Find out what MNers have to say about Banjo Robinsons’ personalised letters to 4-7 year olds - Non-tester? Get 15% off your subscription

[EllieMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the Mumsnet users who tested the personalised pen pal experience from Banjo Robinson the travelling cat, who helps boost creativity, reading and writing skills for their child/children.

Non-Tester? 90% of Mumsnet Tester's children wrote Banjo a reply and Banjo Robinson has now officially launched! They are offering 15% off full subscription charges with the code BanjoLovesMumsnet. This code is valid until 31/10/18.

Here’s what testers received:

• An initial introduction pack which includes: a personalised letter introducing Banjo and his travels, a world map, stickers to track Banjo’s progress, personalised stickers to use creatively, a doodle sheet to colour, a reply page to draw and write their response, a reply envelope with postage stamp stickers.
• A follow up letter from Banjo Robinson detailing his next stop in his travels including more goodies.

Here’s what Tree Climber Publishing have to say: “Banjo Robinson the cat is in India at the moment, checking out the Taj Mahal. He was at the pyramids last Tuesday, and next week he's off to the Great Wall of China. And while he’s away on his amazing travels, Banjo sends real, personalised letters to your child full of exciting tales all year round. Your child will get a world map and stickers to track Banjo’s progress and two personalised letters asking them to reply with pictures and messages.

Letters from Banjo Robinson encourage them to craft a reply, improving their writing skills and creativity. Parents can spend quality time with their children, away from tablets and TV, reading Banjo's letters, widening the child’s vocabulary, learning about different countries, and building communication skills."

Testers please answer the following questions:

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?
• What did you like most about the letters?
• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?
• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?
• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

All testers who leave the required feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

My daughter (6 y old) was very excited when the first letter arrived and was intrigued by the whole concept. After some thinking she said : "Mum you did write this letter yourself didn't you?" It took me a while to convince her that I did not and that I did have the lunch with the cat. But not sure she believed. When the second letter arrived, I expected it to be personalised but I think my child was not very interested in replying to the letter. I think if it had a personalised message related to her reply letter, then she might have been more interested. But the whole concept is OK however after first exciting letter, it did lack personalisation. Not sure how we will progress with the correspondence.

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

I was pleased with the letters and the service.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My child was abit excited with the first letter and liked getting post. But the second letter he was less interested in. He wrote back to the first letter but hasn't done to the second.

• What did you like most about the letters?

talking about different countries

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

no

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product? yes

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

My son liked the map and the idea that a cat would write letters. He is a little too young (5) to write in return.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My son enjoyed receiving a letter in the post and opening it. He struggles with writing more than a sentence, so didn’t write much back.

• What did you like most about the letters?

Hearing about other countries

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

No, I like the idea

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Definitely I think some of my sons friends would love it

I was very satisfied with my child’s letters from Banjo although I disliked the fact that I was lying to her about having met him!

My daughter was excited to receive letters in the post and loved reading them with me. She also told our family and friends all about Banjo and the letters. She wrote a reply to the first letter but not the second, so far.
I liked that the letters introduced my daughter to new countries and gave her some facts about them.
I would recommend this product if a child was interested in receiving letters. The price is on the high side so it would be good to be able to trial the product before committing.

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
Somewhat satisfied.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

DS (5) was very excited to receive the post though when he opened it he seemed a little confused by the whole concept. Can a cat write / talk / travel??? He found it hard to believe despite me playing along! He wrote back to the first letter but lost interest by the second.

• What did you like most about the letters?

The map & stickers were of most interest.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

More personalisation. More colour / pictures / distinct activities.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

No I don't think I would.

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
It was lovely.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My daughter enjoyed getting a letter for herself.

• What did you like most about the letters?

The personalised part of it.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

More activities for the kids to do.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes the kids enjoyed talking about it.

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

A little expensive but it would be good to have more personalised it's in it.

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

Quite satisfied with the exception of the delay at the start and the unknown length of time between letters.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

He really liked it. Getting post was exciting in itself but he read the letters with me and really got onboard. He wrote back to both letters on the same day. It may have been a little too good as he is now sad that Banjo hasnt written back again yet!

