Capital One sometimes thinks so hard about what it does -- and tests its ideas so thoroughly -- that the whole system can make an outsider's head hurt. But most people at Capital One will tell you that testing does not give them a headache: Rather, it opens their minds to new ideas. "Testing," declares Wendy Alexander, 29, international product manager, "liberates you from conventional thinking."
Charles Fishman (cnfish@mindspring.com), a Fast Company contributing editor, is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. He scored 40 out of 40 on Capital One's management-screening test. Even so, the company rejected his application for a no-fee, 9.9% MasterCard. Visit Capital One Financial Corp. on the Web (www.capitalone.com).
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Recent Comments | 4 Total
June 17, 2009 at 8:51pm by James Freeman
What is happening is more likely a post revolution of some sort if you think about it. Last year, the company performed 28,000 experiments -- 28,000 tests of new products, new advertising approaches, new markets, new business models. As credit card processing for small business result, it can deliver the right product, at the right price, to the right customer, at the right time. It offers 6,000 kinds of credit cards, each with slightly different terms, requirements, and benefits, and each requiring a slightly different monthly statement. Some credit-card holders have a no-fee Mercedes-Benz affinity card with a credit line of $20,000. Others pay $29 a year for a card with just $200 worth of credit. Some have a credit card with a Canadian moose on it. Others have a card with a map of Japan and an image of Mt. Fuji on it. One reason why Cap One has attracted millions of customers is that it's able to present itself a little differently to each of those customers.
June 29, 2009 at 4:48pm by Eli Shapiro
In marketing terms, this is all rather fascinating and certainly innovative, but I'm afraid I instantly dislike the 2 founders since they were responsible for the 2 "innovations" (the teaser rate and balance transfer)that make credit cards appear friendlier than they really are. Since this was published, there have been countless stories about how those "innovations" get people in serious debt. Forward thinking, perhaps, but not for the greatest of goals.
September 30, 2009 at 11:22pm by Yono Suryadi
Thank you for the information, very useful.
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