Building cards and payments propositions that customers want.
By Anna Pantazi (Managing Director)
Every product, strategy and commercial team at an issuer wants to design a cards and payments portfolio that customers genuinely value and actively choose to use – right?
It doesn’t matter if you’re refreshing your credit card suite, building a new debit value proposition, shaping commercial card features, or designing a loyalty and rewards engine, you want to build something that stands out, feels intuitive, delivers real value, and avoids becoming just another ‘me-too’ product in a crowded market.
But understanding how customers evaluate one card or payment proposition over another isn’t straightforward (shock, I know). That’s largely because customers typically weigh up a complex blend of factors when deciding whether to apply, activate, or use a card:
- pricing, fees, interest rates and credit terms
- rewards, cashback, benefits and lifestyle perks
- security, trust, brand familiarity
- digital servicing and in-app experiences
- ease of onboarding, clarity of communications
- business vs personal needs, spending habits, risk attitudes
- competitive expectations shaped by fintechs, neobanks and adjacent categories
- raised expectations from non-financial digital experiences
At this point you might be thinking “I already know this, stop teaching me to suck eggs”. To be fair, you’d be right in thinking that - because most teams do have this level of insight. They can identify the main choice factors. Tick. And they are using them to varying degrees to inform proposition development. Tick.
That’s all well and good, but it’s not enough if you want to really stand out. To build meaningful propositions that set you apart from competitors, you need to go deeper. You need to quantify how much each factor matters, which trade-offs customers are willing to make between them, which bundles of price, perks, brand and experience are the most appealing - and how these differ across segments. Because once you have that level of understanding, you can confidently tailor something you know your customers will want.
This is where conjoint analysis fits in
Before talking about the method itself, imagine trying to build the ideal credit card for a young professional, or the optimal commercial card for SMEs. You have endless configuration choices:
- APR, annual fees, interest-free periods
- type and generosity of rewards (and other loyalty mechanisms)
- Lifestyle vs travel benefits vs insurance covers
- card controls, credit limits, liability structures (for commercial)
- digital servicing tools and fraud features
- onboarding flow, messaging and eligibility clarity
Do you know which features would drive acquisition of the target group you want to attract? Which one would win usage? Which would justify a premium fee, or need one removed? Conjoint analysis lets you answer these questions by presenting customers with realistic combinations of features, benefits, pricing and messaging so you can see exactly how customers process and make trade-offs when making decisions.
Instead of relying on claimed preferences (“I think I’d pick rewards over APR”), it observes real choice behaviour (“When everything is on the table, this is the one I actually choose”). It uncovers the true weight customers place on elements like APR vs rewards value, brand trust vs fee levels, digital experience vs financial incentives, flexibility vs predictability and perks vs everyday utility.
And perhaps most crucially when it comes to developing a cards and payments portfolio, it identifies which combinations create propositions that win activation, loyalty, and spend.
Why issuers should use conjoint analysis when building their portfolio
- Build propositions rooted in true customer value
Example: You may discover that a slightly richer cashback structure drives more activation than a 0% introductory offer, challenging long-held internal assumptions.
- Prioritise features, benefits and pricing with confidence
Example: A perk everyone assumed was critical (e.g. lounge access) may turn out to have minimal effect on choice for affluent segments.
- Segment your market based on real behaviour rather than demographics
Example: SMEs who value control and reporting tools behave differently from those who prioritise credit flexibility, leading to clearer portfolio architecture.
- Simulate and optimise different portfolio configurations
Example: You can test whether adding a mid-tier credit card cannibalises your premium card or lifts the entire portfolio.
- Quantify willingness to pay without touching live pricing
Example: You can test if moving a fee from £95 to £120 materially shifts take-up, before making a potentially risky pricing decision.
- Anchor your GTM strategy in the levers that drive uptake
Example: You might learn that eligibility clarity drives more acquisition than reward generosity, reshaping your messaging hierarchy.
Ultimately, conjoint analysis helps issuers understand their customers at a deeper level, specifically the decisions they make their reasons for doing so, so you can put investment where it matters most i.e. into the features, pricing and experiences that genuinely influence acquisition, activation and usage.
Design propositions that customers choose and use
If you’re building or refreshing a cards and payments portfolio, you’ll constantly be balancing innovation, risk, cost, and competitive pressure. But in the end, one question matters more than anything else: why would a customer choose your product over everything else available to them?
This is exactly where choice-based conjoint analysis, paired with deep payments expertise, becomes your best friend - and it’s where KAE has been supporting issuers for more than 30 years.
From credit and debit product design, to commercial cards, to rewards, pricing, and digital servicing, we’ve helped issuers understand and quantify what customers truly value, and turned that insight into actionable product and marketing strategies.
📞 So if you want to build propositions that get picked, I’d love to talk. Book a call with me and let’s explore how conjoint can help you design a portfolio your customers choose.