• What did you like most about the letters?

They were entertaining with just a hint of education.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Better personalisation options and more info on the countries. Also a bigger sheet of paper for the reply. My sons handwriting is on the large side and he filled the space too quickly without writing all he wanted.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Maybe - it would depend on the child.

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

Yes though i would like to know how long the subscription would go on for in order to complete the map.

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

Somewhat dissatisfied.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters?

Didn’t feel they were very engaging, the long wait for them was frustrating.

• Did they write back?

Yes to the first, but lost enthusiasm by the second .

• What did you like most about the letters?

The included map to track travel.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Letter was just not engaging enough, was too wordy.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

No

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

No absolutely not.

My daughter aged 6 was super excited receiving the letters. We spent time together reading them and I loved how excited she was about it.

She had every intention of writing a letter back but didn't get around to it. She used a few of the stickers straight away and then lost interest each time.

I think it would take up too much of my time and energy to keep her interested in this but I can imagine some kids would really get into it.

The idea if the map and stickers from around the world is great and the personalisation in the letters is brilliant.

I think it's too pricey as it is. But if there was a trial offer so people weren't committed initially perhaps it is a good chance to see if it appeals to our kids like we've had the opportunity to do as part of this trial.

I think a lot of thought has gone into it and it's a great concept but the pricing needs to be looked at in comparison to things like subscription craft and activity boxes etc.

Especially when there's so much stuff to be found online for free. If I'm going to spend time on these letters with my daughter, we may as well be sourcing our own stuff online unless there's something super special to draw us into this.

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

My daughter (7 years old) took part in the test.

Overall the letters from Banjo were a good length for my daughter, they held her interest and she understood the humour. The character and theme were well chosen and she spoke about Banjo to family and friends, unprompted.

I was so excited to take part in the trial as my daughter loves our fairy door and the magic associated with that. She also loved getting a letter addressed to her so I knew she would really like it.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

When the post arrived, she was VERY excited and read the letter immediately. She wrote back straight away and it occupied her for around 20 minutes. She liked the letters and the character. She also wanted to put the map on her wall.

• What did you like most about the letters?

I liked the tone and style of the writing - my daughter reads at a decent level and I thought it was well written and introduced her to letter writing. I also liked the “world” theme, but wanted more details about the countries.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Audience - the letter length, content and humour was aimed at junior school age but the stickers/colouring-in sheets were too basic for that age group and would have suited a 3/4 year old.

Collecting the world map stickers - this cleverly ties you in to your subscription which is a bit onerous. My daughter LOVES to collect and complete things (Lego cards for example) and she would be disappointed if she didn’t finish her map.

Value for money - on average, my daughter spent about 20mins on reading and replying. There wasn’t a lot we could do together. So for £4 a letter I don’t think you get much back in terms of time spent. She did keep the letters though so they held plenty of sentimental value to her.

A few other reviewers suggested a small gift/toy from the country. I don’t like this idea as we are inundated with cheap plastic toys. But perhaps photos of the country would be educational and fun.

I also don’t like the suggestion of online content as it was great for us to get away from iPads/apps.

Quality - I liked the letter quality and the typewritten style. I assume the method of letter-writing may change depending on where the cat goes! The stickers were average but lacked a bit of colour. The map sticker was nice but my daughter couldn’t work out which sticker she was supposed to use on which bit (it wasn’t obvious to her which sticker was for the map and which ones she could just keep).

The colouring-in sheets were poor quality (like a freebie you get in a restaurant) and were not suitable for an older/junior aged child. These really spoilt it for me as they looked cheap and didn’t seem to fit the quality of the letter.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

No. I love the idea of personalised letters but a pen-pal would offer this. I liked the magic of the cat but the cost and quality/value for money would mean I wouldn’t recommend this particular service.

I would look at an alternative - monthly craft box, magazine or penpal.

A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

Cost - at £7.90 a month (£3.95 a letter) it is far too expensive for me to sign up. To complete the map (with space for 24 stickers) it would cost £95 and take another 12 months. Not good value.

A children’s magazine costs similar (approx £4) and comes with more content and activities, better quality paper and the obligatory plastic tat!

