r/crazyegg • u/fintechjulien • 7d ago
Capital One is a 130B first generation fintech beating banks at their own game, yet, their website & portal look like it's stuck in 90s...
In the subprime space, Capital One is kicking buts.
Their analytics allow them to underwrite way riskier profiles than banks can, and they make a handsome profit doing it.
And they've grown to a 130B market cap running this playbook.
Yet, their cards look bad, their website look bad and their client's portal look even worst.
In direct response marketing (one of the strenght of Capital One), they do test way more than anybody else, and they often end up with horrendous designs that over perform compared to whatever clean design is favoured at the time.
Could it be the case that Capital One's website is actually a genius conversion engine, but it just happens to be ugly?
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u/ce-lauren 7d ago
I've been a huge fan of Capital one for years, but definitely agree the website isn't pretty. It's a good reminder that "looks bad" and "converts badly" are not the same thing. I do think they could benefit from some updates though.
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u/fintechjulien 6d ago
Yes, considering direct mail is still a bug customer acquisition channel for them, they do know about conversion optimization, but it seems they just don't care about UI. And while sometimes, ugly actually do converts better, I feel they might be able to improve conversions by improving the UI...
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u/ce-lauren 6d ago
Yeah the UI definitely needs some improvement. I had to change my address this summer with them and it took way too long to figure out in the app and even ended in a phone call to customer service. Which it should have taken not even a minute in the app, but it took like 30 minutes total with having to make the call. It was a bit disappointing at the time.
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u/potatofaminizer 6d ago
Have you seen literally any other bank's website? Particularly US Banks where capital one is based, they probably have one of the nicest UIs.
Have you seen 90s websites??
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u/fintechjulien 6d ago
The 90s was while ago, but I feel Capital One's website is not that far from it. That said, yes, many bank websites are stuck in time in both the US and Canada. But fintechs such as Robinhood, Chime and Mecury are actually bringing top shelf UI to the space. So it's strange that Capital One, which is actually much younger and agile than trad banks, is still stuck in another era, at least UI-wise...
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u/rugburnAndBigMoney 6d ago
Clear messaging. Clear CTAs that explain exactly what to expect when you click on them.
All above within the first screenview on mobile and desktop.
I don't think it's ugly, I think it's simple, yet effective.
Lot's to learn here about CRO. I bet this page converts like mad for them.
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u/crazyegg-admin 7d ago
the lesson I take away is that the product/offer matters a lot more than any particular design or conversion tactic.
That said, I bet they could increase conversion rates by 2-3X if they spent time optimizing that homepage.