Three Strategies For Industrial-Strength Customer Centricity - Ideas for a competitive digital strategy in the card industry

Published in Ngenuity, Winter 2012

With the increasing tangle of regulations and limits, how can a card business stay profitable?

It's tough, to say the least. I was recently evaluating a card issuer's redemption website. The customer retention team had done plenty of usability work. There was little question that a customer could efficiently redeem points for a gift. But I could not help but think how very pathetic it was. The most creative approach was to give away a toaster. Or provide a discount. Sure toasters and discounts will work. But what does it mean to the industry?

We see an ongoing cycle of competition and smaller margins. We differentiate with a six-slice toaster. Then an eight-slice toaster. Then it cooks eggs, too. But, as a psychologist, I know that we are conditioning our customers to just focus on finding the best deal. And we are losing the potential for a value-added relationship that is better for them, and more profitable for the issuer.

Let me share three different customer-centered design strategies that can create that value-added relationship.

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