Finishing the trial - I’m in a difficult position now as my daughter is asking about Banjo and has displayed the map on her bedroom wall. If I don’t continue with the subscription what am I supposed to tell her? The cat has forgotten her?

When we signed up for the trial it didn’t explain that it was a collector’s theme and that we would be left with an incomplete map and would end rather abruptly. I’m quite annoyed as I may have to explain to my daughter which will spoil it for her.

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
Fairly satisfied. It is a good idea but I think it needs refinement to keep the child's attention and encourage them to read and write themselves.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My 7-yr old loved waiting for and receiving the first letter. We spread all of the documents over the table to explore them. After a little persuasion he wrote a reply to Banjo within a few days and loved drawing a picture as requested. However when the second letter was received the excitement was over within minutes and I don't think he's actually looked through the papers properly. Could be due to the time delay (I know this i not standard) but I think it's also because in the end he didn't feel he got much out of the first set.

• What did you like most about the letters?

The chance for some 'fun' reading and writing and some of the educational travel facts, although I think much more could have been made of these.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

^Maybe have a list of documents enclosed so the child can 'work through' them rather than being overwhelmed with the choice.
More information/activites relating to the destination.
More options for personalisation.^

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes but only a something to try once or twice given the price

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

As commented by others, this seems too much for what the child gets out of it and the fact that it's not difficult for parents to produce a similar thing. I think the suggestion of being able to log onto to a website tracker is excellent because it adds a realtime dimension to the activity. Maybe even be able to post pictures online for Banjo to be able to see but specify that letters have to be written so they don't try to get out of that part!

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

Very satisfied.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

He liked the letters and spent a long time considering and composing his replies.

• What did you like most about the letters?

They were very informative and interesting, full of facts.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Perhaps differentiating the letters for different ages/abilities - the questions asked weren't very challenging for my son.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes, I would, particularly for people who are struggling to enthuse their child with regards to writing.

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

Yes, I think this would be a fair price if there are more options to personalise the service to a child or family's situation or abilities.

• Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?

I thought the packs were of good quality but I didn't quite know what to expect in terms of timing etc.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My daughter loved them. She wrote back both times.

• What did you like most about the letters?

I liked the style of the letters and the fact that my daughter learned something from reading them.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

I think the packs could have a bit more information in them - we didn't know what to do with the stickers or why we had a big map.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

I think the price is too high - I wouldn't pay it. I could get a magazine with more activities for much less than that.

Sorry just realised it's two letters per
Month for the £7.90 subscription cost in which case yes I'd be more inclined to buy it!

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service? It was excellent!

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back? He was so excited about them. Wrote back to both!
• What did you like most about the letters? Humour
• Is there anything that you feel could be improved? The a ility to address it to more than one child
• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family? Yes
• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair price for the product. It is expensive. I think around £4 /month would be attractive.

Hi Everyone

Tree Climber Publishing are really grateful for all your feedback and would like to say the following:

"Thank you for taking your and your child’s time to take part in the Banjo Robinson product trial. As a start-up launching a new product in a competitive market your feedback has been invaluable to us.

We knew our product needed to be tried by a large group of real children and parents so that is why we did the trial and we are so glad we did. We are thrilled that lots of you and your children like the product - our aim is to make the Banjo Robinson experience as special, unique and personalised to children as we can and the feedback from the thread so far has informed us that for some of you we could make real improvements.

So as a direct result of your feedback we are making the following changes to the Banjo Robinson product in time for the launch:

• Lower price - £5.35
• Occasional souvenirs from banjo’s travels
• More personalisation
• Simplified letters
• More country facts

We also plan to add before Christmas an Online Banjo Tracker. This will be an interactive map that lets your child discover more facts, video, images and sounds from each country Banjo visits.

Thank you again for your insight.
Tree Climber Publishing"

Also just clear up some questions regarding subscribing:

• When you subscribe you will not have to start again. Tree Climber will give you a voucher code which will allow you to join Banjo’s travels in his next stop, which is China!

Firstly thank you for this opportunity. Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service? My son loved recieving a letter in the post and it beong personal, he felt special. Overall very satisfied.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? My sib found them funny especially as they mentioned his cat. He was very fascinated and took a real interest of Banjo 's travel stories.

