W38 - Co-branded Card Experience

Some impressions and reflections after trying the co-branded card.This week I got a Meituan co-branded card, and the whole process was refreshingly smooth. One-click application, instant credit approval, trial privileges, card activation and signature verification at home, with online and offline steps completed seamlessly. The post-issuance perks were genuinely satisfying, and the data integration with the Meituan app made frequent tasks like checking statements and repaying extremely convenient. Overall, it’s a credit card product that far exceeded my expectations.

But even with such an excellent experience,the conversion rate from approved applications to activated cards is only about 30%. This was verbal feedback I received from a Shanghai bank employee when I was activating the card. According to them, most people click by mistake, and many already have a preferred credit card, so they’re reluctant to activate another card during the offline activation step. That conversion rate was a surprising data point for me — it underscores how important it is to test your idea or product early in the real market; the market always has its surprises. It reminded me of the advice in The Lean Startup on finding product–market fit: when you have an idea, you shouldn’t bet on hitting a home run immediately; you should focus on the fastest way to confirm it isn’t one of the bad ideas.

I can think of three strategies right now.

First: go downstream.Users in S-tier and even A-tier cities are mostly already cardholders; penetration into B-tier and lower cities may be more effective.

Second: improve convenience.From observing people around me, most don’t want to apply for multiple credit cards and prefer to use one card for most spending. The main reason is they don’t want to spend extra effort managing billing cycles and credit across multiple cards — having several cards feels like a bigger burden. So improving convenience in card usage could be a breakthrough for us.

Third: strengthen the co-branded card’s service attributes in the lifestyle services domain.Take American Express as an example: among many credit card products, AmEx has a distinct brand identity and a strong image of serving global travelers. Data shows that American Express cards account for 45% of spending by foreign-issued credit cards in China.

Emphasizing payment features in lifestyle services opens room for more aggressive experiments in convenience and discounts. The goal is to create natural associations for users within lifestyle service scenarios. Just as many people check Meituan for in-store discounts before paying, cultivating the habit of checking whether a Meituan co-branded card offers extra payment benefits is possible. For example, higher-ticket, higher-decision-cost services like cosmetic procedures could be offered attractive installment plans.