The September Small Business Card Monitor Report examined the product profiles maintained by credit card companies for small business card holders. We analyzed how card companies explain their offerings to prospective card holders, providing best practices for improving these profiles. This month’s report evaluated card profiles based on the following criteria:
- Design
- Information
- Small Business Features
Two firms received As for offering well designed product pages that prominently display necessary card information and clearly explain how their products can help business owners. Three firms earned Bs this month and two received Ds.
Product page design varies greatly between sites. Top firms make their materials easy to read by incorporating large fonts and engaging images on their pages. Most firms (86%) maintain a single page layout, rather than a multiple-tab design, allowing all card information to be viewed in one stop. Leaders maintain a consistent template across all product pages, ensuring that visitors can find the information they are interested in by looking in a set location.
Sites differ in where they place essential information, such as APRs and fees. Leaders make this information clear by offering it in a large font and in prominent locations on the page, such as at the top. One firm hosts its fee and APR data in a clear table on the right side of each card page, making it easy to identify card details.
Card companies vary in how clear their information is for entrepreneurs. While all firms promote their cards for business-owners in some way, some go the extra mile and make this information especially clear. One firm includes a table that displays the businesses and income models that would benefit from different cards, as well as links to the firm’s business-oriented ReceiptMatch app. Similarly, another firm prominently includes business-oriented rewards, such as extra points for office supply purchases.
Notable findings in this report include:
- Eighty-six percent of firms maintain a single page rather than a multi-tabbed layout.
- Seventy-one percent promote mobile or private site business apps.
- All firms present APR and fee information.
- Eighty-six percent offer consistent templates of product pages.
- All firms promote card rewards.
