Best Online: Discover, American Express and Chase

The Keynote Rankings for Credit Card Prospects study is an examination of the customer experience and service levels on leading credit card Web sites. The study is based on an examination of the online experience of 2,000 prospective credit card customers as they interacted with leading credit card Web sites; and an examination of the technical service levels on these sites including overall site responsiveness and reliability.

Discover, American Express and Chase topped the Keynote Customer Experience Rankings, an overall measure of site success across the more than 250+ metrics measured during the study. Keynote also ranked the sites in more than a dozen subcategories including customer satisfaction, customer acquisition and brand affinity, as well as functions such as ease of applying for a card online.

Discover was the top site in terms of the online customer experience based on its leadership position in credit card satisfaction, an indication of consumer satisfaction with its interest rates and fees as compared to other leading cards. Discover was also considered the easiest credit card to apply for online - and the easiest company to deal with, with almost two-thirds (71%) of online consumers expressing this sentiment.

American Express was considered the "high value" and most "trustworthy" brand by online consumers, and made exploring online services easy for prospective card customers. The American Express site also ranked highest in satisfaction in the area of online services offered. Chase performed well based in part on its leadership in the area of customer support and overall credit card satisfaction.

The Keynote evaluation of customer acquisition success determined that those sites providing the best online site experience also performed well in attracting new customers. Chase and American Express were joined by Citi in topping the Keynote Customer Acquisition Index, which measures which sites are doing the most effective job of acquiring customers online.

Approximately 30% of prospective customer visiting the Chase, Citi and American Express sites indicated they were very likely or extremely likely to sign up for a credit card account with those companies. Comparably, the bottom ranked sites registered only 16% of the prospects visiting their site as being interested in a card.

More than half (52%) of study participants indicated that online account management services were very important or extremely important in their selection of a new credit card account. This represents a close to 8% increase in the number of online consumers indicating online account management as an essential factor in their card selection considerations, as compared to just a year ago when Keynote last conducted its study. Only 8% of online consumers in the study said that online account services were not very or not at all important in their selection process.

Consumers also are increasingly interested in cash-back programs offered by credit card companies, with 39% of online consumers expressing an interest in these programs, almost on par with the 41% who consider travel rewards programs a key factor in their card selection process.

"Although the online channel has not traditionally been where consumers apply for cards, credit card sites and online services do have a major impact on consumer decisions," said Dr. Bonny Brown, director of research and public services at Keynote Systems. "The impact of card sites on consumer decisions and behavior is steadily increasing, and card companies need to sit up and take notice."