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Inputs for developing a co-branded card

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ParthagorasMAx

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Hi Team,

I'm working as a product manager for building a co-branded credit card. This community has been a great source of understanding consumers and what they expect out of their card. I'm posting this thread to get direct feedback from you all as to what features would you love to see in a RuPay credit card. Any and all suggestions are welcome, do let me know!

Thanks in advance!
 
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Whether it's a cobranded card or the normal card, consumer wants only one thing, the best reward/cashback program.

If you will go through the community and the threads, you will find that everycard is analyzed based on what rewards/facilites they offer.

But, unfortunetly because of the rotators and misusers of the card, every good card is devalued soon after the launch and becomes useless.

So, try to focus on identifying and blocking non-genuine users and not on devaluing the card after the design/launch.
 
ParthagorasMAx said:
Hi Team,

I'm working as a product manager for building a co-branded credit card. This community has been a great source of understanding consumers and what they expect out of their card. I'm posting this thread to get direct feedback from you all as to what features would you love to see in a RuPay credit card. Any and all suggestions are welcome, do let me know!

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
all the cards until now have been cashback based, would love to see some miles-based cards.

secondly some decent designs.
almost all of Rupay cards look mediocre when compared to their Indian counterparts
 
NAB said:
Whether it's a cobranded card or the normal card, consumer wants only one thing, the best reward/cashback program.

If you will go through the community and the threads, you will find that everycard is analyzed based on what rewards/facilites they offer.

But, unfortunetly because of the rotators and misusers of the card, every good card is devalued soon after the launch and becomes useless.

So, try to focus on identifying and blocking non-genuine users and not on devaluing the card after the design/launch.
Click to expand...
Valid point, there are also many types of reward programs, is there something specific you prefer such as getting rewards in the form of digital gold or vouchers?
 
sxchzy said:
all the cards until now have been cashback based, would love to see some miles-based cards.

secondly some decent designs.
almost all of Rupay cards look mediocre when compared to their Indian counterparts
Click to expand...
Interesting, are you looking to consume miles for flight tickets only or would you transfer these miles across different programs such as hotels to get a better reward rate?
 
@ParthagorasMAx As per market trends

1% cashback on normal spends [including utility but may exclude wallet, etc]

3/5% cashback on top merchants (not categories, since people will find ways to exploit, which would lead to devaluation) [option to choose 3/5 merchant at beginning for a lockin period of 1 month]

3% - LTF without Lounge Access [Rupay Platinum] [PLASTIC]

5% - 500/1000 Annual Fees with Lounge Access [Rupay Select] [METAL] (give it LTF to exclusive users like me 😂)

I guess it will be first card of your company, so it's good start. Later you can bring some super premium cards😂

Also keep in mind to give good customer service as this is an important factor which would retain your customer for longer period of time.

PS: Card design should be top notch or let us choose, if you can't hire good designers😂
 
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Pls don't ask for expectation, as people will come up with 10% reward value or something that should beat Infinia lol.

But I think your card would anyway be inclined towards your industry, so better make a practical card which is useful for daily usage for all your customers.

A well thought out card is what is needed the most at this time.
  1. Transparency: If you're making a card which has reward points or cashback to offer as a value back, please make the system transparent and easy to understand. Don't do too much categorization like 1% for this, 2% for that and 3% for some etc. You might already have a lot of user data, you can rationalize that to arrive at an average % or you can also find the trimmed mean.
    But don't make it like some neo banks now-a-days where users keep guessing how much value back will they get on a transaction and get to know that only after doing the transaction. That's borderline unethical practice in my books.

  2. Exclusions: Put appropriate exclusions right from the beginning itself, so that:
    a) People know what they're getting into,
    b) The card doesn't fall for misusers and others have to suffer,
    c) Don't leave intentional/obvious bugs. If needed, many people here would happily agree for pilot testing for your product.

  3. Fair Usage Limits: Since you're already on this platform, you already know some nasty people will try their best to find loopholes and misuse the benefit. So put decent limits, as per your app/product's target audience. This will let the card run its usual course of lifetime.
    If you ask me, I'll say for UPI on Rupay, per month max limit can be capped anywhere between 500 to 1000. That way, if you keep reward/cash value back at 2%, you would still beat all of the competition, while giving you good enough room to generate substantial monthly bills from many customers. If you need to have some room for future devaluation, I'd say do it by reducing the max cashback limit, not the reward %. That way, most of the users would still hang around.

  4. Card design: It is somewhat subjective and also completely dependent on your industry. But still, I'd prefer, and I hope others would agree with me here, that a classic sober white card like Kotak White, with silver edges like IndusInd Pinnacle would really look out of the bheed. Or am I getting too greedy here? 😛

  5. Gimmicks: I understand you're a product manager and marketing might not be in your hands as such, but still, you can pass this feedback that 'hype patterns' like waitlist systems or invite systems are actually frustrating for users. Plus, they do not guarantee user retention.
    You can follow the gartner hype cycle for this. Hype patterns will bring in new users & help you reach the peak of inflated expectations, but as soon as someone decides to reduce cash burn, the hype dies & customers move away at the same rate. Product managers would think they've reached their trough of disillusionment, but that slope of enlightenment would never come until you've more offers on the plate for users.

