Project
Product Redesign Test

Date
2022

Credit Card Product Redesign

Overview

With the support of LendingTree’s compliance, SEO, and product teams, I spearheaded a credit card product redesign test, resulting in a 110% increase in card leads.

Background

Over the past few years we watched the credit card affiliate space becoming more competitive. Brands with high domain authority (Bankrate, Forbes, US Money) and new personal finance websites have entered the space and their pages appear in the top positions when searching “best credit cards”, which translates to LendingTree and ValuePenguin losing a significant amount of users.

How far down do you scroll on Google search results?

Problem

Less users = higher bounce rates = signal of poor UX
→ Google positions the page lower in search results

Competitor Analysis Findings

  1. LT/VP recommend the same credit cards as competitors with high brand recognition like Nerdwallet, Forbes, and Bankrate

  2. Similar methods (tables and card detail banners) are used to show credit card details

  3. The types of card details (APR, credit needed, annual fee, etc) in these tables and banners are also similar or usually exactly the same BUT

  4. These competitors are displaying simplified card data in their tables and banners (🤯 how?!)

card-data-Bankrate-highlight.png
card-data-Forbes-highlight.png
card-data-NW-highlight.png

Compared to the data in LendingTree and ValuePenguin’s banners

In additional competitor analyses, I found even competitors with less brand recognition and less traffic are also displaying simplified data in their credit card product. So why the pushback from compliance? 😖

Takeaways

  • Competitors’ SOP agreements with credit card issuers are different (but why?) than ours, allowing them to display simplified card data

  • The number of competitors using simplified data is a sign that it contributes to a better shopping experience

User Research Findings

Knowing the best component for me to test would be a table, I user tested card comparison tables to gather feedback on the existing UI and card data.

The tests confirmed my hypothesis that our competitors’ use of simplified data provides a better shopping experience, especially when comparing cards.

Is this table helpful in comparing credit cards?

Which table do you prefer?

What card data do you want to see?

Themes

  • Need to simplify data for better UX

  • Content overload in existing tables

  • We’re not featuring the information consumers are looking for

Planning and ideating

What are our goals?

  1. Reduce compliance risk.

  2. Partner with compliance.

  3. Find a MVP.

  4. Find the impact on revenue.

  5. Improve search positions.

Where and what do we test?

Test different variations of simplified data in a comparison table on ValuePenguin.

Testing and Results

Prototype 1: Rewards rate in a list

Table performance

  • Conversion rate and engagement improved

Page performance

  • Credit card leads and session duration improved

Prototype 2: Rewards in a range

Table performance

  • Conversion rate not as high as Prototype 1

Page performance

  • Credit card leads improved

Takeaways and next steps

Redesign test is a win! 🙌

Though Prototype 1 performed better, we decided to keep Prototype 2 up so see the impact on SEO since this version of the table is easier for the team to manage/keep compliant. PM to share results and necessary database and product changes to deliver a MPV with stakeholders.