• What did you like most about the letters?

The personlised feel and the humour.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved? No.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family? Yes.

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription is £7.90/month. Do you think this is a fair? I think this is quite steep and probably won't sign up. I think around the £5 mark is much better.

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
Very satisfied. They arrived when promised.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My daughter was initially excited and straight away got writing and drawing a letter back. The second letter that arrived she lost interest a bit though which is a shame.

• What did you like most about the letters?

I liked the layout and the pictures.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

More personalisation would be good and would probably capture the attention.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Yes if the price was cheaper.

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

I definitely think that £7.90 was too expensive. The reduced price is far more reasonable for what you get.

Thanks for the opportunity to try this

Have just read the update from EllieMumsnet and Tree Climber publishing. Thanks for taking on board all the feedback and acting on it. Will definitely be subscribing when the website's up and the code to start in China is available.

My 6 year old loved getting these letters and writing back, especially the stickers. The map was really good to find where places were, and she had put it up in her room. I think getting b personalised post was the hilight for her.
I think if is quite expensive and would love to be able to afford it, but sadly not!

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
It was lovely to receive the letters but they were quite wordy and long winded even for an able 6 year old reader. When I read them aloud she got a bit bored!

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back? They were amazed at first but then thought it was just me! There was an element of disbelief. She wrote back to the first one but my 4 year old was more excited.
• What did you like most about the letters?
• Is there anything that you feel could be improved? They were too long winded and wordy. Could have been more personal. Liked the pictures and stickers.
• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family? No not really.
• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product? I think with the additional personalisation it is a fair price.

Overall how satisfied were you with your child’s letters from Banjo Robinson and the service?
Quite satisfied once the letters eventually came.

• What did your child think of Banjo Robinson’s letters? Did they write back?

My DS (7) was excited with the first letter especially - the line about not believing that cats can write made his eyes light up as that was exactly what he had said to me. He did write back but I don't know if he would continue to do so after a few letters.

• What did you like most about the letters?

I liked the information about different countries and the stickers for the map to follow Bajo around the world.

• Is there anything that you feel could be improved?

Considering the length of time it took to get the test going, I am a little doubtful about the long term viability of this subscription if not enough people sign up. Also, the letter was quite wordy which was fine for my DS but for other younger children the content my be a bit lost.

• Would you recommend the personalised letters to your friends and/or family?

Possibly, at the lower price I might sign up for a niece who likes writing.

• ‘Banjo Robinson sends personalised letters, personalised stickers, colouring-in activities and writing stationary from two new countries per month. Once subscribed, parents will be able to log on to their account and compose the closing paragraph of the next letter their child receives from Banjo, enabling them to address questions their child has asked, and creating an authentic back-and-forth correspondence between child and ‘cat’.’ A Banjo Robinson subscription was £7.90/month, however as a result of your feedback, Tree Climber has decided to price this offering at £5.35. Do you think this is a fair price for the product?

I notice the changed price, at the lower price I might consider it but not at £7.90.

My daughter has been asking today when banjo will be writing to her next. I mumbled something about sending a reply to Brazil might take a long time with thr post and he may have gone somewhere else on his travels so it may need to be forwarded which could take a few weeks.... any update on when we might be able to sign up to pay?

We were quite satisfied with the service. My daughter ( aged 4) was very excited to get her own post and the envelope was bright and exciting looking. I liked the map and my daughter loves sticker. We coloured in the pictures and I helped her write back. However the letters were pitched a bit too high for her so she lost interest whilst I was reading - it would be useful to have pictures on the actual letter to help engage children who are just starting to learn to read. She believed in Banjo and liked the personalised paragraph mentioning the colour of our sofa.in it’s current format I would recommend to people with slightly older children - I think £7.95 was too expensive unless there was going to be a little gift ( which my daughter would love ) the revised price is more reasonable. Thank you for the opportunity to try this product

@Elliemumsnet and Tree Climber. That's great news on the feedback taken on board so quickly, what a great response to a trial!

Given that, I'd actually be interested in signing up to continue now. Looking forward to getting the code to continue on!

Thanks.