A learning from someone else's recent mistakes: Take the recent worst example of Jupiter Edge CSB Rupay card, which was insanely devaluated within 4 months of launch. It launched like something too good to be true, although that 5% figure was hardly reached by people. But it was still beating all its Rupay counterparts by more than 100% value back. I'm considering the 3-3.5% value back on this card, as reported by many people here, compared to next best 1.5% value back on Tata Neu Infinity. But the way it was devaluated within months, clearly shows that those people either had a poor understanding of their target audience despite having years of user data, or they just wanted a card for hype. Both of which will not work in their favor in the long run as most users will close the card eventually, if not already, given the poor reward rate now, or won't use at all. In any case, most of the customers are lost. I said most, not all, because some might still find that devaluated reward rate good enough for their usage, for a life time free card, so yeah, 10% retention I'll say, but not more that that. But still, it has generated lot of negative sentiment & most people are avoiding it now.

PS: There is new thread on rewards on UPI on Rupay, do check it out to simplify where you might want to position yourself in the market.
www.technofino.in

UPI Credit Card Reward Rates Compilation

Creating a compilation of reward rate of most UPI Cards available . Please collaborate and make it comprehensive Card Name Reward Rate Min Spend Max Rewards Comments Unique HDFC Tata Neu Infinity 1.5% Rs 33 500 Neu coins /month Neu coins to be used via TATA NEU app and Westside...
www.technofino.in www.technofino.in
 
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ParthagorasMAx said:
Hi Team,

I'm working as a product manager for building a co-branded credit card. This community has been a great source of understanding consumers and what they expect out of their card. I'm posting this thread to get direct feedback from you all as to what features would you love to see in a RuPay credit card. Any and all suggestions are welcome, do let me know!

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Then you need help of THE DON of Hyderabad and the Rupay man ...my bestie.. @Abhishek012 !!!
Bhayyyaaa!! aao.. aao
 
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1) consistent
Please come with a consistent card. Don't give a feature which you cant sustain. Simple is boring and boring is beautiful.
Same thing applies for design, I don't care if it comes in potty color unless it gives benefits too!
For reference- The most consistent, no nonsense card in India is icici Amazon card.

2) Slabs
Choose your audience, Don't try to come up with 1 fit for all.
Most premium users don't take co branded cards unless backed by important entity(subjective)(eg - APay, Axis FK, HDFC Neu)
Hence, if you are going for masses then please don't waste your resources by catering for premium users.
Also, if your card is not travel centric, please avoid lounge access, utilize money somewhere else. Same goes for rent payment...

3) Network - Rupay is must for next 2-3 years.

4) Rewards/Cashback
If you can give cashback then please give cashback, points 5x/10x/4x means nothing!
I avoid transaction on cards where it's confusing to know the return value. Give less but have clarity fake marketing things based on consumer psychology does not work in post-covid era.
But users expact atleast 1%-1.5% cashback rates.

5)
Paid/Free
Try to have at least 2 cards(variants) or more , keep one LTF/Conditional LTF
Others Paid with extra Features, at least it will expand your network

6) Approval
Give clear approval reason instead of vague terms like - "internal policies" . Unnecessary bad mouthing won't help you.

7) Spend criteria
Please either ask premium or ask for spends, please don't do both

8) Utility spends
Make this section rewarding so that users are bound psychology to use card every moth 🙂

P.S.- @ParthagorasMAx Please pin your home address or other core team member's address / phone numbers here, so that one of us, can haunt you in future, if after such creative inputs... you come up with a card that makes us wonder- if 1 extra cibil hit is worth it or not! 👼
 
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My suggestion - Try to get a co-network (or multi-network) credit card.

Maybe get association with JCB / Diners / Amex.

And do forex charges NIL (much needed combo of rewards + zero forex).
 
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ParthagorasMAx said:
What do you consider Decent? Is a 1% cashback decent? Could you help me with your expectations?
Click to expand...
Multiple friends have already shared their thoughtful insights. You will already got the point i think.

1% cashback is not at all decent. Most of the available cards give 1% return on almost all spends.

capping like SBI cash back card capping is called decent capping.

And worst case is like Flipkart super coin cashback on bill payment 50% cashback upto rs 10
 
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Well I can give you some SOLID and DEFINITE feedback.

1. Even if you restrict it to specific merchants, don't keep your rewards system uncertain and sensitive to specific MCCs/merchant codes. Instead give rewards based on entire merchant platform regardless of MCC (e.g. everything on Flipkart, or everything on Amazon or everything on Jiomart). Remember, the acquiring bank assigns often the wrong MCC to the merchant and then consumers hate hit or miss rewards. Don't have rewards by category e.g. rewards on all grocery because we know MCC is randomly set to anything on merchant websites even for grocery e.g. books or apparel

2. Show card pricing transparently during card application. Don't have hidden charges - it will destroy the card's reputation in a very competitive market

3. Don't overpromise and under-deliver. That destroys the card's reputation. Think of a sustainable rewards program even if people find loopholes to earn huge rewards. Meaning low but stable rewards is better than huge rewards at the beginning but card eventually devalued for everyone because a few abused it when it had huge rewards - they are going to do that anyway. Look at banks which haven't very aggressively devalued their cards, only slightly e.g. ICICI vs those who've basically killed the product e.g. Axis or BOB
 
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