Credit Card Rewards Programs: What Do Cardholders Think?
Report Summary
Credit Card Rewards Programs: What Do Cardholders Think?
Despite their success with websites and customer service, rewards card issuers must improve mobile capabilities in order to capitalize on marketing opportunities.
Boston, October 2, 2012 – A new report from Aite Group evaluates consumer satisfaction with rewards card programs and identifies marketing opportunities for credit card issuers. Based on a Q2 2012 Aite Group survey of 1,115 U.S. consumers, the report reveals how different types of consumers view various credit card rewards.
The financial crisis of 2008 kicked off a rough period for credit card issuers as consumers scaled back on active credit cards. Throughout this timeframe, rewards credit cards remained the lifeblood of the credit card industry. Four years ago, card issuers surveyed about their top marketing priorities cited rewards as a critical element of their customer acquisition strategies. As the number of cards in force has declined over the past few years, rewards cards—which accounted for roughly 85% of all U.S. credit card spending in 2008—have become even more important to card issuers’ marketing strategies.
“Cardholders are very satisfied with rewards programs’ websites and customer service,” says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. “But card issuers must improve mobile points redemption and cardholder access to programs. Making these improvements will be a critical part of capitalizing on the marketing opportunities that seek to reach rewards cardholders.”
Card issuers mentioned in this report are American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Citibank, Discover, and JPMorgan Chase.
This 22-page Impact Note contains 15 figures and six tables. Clients of Aite Group’s Retail Banking service can download the report.