Subscribe to RSSLet freedom (from credit card interest) ring!
Okay, I could have inserted just about any burdensome topic into the parentheses above because when it comes down to it, Americans prefer freedom. Sometimes we want the noble freedom, like our forefathers, of choosing our own destiny and sometimes, like 3 year olds, we just want freedom from any and every imposed restriction.
The credit card study we just finished provided yet another example (or two) of how we want and seek freedom in every aspect of our lives. Compete analyzed consumer credit card shopping behavior at Bankrate.com and Creditcards.com from January through April 2007.
- The majority of consumers viewing card-specific content are looking at low interest/balance transfer products
- However, these cards make up a large proportion of all the cards offered on these sites, so it is difficult to determine cause and effect
At Compete, we want freedom from bias in our research so we try to rely on multiple sources of information. One way we do this is by surveying consumers based on their behavior (in this case, card shoppers) to get at the attitudes behind the behavior.
- Although the magnitude of the responses differ from online behavior, the order of interest remains the same (we did not ask specifically about airline miles)
- Low interest cards are confirmed to be the top choice of in-market card shoppers
Satisfied? We weren’t, so we teamed up with Umbria, Inc. to capture what consumers are saying online. The team at Umbria (thanks Howard and Niraj!) monitors conversations on over 60 million blogs to gain crucial insights into consumer generated media. Advanced analysis of the text in each post reveals the context and sentiment of the conversation.
- Low interest cards were confirmed to be the most popular topic based on the quantity of conversations
Examining the sentiment of the posts revealed that bloggers also spoke most positively about low interest cards.
Airline miles cards generated the highest percentage of negative posts. The negativity was primarily due to frustrations with blackout dates and lack of seat availability. I told you, we want freedom!
