Capital One Card Lab
December 7, 2007 by Ron Shevlin
Capital One launched Card Lab, which it claims is the first “do-it-yourself” credit card offer. It’s an interactive tool that lets prospective card applicants choose among a number of options to build their own card package. Not surprisingly, you can’t get a 25% annual bonus and 2 points per $1 charged and 1.25% back on purchases and….you get the picture (otherwise see below).
My take: Card Lab is a winner because it:
1) Builds up versus narrows down. To date, many financial services sites that have even bothered to try to help site users make a product choice have started from the premise of helping prospects choose from a list of product options. Tools like those from Experion Systems (which I really like) take an interview approach and make a product recommendation at the end of the process. This can leave prospects wondering what other options might have been available had they answered one or more questions differently.
Card Lab’s approach puts prospects in charge, and presents the options in such a way that they can easily see the tradeoffs they make when selecting certain options. With this approach, what might be perceived as a daunting range of product options is basically hidden from the prospect.
2) Engages with interactivity. Simply replicating a product options chart from offline collateral to online web page is a shameful misuse of the channel’s capabilities. Some firms have taken remedial steps like letting site users click on certain product feature descriptions to drill down to more information.
Card Lab, on the other hand, is a great demonstration of the interactivity the channel is capable of delivering. Serious prospects can play what-if to their hearts’ content in order to understand the product features and tradeoffs available to them. And, most importantly I think, they come away feeling like they’ve made the best decision for them.
3) Yields actionable data. The web analytics folks at Cap One are going to have a field day with Card Lab. Analyzing the usage, trends, clickstream, etc. should help Cap One marketers get a really good understanding of who’s looking for cards online, what their preferences are, which features are most popular, and so on. And knowing Cap One, and what good marketers they are, they’ll use this data to develop and refine their offers and marketing programs.
To date, many financial services sites have relied on the “here’s the product data — make a choice and come back and we’ll take your order” mentality. What makes Card Lab so important is that it fills a gap in the buying cycle that few sites have effectively dealt with — the part where someone weighs their options and makes an informed choice.
Technorati Tags: Marketing, Financial Services, Capital One, Card Lab
Ron, at first glance, I agree that this has the potential to be a winner for the points numbers that you mention. It puts the customer in control. Customers always love it when that happens.
The only thing that I question is: will there be enough customers who care to this level of detail about their credit card? Or is it a case of the now-impossibility of trying to choose toothpaste on the grocery store shelf. The variety of toothpastes is stunning. It’s a rather complex array of options… and I can’t quickly and easily tell what the differences are. I just want the minty-flavor, baking soda, teeth-whitening, tartar-control one.
With the cards, I’m wondering if most people aren’t of the 100% mindset: “just give me the lowest rate period”, “just give me the best rewards period”, “just maximize my cash back at the end of the year”, and don’t bother me with the details. I don’t know that I care enough to jiggle a balance of these dimensions. But I eagerly await finding out how this site/card gets used.
I love this concept in relation to financial products. Let people build their own products. You can customize your google homepage, why can’t you customize a checking account? May this is just the gen-y in me talking but it seems like a no brainer to me.
Looks tight…they did a nice job with it.
@Morriss: You asked “will there be enough customers who care to this level of detail about their credit card?” And to that I would say, of all the financial products being sold today, maybe — just maybe — high-yield savings accounts comes close to being researched and applied for online. According to Jim Bruene at NetBanker, more than 9 million were shopping for cards online — in October alone. Of the people who research cards online, half want help making a product selection (that’s from some research I did at Forrester in 2006 — that number may have changed since then).
But even if many people have a “just give me the lowest rate” card, what this tool does — AND I THINK THIS IS CRITICAL — is take a step towards TRANSPARENCY. Granted, an applicant still has to click over to the disclosures to find out that Cap One can increase the APR if customer pays late, etc. Which is really too bad, because Cap One doesn’t engage in universal default — which might earn them a little goodwill in the eyes of some customers.
C’mon, Morriss — for someone who wants a world (2.0) “where people utilize today’s online technologies to interact and exist in the world that never would have been possible without it”, you’ve got to admit that Cap One took a step toward achieving that.
I do believe this effort will prove to be successful - but it’s not original. Garanti Bank in Turkey introduced the concept almost 2 years ago with its Flexicard. For a description of how it works (in English) check out http://www.flexicard.com.tr/new_generation_card.html
If you want to try it out, and can read Turkish - or to just get the feel of how it can be done with style, log on to http://www.flexicard.com.tr/
David: Thanks for the link to Flexicard. I doubt Cap One looked very far afield before it claimed to have the first DIY card. But that Flexi music on Garanti’s site is enough to drive you crazy.
@ Ron, absolutely, I agree that this is a step in the right direction, no doubt about it. Transparency is indeed awesome. I remember when I was doing research for what AMEX card I wanted, it was nearly to the point of the overwhelming variety that we see in toothpaste selection. I would have liked to see a nice grid of the options clearly explained.
And BTW, we are all already living in World 2.0. It’s only a matter of time before everyone realizes it.
I love the concept of giving power to the consumer. Then, there’s that interactive component (that creates extra-stickiness).
I can’t wait to see results from years down the road. I’m betting that customers generated through this channel will be much more loyal than other customers.
I predict this bombs for 2 reasons.
- First of all, even with all the options, you are still left with a generic product that is no different from any other card you can get on the market. Try adding some interesting rewards or merchant partners and then maybe it’s got a chance.
- Who wants to go through this process, its like asking someone to do a conjoint analysis to figure out what card they want. I’m sure the math geeks at Cap One love it, but I bet they find that most of the customers leave the sight in mid design
Separately, this is not a new product at all. Bank of Montreal has had the Mosaic card for years, and there’s is even better in that you can change the functionality on your card without having to get a new one. That is a true loyalty driver
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I found out some corporate numbers to capital one if anyone wants them. The 1800-955-7070 number will get you no where. “Senior account managers” at that nu,ber will apologize profusely and say that there is no one else who can help you besides them. Of, course, they will offer no help. The corporate office numbers are are 804-284-5xxx. Capital One seems to own most of the exchanges above 284-5200. If you try enough of them, you may actually get someone who will help. Some of their faxes are 804-284-5200, 804-284-5201, 804-284-5203, 804-284-5204, 804-284-5202, and 804-284-5704. god Bless the consumer!
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