be fair common language is hard, people have unique backgrounds and different points of reference.

[Vlad (Vladislav Kozub)]

@saf

Imagine saying I need help with my Freetrade account, does that mean your overall account or does it mean your account that isn’t ISA or SIPP?

I personally think if this is the worst issue that can happen - it is a good thing.

If you, for instance, had a problem with your Monzo pot, you would not necessarily say it to the COps, you will start with “I have a problem with my Monzo Account”, then you will elaborate by saying it is a pot, then specifying which one.

Similarly, you can say the problem is with Freetrade Account, then elaborate whether it is your ISA or any other one.

[saf]

@Vlad

If you, for instance, had a problem with your Monzo pot, you would not necessarily say it to the COps, you will start with “I have a problem with my Monzo Account”, then you will elaborate by saying it is a pot, then specifying which one.

You are right, it is not a insurmountable issue but why create the possibility of confusion in the first instance?

Plus why set yourself up to having to further explain in the help desk etc as well?

Another view point, when people contact support due to a error or issue, they already feel someway, isn’t this risking exasperating the user?

— Edit all hypothetical so could be very wrong.

[Freetrade_Team1 (Freetrade_Team)]

@saf

Imagine saying I need help with my Freetrade account, does that mean your overall account or does it mean your account that isn’t ISA or SIPP?

We’ve been discussing this in the office too.

I think Vlad’s made some good points in his reply. This is just my personal opinion but I’m not sure how much of an issue clarifying whether the person’s referring to an ISA, SIPP or not will be either. We may find that it’s common to mention functionality that’s specific to those types of accounts when making queries to the support team, for example. Or once we start feeding data from the app to our support team, it could become easy to tell which type of account the user’s been using.

@saf

You are right, it is not a insurmountable issue but why create the possibility of confusion in the first instance?

Plus why set yourself up to having to further explain in the help desk etc as well?

But as you say, it would be good to eliminate the possibility of this happening if we can..

[awjdean]

Freetrade Account - This would confuse me. I think of your Freetrade account as the account you hold with Freetrade which contains you’re GIA, ISA etc… rather than an account within the account you hold with Freetrade.

Basic Account - These sound like they’re referring to the subscription description (ie: “Freetrade Basic” subscription).

Investing Account, Investment Account - These could also be used to describe any account within your Freetrade account which you use for investing (eg: ISA) and so does not differentiate your GIA from any other.

General Investment Account (GIA) - While “General Investment Account” works well in my option, I think keeping it as that might cause people to use the GIA acronym, which could be confusing to people who are new to investing.

Because of all the points above, I think General Account would be the least confusing option:

• It quickly describes the type of account (ie: the standard, basic account with no extra features) that you have within your Freetrade account.
• It won’t be confused with the subscription on your overall Freetrade account.
• It leaves the term “Freetrade Account” free to mean “An account with Freetrade” rather than a specific type of account in Freetrade.
• It is short enough not to need an acronym which might be confusing to new users. Also the word “investing” isn’t really need because all Freetrade accounts are investing accounts.

[Freetrade_Team_Design]

Thank you all for your feedback, the winner of the vote is clearly ‘Freetrade account’ & that’s what we’ll go with. You’ve mentioned some important considerations in this thread too & we will of course keep listening to your feedback, to make sure that this is the most suitable label for the account going forwards.