Each new year is the start of a new journey. For cardholders, their journey consists of five distinct stages. I recently sat down with Jennifer Davis, TMG’s vice president of SmartGrowth™, to discuss ideas issuers can use to elevate each stage of the cardholder journey in 2017.

Jennifer kicked off our discussion by providing a brief overview of issuers’ approaches to each stage in the cardholder journey:

• Product – Designing card programs to be enticing to target consumer segments
• Account Generation – Inspiring target consumers to take the desired action – applying for a credit card
• Activation and Usage – Ensuring once consumers have their cards, they enjoy the benefits
• Account Management – Maintaining a superior credit card product with a competitive credit line and rate
• Service – Coming through on promise to deliver stellar experiences

Looking ahead to 2017, Jennifer highlighted several ways issuers can maximize portfolio performance during each of the stages listed above. To design a great card product, Jennifer recommends issuers turn to business intelligence. Those insights can help an issuer understand what each cardholder segment looks for and what other financial institutions are exploring.

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