Capital One today launched an interactive online
'Do-It-Yourself' credit card program for customers, which leads them through an array of options resulting in the card that suits them best. As choices are made, certain options are greyed out so you can see, in real time, the various trade-offs of having this or that card. So, if you decide to opt for an annual fee, you can earn rewards faster. The greying out is evident in the screengrab, below.
Once you've worked through the options and whittled your way down to the card that suits you best, you can then choose a design for it (see below).
At the moment, and as you can see, you're limited to a handul of designs including piccies of a tropical beach, storm and bed of roses. However, starting in a few weeks you'll be able to upload an image of your own, which will go down even better with consumers keen to fully personalize their plastic.
Oh, and while you're working through the entire application process, various definitions pop up on screen if you scroll over potentially tricky terms, such as 'variable' and 'standard APR'. All adds to the user experience.
Overall, this new application interface looks set to go down pretty well with consumers, who are hungry for personalization in every which way. Capital One are offering it on the inside and outside of a card, so might be onto a bit of a winner here.
“The concept... springs from the emerging trend of control shifting from companies to customers,” says Pam Girardo, spokesperson for Capital One. “We are proud to offer control to consumers to customize their card — inside and out — and we believe it will generate loyalty and confidence among our customers.”
That it should.